One? Two? Or more? The levels of cultural cooperation in Europe [antikvár]

Introduction In January 2004, we organised a conference within the framework of the Central European Initiative to review the possibilities of planning and financing multilateral international cultural projects. The conference lectures were followed by interactive professional training. The head trainer put the following question to the participants: "What uses do you think multilateral cultural projects can be put to?" After a number of replies, one of the participants (a senior civil servant) gave the following pat answer: "To propagate our own national cultures!" There was dead silence. We all felt this was a bad answer. It was a completely wrong way of thinking. The person who said this had either utterly misunderstood the point or had simply failed to realise there was one. But then, what if it was not such a bad answer after all? What if there is a point to it? If so, what is it? Then and there we did not have the chance to think the matter through. I myself, however, had been wondering for years about possible correlations between, and the intersections of, the various levels, structures and forms of international cultural relations, what role these could have in increasing efficiency, and how they could be put to optimum use in order to realise our objectives. It was the case just mentioned that prompted me to attempt a summary of my views on these issues. I am not an academic researcher, nor am I a political scientist. I am a civil servant who has been engaged in Hungary's cultural diplomacy for more than thirty years. I will approach the question from the perspective of workaday practices. My aim is to represent these relations in some kind of a system. I also want to help readers in selecting tools and methods that match their intentions. What I put down are not unalterable truths but ivhat I have distilled from my own experience and ivhat I consider useful with regard to quality work and real results. It is my hope to inspire the reader to give further thought to the matter. Do not forget that international cultural relations are continuously developing and new levels and new relations are appearing every day. let us be open to every new idea, but let us never forget to examine the place, value and role of every new solution in our own given context. February 7'", 2006, Budapest Gabriella Szabo-Pap Advisor Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Hungary