THANK YOU NOTE TO POLSKA! YEAR FROM THE QUEEN

Buckingham Palace, 22nd July, 2010.

(...) The Queen who was glad to be the joint Patron of this important celebration of Polish culture and greatly regrets that the year was interrupted by the tragic death of her co-Patron President Kaczyński. Her Majesty much appreciated your courtesy in informing her of the wide range of events that have taken place over the last twelve months and sends her congratulations to everyone who worked to make the year such a success.'
 

/-/ Doug King
Assistant Private Secretary to The Queen

download the letter from The Queen

Members of Polish Parliament about the Polska! Year project

Culture is the best Polish brand and promoting it abroad brings measurable benefits to the whole country - assured Bogdan Zdrojewski, the Minister of Culture, speaking in the Polish Parliament last Thursday.
Mr Zdrojewski pointed to the Polska! Year project as the model example of promotion Polish culture abroad. Polish Year in the United Kingdom, which commenced in Spring 2009 and continued until June 2010, featured a range of cultural events organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

 download the article: Dziennik, 22 July 2010  

Polska! Year Finale

'In my opinion this is the best thought out, best prepared, best produced and best communicated Project delivered In the 10 years of existence by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, whose aim is to promote Polish culture throughout the world. We provided British audiences with an empirical proof that Poland is the creative backbone of Europe. This is something that is said not only by us – Polish animators of culture. This was stated by The Guardian and Times. It was possible to bring the bond between curators, artists, reviewers to a personal level. New friendships were struck’.

Paweł Potoroczyn, Polish Market On Line
 

POLSKA! YEAR ACROSS THE WORLD

Looking back at the effort of our team we are very pleased to say that the Internet helped us spread the word about the project across the world. Analytical data shows that visitors to our web page came not only from Poland and the United Kingdom, but also from Australia, Canada, USA, Alaska, Brazil, Chile, Republic of South Africa, Norway, Russia, China, Turkey and Israel.

Map of visits:
 

Analytical data (monthly) – total number of visits: 6964, number of users: 2050, average time spent: 4:05 min.

POLISH ARTISTS AT ST MAGNUS FESTIVAL

"It was always on festival director Glenys Hughes' mind to mark the Chopin anniversary, but once the initial idea took root, the coincidence of another major UK-wide initiative led to a blossoming of the Polish theme to a point where it now dominates the six-day programme.
That initiative was Polska! Year, a series of events throughout the UK aimed at presenting the very best of Polish arts and culture, which opened in the spring and which ends in Orkney.
(…) Hughes took full advantage of the Polska! Year opportunities. (…) She has engineered a subtle integration of the Polish theme into a wider St Magnus programme that has an unmistakable familiarity about its format and content."
Kenneth Walton, Yorkshire Post, 24 June 2010
 

POLSKA! YEAR – THE SUMMARY

On Thursday, 17^th of June 2010, at the residence of the Ambassador of the United Kingdom, a press conference summarizing the Polska! Year project was held. The conference brought together Ambassador Rick Tod and the director of the British Council in Poland, Tony O’Brien, Poland was represented by Monika Smoleń, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Jan Borkowski, Viceminister of Foreign Affairs, as well as the director of Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Paweł Potoroczyn, and Aneta Prasał – Wiśniewska, coordinator of Polska!Year.

The Polska! Year gathered copious compliments among which many deserve mention. The director Paweł Potoroczyn considered Polska! Year the biggest success in the decade long history of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Ambassador Tod and Tony O’Brien emphasized the contribution Polska! Year made to the forging of long-lasting relationships between curators in the United Kingdom and Poland which, director O’Brien assured, will certainly be further developed, also with the support of the British Council. In recognition of her outstanding achievements in preparing and implementing the project Aneta Prasał - Wiśniewska received a special thanks from the British partners.

download the letter from HE D.R.Todd, British Ambassador in Poland
 

POLSKA! YEAR ONE OF THE GREATEST SUCCESS IN PROMOTING POLISH CULTURE

Polska! Year, organized in Great Britain by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, is now drawing to an end, but it has undoubtedly been one of the greatest successes in promoting Polish culture within the last few years. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute spent 17 million Polish zloty to organize the event. The budget covered four years of preparations, as well as the organization and realization of the project. Polska! Year is one of the biggest enterprises in Poland, whose aim is to promote Polish culture.

Jacek Skolimowski, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna
14 czerwca 2010
 

FIRST PLACE IN THE 2009 EVENTS RANKING GOES TO POLSKA!YEAR

The specialized web portal www.sztuka-architektury.pl has presented its annual summary of the most important achievements in Polish architecture last year. Its visitors and experts have chosen the true gems of architecture, as well as the most significant events and projects of 2009.

The first place was awarded joint to the exhibition by Miroslaw Balka in Tate Modern and Polska! Year – the invasion of Polish culture in Great Britain. Cultural and artistic events organized in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool, Oxford and many other cities have given the British audience an opportunity to get in touch with works by Polish artists, as well as Polish films, theatre performances and music.

www.sztuka-architektury.pl, 26 May 2010