May 2024 with Europe House

With the core message that “Bosnia and Herzegovina has always been in the heart of Europe”, celebration of Europe Day marked our May 2024, along with the 20th anniversary of the largest enlargement of the EU, and the European Council’s green light for the opening of negotiations.

Activities marking Europe Day began at the end of April with a gala concert of Beethoven’s 9th symphony organised by the EU Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the embassies of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain, as well as the National Theatre Sarajevo Philharmonic. The concert featured soloists from EU member states as well as the renowned specialist conductor Jan Caeyers from Belgium. The recording of the concert was broadcast on BHRT on May 9.

Numerous public events were also organised during May, including a two-day visit by ambassadors of EU member states to Jablanic and Konjic under the slogan ‘Heart of Herzegovina’ to meet with local authorities, civil society organisations and young people, and visit locations of natural and cultural historical significance.

Cooperation with embassies of the European Union member states was emphasized through a conversation with young people in which students from Sarajevo grammar schools participated in order to express their opinions on challenges and opportunities for young people through the process of European integration. Knowledge quizzes were organized in 7 locations across the country while two exhibitions called Connected through Good in the Past, Present and Future, opened at Europe House, and presented the European Union’s support to SMEs and innovation.

The traditional European Film Days, organised in cooperation with the cultural institutes of EU member states and the embassies of Spain, the Czech Republic, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Hungary and Romania, presented 11 European films.

The highlight of the Europe Day celebration were four synchronized concerts in Banja Luka, Mostar, Sarajevo and Tuzla, organised in cooperation with local music festival promoters. This unique collaboration presented 19 artists to thousands of citizens who gathered to dance, and celebrate music and Europe Day.

Europe House activities continued with the aim of promoting culture through the slogan #EvropaZaKulturu by organising another edition of the Europe House Literary Club with Tanja Stupar Trifunović, winner of the European Prize for Literature. This year’s edition of the student festival POP UP! was organised in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts. In cooperation with the Embassy of Spain and UNESCO, part of the exhibition of the famous Prado Museum was presented to the public. At the end of the month, the third edition of Sarajevo Photography Festival began, which presented numerous exhibitions, interactive workshops and talks aimed at promoting culture and opportunities for artists.

Highlighting the importance of European Union support through #EUforBiH, we organised a one-day workshop for media and journalists with a focus on solution-oriented journalism to support the empowerment of local media professionals. On the occasion of World Museum Day, we published an edition of the series My EU Success Story featuring the Una-Sana Canton Museum, while for World Bee Day we published a story about the success of the local company BeeMed. Two success stories were also published through EU Periscope, highlighting the successes of the Museum of Contemporary Art of RS, supported through the EU Creative Europe program, as well as the story of the revitalization of Brčko Port, one of the most significant infrastructure projects.

Emphasizing the importance of the slogan #OurPlanetOurFuture, we published two editions of Ecopedia on the occasion of International Biodiversity Day and European Day of Parks.

Our traveling exhibition Between Four Walls, which talks about gender-based violence in a unique way, was opened in Kulen Vakuf. The exhibition was opened for the first time during the campaign for 16 Days of Activism 2023 and as part of our activities called #EUforYourRights.