“The Window onto the World” is a festival started by Larry Okey Ugwu, Director of the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre – a Nigerian, who has been living in Gdañsk for 25 years. The festival is a meeting place for artists from different cultures. This year the fourth edition is organized, and Aleksandra Halicka tells us more about it.

This year you are organizing the 4th edition of the Festival of the World’s Cultures entitled “The Window unto the World”. How did you come up with the idea for the Project?

It was Larry Okey Ugwu, Director of the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, who came up with the idea. He’s also the Art Director of the Festival. He’s Nigerian and has been living in Gdañsk for over 25 years. According to his vision, “The Window onto the World” is a place where artists from different cultures can meet with the audience of the so-called Tri-City (the three neighbouring cities: Gdañsk, Gdynia and Sopot). The festival is a melting pot of cultures and its main goal is to promote tolerance, respect and interest in ‘otherness’, as well as openness to what is remote to us and sometimes – still – beyond our understanding. For a project to continue for four years is, on the one hand, not much, but on the other hand – looking at the current rapid changes around us – that’s a lot. That’s why the festival is changing, evolving – together with our evolving perception of otherness and of what is exotic.


The project was included in the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. What does this mean to you, apart from the financial support?

First of all, it’s a great privilege for us. We feel that the idea of the festival, our ongoing struggle with the theme of multiculturalism, our efforts made to promote understanding, tolerance as well as interest in people from other cultures were noticed and appreciated. Now, when there’re so many festivals promoting openness and tolerance in Poland, we interpret the fact that “The Window onto the World” was included in the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue as an approval of the festival’s format, and as some kind of trust that our idea for presenting cultural diversity stands a chance of drawing a response from a wider audience. The idea of the festival is very clear. We also know what we want to achieve. Still, the theme itself – dialogue and multiculturalism – is very broad. So the structure of the festival is not at all easy to predict. We’re pleased that our proposal and our vision of “The Window onto the World” was accepted by the European Commission. Apart from that, including the festival in the EYID entailed certain changes as to the format of this year’s edition of “The Window onto the World”. In previous years, special focus was placed on cultures which are remote, unknown or marginalized. This year, however, we’re focusing on the area which is closest to us – Europe. We’re trying to show that very often exoticism, which we used to look for on other continents, is hidden in what we, somewhat exaggeratedly, call ‘our culture’...


Would you mind revealing why and how did you apply for the funds? What does the situation look like form the perspective of a cultural centre? Do cultural centres today have to look for other ways of financing their activity than from the resources they get from local authorities?

Most projects carried out by the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre is paid for with outside funding. Large international projects entail very high costs, which are much higher than the basic budget of a cultural institution. That’s why additional funds, like those from the European Year of Dialogue, are crucial.


More importantly, however, when we prepare plans in the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre we try not to think in terms of money. The idea comes first. We develop it into a concrete project. At the end we estimate and specify it in terms of the budget. And then we start thinking how to get the financial resources for the project, where to get additional funding from, what application forms and where to submit them. This is much more effective and constructive than relying on an insufficient budget and using it to determine your activities.



Do such festivals for artists have an impact on their professional career? If so, then how?


This definitely depends on the openness and attitude of the artists themselves. The festival as a melting pot of diversity gives us a chance to meet people from all over the world - mutual influences and interest in other performers give us a chance of expanding our network of contacts, learning about the opportunities provided by other events and festivals all over the world which are based on similar assumptions, promote similar music, etc. We see the chances that a meeting and a conversation may bring, and so we schedule the events of the festival in such a way that the participating artists had an opportunity to spend time together and get to know each other. What’s more, every year we invite ambassadors of the countries that are represented artistically during “The Window onto the World” – this also creates some opportunities for artists, opening up promotion channels for their art.



“The Window onto the World” is not just music, but also meetings, workshops, films and performances. How did you prepare the programme so that it would meet the expectations set out for the dialogue? How do you understand the term ‘dialogue’?

Since its beginnings, the Festival of the World’s Cultures entitled “The Window unto the World” has been a celebration of diversity, mutual influences and interdisciplinary character. So this year’s format is not much different from our earlier ideas. Applying for the patronage of the EYID, we decided to focus mainly on the programme objectives, to really focus on the culture of European countries, especially those which are still subject to some marginalization (e.g. Serbia or Belarus). Besides, each year the festival is enriched with new events. We try to expand its scope and format. This time, to emphasize the social relevance of “The Window onto the World” and its direct correspondence with the ideas underlying the EYID, we’ve decided to create a Festival Town, where a number of NGOs will present their activities in an original way. The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre will also have its stand and will explain the significance and objectives of the European Year of International Dialogue. As to the term ‘dialogue’, I think that the achievement of the festival is that it leads to interaction, it constantly surprises the audience by juxtaposing diverse cultures, and striving to maintain its interdisciplinary character. A dialogue here is not about making complete and coherent sentences. It’s more like opening your mouth and inhaling.
As you said yourself, this year’s festival says ‘STOP’ to tickets, so there is nothing else to do but to invite everyone to Gdañsk on 11 September.