Gruesome Act of Violence at the ERICarts Institute

In line with old Rhineland traditions, Executive Director Andreas Wiesand was forced to surrender his symbol of male dignity to ERICarts intern Sari Asikainen on Womens' Carnival day ("Weiberfastnacht"), 11 February 2010. Our picture includes  Office Manager Olivier Göbel and J Torkler  (in the back)  who, having escaped the massacre, did not hide  their malicious glees.
As usual, this strange ritual could also  find different interpretations: maybe it  was simply  a rehearsal for the inauguration ceremony  of the European Folk Cultures Survey, the ERICarts Institute is now conducting together with its new partner organisation Boekman Foundation, Amsterdam  (Boekmanstichting).

After more than 12 Years with the ERICarts Institute, Danielle Cliche takes over new position at UNESCO HQ in Paris

Danielle has been involved in most of the ERICarts activities since 1996 as a senior expert, research coordinator  or project leader. This includes, but is not limited to  a series of projects for the EU (e.g. "Pyramid or Pillars", "Culture Biz" or "Sharing Diversity"), the prominent  Council of Europe/ERICarts Compendium information and monitoring system  on "Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe", or the "Creative Europe" Report funded by the Network of European Foundations for Innovative Cooperation (NEF). In Spring and Summer 2009, her final task at the Institute has been the coordination of a global empirical survey on "Achieving Intercultural Dialogue through the Arts and Culture?" for IFACCA.

In November 2009, Danielle has taken up her new position at UNESCO, where she is now Chief of Section, Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Her vast experience and never ending dedication to the work of the ERICarts Institute will be deeply missed. On the other hand,  ERICarts' Board of Governors and staff are proud of this perfect choice for an important position in the domain of international cultural cooperation.