Bratstvo 1869 Community Centre

Bratstvo 1869 Community Centre is the oldest cultural and educational institution in the Southwest of Bulgaria, created on July 1st 1869. Throughout the years the Community Centre manages to preserve the spirit of Bulgarian culture and education and to become an important factor in the social life of the town of Kyustendil. The Community Centre is situated in the centre of the town and it is a popular daily venue for a number of concerts, performances, meetings of different organizations and institutions, lectures and a variety of cultural events. The Children’s Music School in Bratstvo Community Centre organizes various music classes such as guitar, piano, accordion, violin, flute, synthesizer, drums, folk singing, pop and classical singing, basic theory of music and solmizdtion. A lot of performers and groups of creative artists work in the Community Centre such as Kyustendil Guitar Orchestra, Strumyanche Children’s Dance Ensemble, Folk Dances Club, Inseparable Vocal Group, Struma Sounds Vocal Group, Struma Breeze Vocal Group, Bratstvo Choir, Ossogovo Echo Tourist Choir, Sing Heart Music Group, Debut Drama and Dance Group, Proscenium Theatre, Kyustendil Theatre, Vessa Paspaleeva Literature Club. There also lessons in painting, sport dances, computers and foreign languages- English, French and German. Bratstvo 1869 Community Centre annually organizes the Academician Marin Goleminov International Classic Guitar Competition, http://www.guitar.bratstvokn.orger//, Pautalia International Folklore Festival, International Chamber Music Academy http://internationalchambermusicacademy.org/, Binyo Ivanov National Poetry Competition and Sing Heart National Old Town Song Festival. The Community Centre implements a lot of projects funded by different institutions. Bratstvo 1869 Community Centre has been a Regional “Eurodesk” point since 2006. Eurodesk is a European Union information network, created to give access to information and to consult and support youths and specialists from all over Europe. Since 2009 Eurodesk is a part of the network EUROPE DIRECT http://europedirect-kn.info/. The European Commission information network established 14 centres in Bulgaria and Bratstvo1869 Community Centre is one of them. What is more, Bratstvo 1869 is the only community centre among the receiving structures in our country. EUROPE DIRECT is an information network oriented towards wide range of citizens in Europe. It provides all kind of information related to the European Union, advice, assistance and answers to questions about the legislation, policies, programmes, schemes and opportunities for EU funding as well as centres in the country. A lot of the activities and events carried out in the Community Centre are oriented towards supporting vulnerable groups on national and cross-border level as well as promoting other countries’ culture and arts, cultivating respect for diversity and supporting social cohesion in multicultural environment. The Community Centre has established excellent working relations with all the municipal and state institutions, cultural and youth organizations, NGOs etc. through the implementation of projects in the sphere of human rights protection, development of leadership skills among youth and building capacity for active youth participation in social life.