Alliance Française, British Council and Goethe-Institut have joined hands together to form EUNIC (European National Institutes for Culture) Cluster members to promote cultural diversity of Europe in Bangladesh.
Different festivals like Dhaka Lit Fest or Dhaka Art Summit get cooperation regularly from Alliance Française, British Council and Goethe-Institut, but now the new platform can help them more.
Through the development of common cultural projects and stronger partnerships, based on the founding values of the European Union, the EUNIC Bangladesh Cluster aims to connect Bangladeshis with a cultural practice that creates impact all over the world.
EUNIC will collaborate with local organisations, such as the Urban Study Group in Dhaka, to promote the value of architectural heritage and the protection of cultural heritage.
It will advocate for the establishment of a National Heritage Day with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to facilitate access to buildings under the control of different authorities that are usually closed to the public.
It also will support schools through programmes to raise awareness on cultural heritage with both students and teachers.
Barbara Wickham, Director Bangladesh, British Council said, “Our recent initiative to develop a map of the creative industries in Bangladesh, in partnership with the government, will help lay a strong foundation as we work with the Alliance Francaise and Goethe Institut to further promote and advocate for the value of architectural and cultural heritage to enhance cross-cultural exchange, increase skills collaboration and support growth in this important sector.”
Bruno Plasse, Director, Alliance Française de Dhaka said, “Alliance Française de Dhaka is made of three centres in town, recording about 6000 enrolments to French classes and organises about 100 cultural events in a year. We are very excited to join hands with the British Council and Goethe-Institut in creating EUNIC Bangladesh to foster relations between people of Europe and of Bangladesh and to join hand on cultural and education projects."
Kirsten Hackenbroch, Institute Director of Goethe-Institut said, “Goethe-Institut Bangladesh is looking forward to concerted European action with partners in Bangladesh on both cultural heritage and language teaching. In the past, Goethe-Institut and Alliance Francaise have cooperatively led projects and workshops on the tangible heritage of Bangladesh, e.g. on fashion design, architectural heritage or jute furnitures. The formation of EUNIC Bangladesh now offers the opportunity to expand and intensify the collaboration with our Bangladeshi partner organisations.”