Mobilizing Cultural Resources for Social and Economic Development

Andersen Consulting Nationale, Nederlanden Building, Prague – 7 June 1999

Organized by the Fund for New Performance/Video, New York and the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, this Prague-Los Angeles video conference asked how cultural recovery and preservation efforts can generate constructive dialogue among ethnic communities. The 2000 World Bank-funded Stories Exchange Project expansion in the Czech Republic was discussed in the context of other projects which articulate the multicultural traditions of Prague and Los Angeles.Barry Munitz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust, and Michael Roth, Associate Director of the Getty Research Institute led off the discussion from Los Angeles. Then in Prague John Beyrle, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, represented Ambassador John Shattuck and Petr Uhl, Czech Government Commissioner for Human Rights, assessed the current state of Czech-Romani relations.Prague panelists included: Ilona Ferkova, Founding Director of the Romani-Czech Kindergarten, Rokycany; Ondrej Gina, Director of the Romani National Congress, Czech Republic; Helena Koenigsmarkova, Director of the Decorative Arts Museum, Prague; Leo Pavlat, Director of the Jewish Museum; Karol Sidon, Chief Rabbi of Prague; Milan Turba, Director of the Prague Strategic Plan. The moderator in Prague was John W. Erwin, President and Executive Director, the Fund for New Performance/Video and Director, The Stories Exchange Project.

[See also “Heda makes catastrophe dance” under “The Holocaust” in “Stories and Responses” on this Web page.]