News

  We are very much pleased to inform you that upon the UN General Assembly’s decision to announce 2010 the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, UNESCO has been encouraging Member States to implement political as well as cultural initiatives on the national, regional and international level.

 As the idea of the project has it, the attention of international society is to be focused on the importance of cultural diversity and dialogue. Best practices in the field should illustrate possible ways in which diverse cultures and civilisations enrich each other, notably within the framework of efforts aimed at a better implementation of human rights, and at combating new expressions of racism and discrimination. Thus, UNESCO encourages Member States to provide information about their respective initiatives which are being undertaken in order to foster dialogue, reciprocal understanding and cooperation. These initiatives will be overtly announced at UNESCO’s website http://www.unesco.org/en/rapprochement-of-cultures

The mentioned initiatives are destined to:

·        promote information exchange related to cultural, ethnic, linguistic as well as religious diversity;  

·         muster efforts with the aim of instilling common values; 

·         develop quality education and strengthen intercultural competence; 

·         promote dialogue in the field of sustainable development.

We are glad to inform you that the logo project by the Lithuanian designer Ieva Marija Dautartaitė has been chosen to represent the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. Her logo idea ranked among the best nine projects in the competition “Design 21” of 2009, organised within the framework of UNESCO’s International Festival of Cultural Diversity.

Ieva Marija Dautartaitė graduated from Vilnius Academy of Arts, Design Department of Applied Arts Faculty, in 1966. She has a 15-year experience in the design field, and has been an active participant as well as winner of numerous design competitions.

Information provided by the Lithuanian National Commission for UNESCO