Culture and arts are borderless, minister says in Trieste

Trieste, 17 January - Visiting Trieste, an Italian city with a vibrant Slovenian community, Culture Minister Asta Vrečko said on Wednesday that minorities were a constitutive part of the Slovenian cultural sphere. There are no borders in culture and arts, she said as she visited the Slovenian Consulate General and the minority's theatre in Trieste.

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko gives a press statement during her visit to Trieste. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko gives a press statement during her visit to Trieste.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the Trieste Book Centre of the Slovenian minority in Italy and meets Slovenian publishers there. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the Trieste Book Centre of the Slovenian minority in Italy and meets Slovenian publishers there.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko (left) visits the Trieste Book Centre of the Slovenian minority in Italy. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko (left) visits the Trieste Book Centre of the Slovenian minority in Italy.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits an exhibition at the National Hall dedicated to the life of Slovenians in Italy. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits an exhibition at the National Hall dedicated to the life of Slovenians in Italy.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste, where she is received by the theatre's president Breda Pahor and its director and artistic director Danijel Malalan. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste, where she is received by the theatre's president Breda Pahor and its director and artistic director Danijel Malalan.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste, where she is received by the theatre's president Breda Pahor and its director and artistic director Danijel Malalan. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste, where she is received by the theatre's president Breda Pahor and its director and artistic director Danijel Malalan.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste, where she is received by the theatre's president Breda Pahor and its director and artistic director Danijel Malalan. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the SSG theatre of the Slovenian minority in Trieste, where she is received by the theatre's president Breda Pahor and its director and artistic director Danijel Malalan.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko (centre) meets the heads of the two umbrella organisations of the Slovenian minority in Italy - Ksenija Dobrila of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association (right) and Walter Bandelj of the Council of Slovenian Organisations. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko (centre) meets the heads of the two umbrella organisations of the Slovenian minority in Italy - Ksenija Dobrila of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association (right) and Walter Bandelj of the Council of Slovenian Organisations.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the Slovenian Consulate General in Trieste. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko visits the Slovenian Consulate General in Trieste.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy Culture Minister Asta Vrečko (right) meets Gregor Šuc, Slovenian consul general in Trieste. Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Trieste, Italy
Culture Minister Asta Vrečko (right) meets Gregor Šuc, Slovenian consul general in Trieste.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA

Slovenian culture has been alive in the Trieste area for centuries, and the ministry's aim is to make sure this remains the case in the future and strengthen the minority's cultural institutions there.

These institutions are oftentimes struggling even more than their counterparts in Slovenia due to the specifics of their situation and occasionally due to the policies of either Italy or Slovenia, she added.

The ministry cooperates with the SSG theatre in Trieste, which is a part of the Slovenian theatre network, Vrečko said as she stressed the SSG's importance for the Slovenian community and Italians. Her team is also seeking ways to ensure additional financing of the minority's cultural activities.

During her visit, the minister was received by Gregor Šuc, Slovenia's consul general in Trieste, and heads of the minority's umbrella organisations, Ksenija Dobrila of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association and Walter Bandelj of the Council of Slovenian Organisations.

They discussed topical issues related to the community's cultural activities.

In addition to the Consulate General and SSG theatre, the minister also visited the National Hall, a Slovenian cultural hub in Trieste that was returned to the minority in 2020, exactly 100 years after the original building was burnt down by Fascists.

She visited a permanent exhibition there on the life of Slovenians in Italy and met several representatives of the minority, including members of cultural organisations and publishers, the ministry said in a press release.

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