site.btaBTA Signs Partnership with Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at BAS

"BTA has a responsibility to tell stories that are of greater value than the issues of the day. BTA as a national news agency has a two-year partnership with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), which we are now deepening with one of its emblematic institutes," BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said on Friday at the signing of a partnership agreement with the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at BAS (IEFSEM – BAS).

"The institute and the museum will be regularly sending us information related to projects through which they tell stories about Bulgarian cultural heritage," he added.

"I want to believe that today we are starting a fruitful cooperation that will bear fruit. In addition to our research structural units, we also have a national ethnographic museum, a national archive and a national centre for cultural heritage," the IEFSEM – BAS Director Prof. Vladimir Penchev pointed out.

Scientists from IEFSEM BAS presented the latest European project of the institute at the signing ceremony. Mediteller aims to research, preserve and present at international level little known cultural practices from Bulgaria, Spain and Italy. With the support of Polish IT specialists, a total of six research institutes from the four countries are joining forces to create a commonly accessible European online storytelling platform.

"The project aims to build an online platform for local traditions, film products with creative storytelling - stories about different traditions typical for each country, religious processes, festivals related to fertility, folklore traditions and crafts," said the Act. Deputy Director of IEFSEM - BAS, Dr. Iglika Mishkova.

"We're trying to empower local communities so they can be able to show what is important to them. We are organizing online training for staff and cultural operators, community centres, teachers and students. We are creating a lot of partnership networks that we are going to involve organizations and institutions in," she added.

"Through BTA we will promote this initiative, give voice and increased access to the traditions of rural regions," said Penchev.

"BTA can be helpful to this project through its correspondents in all regional cities and some larger non-regional cities. They're also telling stories and collecting such. We can also be useful through BTA's English Service as we are the only Bulgarian media that presents the Bulgarian news in English 24 hours, seven days a week," Valchev stated.