News

On 17-18 October Villa Decius held the International Conference entitled “Europe – Critical Problems” – a joint initiative of the Villa Decius Association and the Res Publica Nowa magazine. The conference was a continuation of the prestigious series of debates on the idea of freedom, which has been run by the Villa Decius Association since 2005. The programme included lectures and debates open to the public and a seminar with experts and academics from the Czech Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, United States, Sweden, Hungary, Italy and the UK.

The announcement ceremony for the 10th edition of Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2002-2003) took place at the international conference “Europe – Critical Problems” on 17 October 2013. This year the panel of judges decided to honour Myroslav Marynovich in the “Personal Achievement” Category and the Denis Hurley Refugee Centre in the “Non-governmental Organization” category. The Honorary Prize was awarded to Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld.

“Europe – Critical Problems” is a conference organised jointly by the Villa Decius Association and the Res Publica Nowa as a follow-up on a prestigious series of debates revolving around the Idea of Freedom, organised by the Villa Decius Association since 2005. A special event of the conference is an Awards Gala held to honour the Laureates of the 10th edition of the Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, granted in memory of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2002-2003).

On 7 October 2013, the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Bronisław Komorowski met with the President of Italy, Mr. Giorgio Napolitano and President of Germany, Mr. Joachim Gauck to discuss the future of the Old Continent in the context of the next year’s elections to the European Parliament. They were also joined by the President of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych and their talks focused on the prospect of the adoption by Ukraine of the association agreement with the European Union, which is expected to take place in November on the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius.

On 14 October (Monday) at 7:00pm Villa Decius will host a piano recital by Magdalena Lisak, organized within the 5th International Piano Festival of the Royal City of Kraków. The programme will include pieces by Karol Szymanowski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Frederick Chopin. The concert is organized by the PianoClassic Artistic Association. Admittance is free.

Villa Decius will host the announcement ceremony for the 10th jubilee edition of the Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 2002-2003 on 17 October at 4:30pm. This year the ceremony is accompanied by an international conference “Europe – Critical Problems” (17-18 October 2013), which is a joint initiative of the Villa Decius Association and the Res Publica Nowa magazine. The event is a continuation of the prestigious cycle of debates devoted to the idea of freedom, organized by the Villa Decius Association since 2005. Submissions are invited by e-mail to jaga@villa.org.pl. The number of places is limited.

It is with great pleasure that we wish to announce that the participant of the first season of our creativity workshop for senior citizens SAGA, Ms Jagoda Jamińska, has been distinguished in the “Senior citizens beyond stereotypes” competition. The initiative is designed to promote active senior citizens who work for NGO’s, study at the University of the Third Age or are local communities’ leaders. The announcement by the award committee of the 7th season of the competition described Ms Jamińska as “a Renaissance woman, who breaks through all the stereotypes of old age”. Villa Decius joins in the wholehearted congratulations!

The Villa Decius Association invites all our sympathizers to take part in the new edition of the Gardens of Creativity 2013 – Theatre and Dance project on Sunday, 6 October at 6:00pm. This is when we will host a presentation of “Searching for Lear” based on the original screenplay by Michał Zaniecki. The show is a collage of theatre and vocal performance, based on Shakespeare’s character of Lear, King of Britannia, and on the motifs of the biography of Giuseppe Verdi who frequently used Shakespeare’s texts.