site.btaAssociation of Bulgarian Folklore Ensembles Abroad Chair: Our Mission Is to Introduce Ensembles Abroad to Bulgarian Institutions

One of Association of Bulgarian Folklore Ensembles Abroad's (ABFEA) missions is to set up meetings between ensembles from abroad with Bulgarian institutions, the Association's Chair, Radoslava Nedyalkova, told Bulgarian News Agency's (BTA) BG World Department regarding the third seminar meeting of heads of folklore ensembles abroad, which will take place on November 8-10 in Sofia.

During the first day a meeting will be held at the Ministry of Culture, which will be attended by Deputy Culture Minister Kalin Velyov, Deputy Foreign Ministers Elena Shekerletova and representatives of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad.

"We will make a presentation of our Association, in which we will outline what are the problems of the ensembles and what activities they carry out during the year," said Nedyalkova.

This year there are over 60 participants coming from 40 folklore groups from over 15 European countries. She added that they would then visit Folklore Ensemble Sofia-6 to learn from its practices. 

Nedyalkova noted that the number of ensemble leaders taking part in the forum increases every year. "The people who attended last year - almost all of them are online, and representatives of new groups are signing up, which means the meeting is meaningful," she said.

The ensemble heads will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the Dobrudzha folklore region, which will be the topic of the meeting:

"We have decided to travel extensively through the folklore regions of Bulgaria, so that we can get to know in depth the characteristics of each of them. And so it will be in the years to come when we hold our meeting - each year will be dedicated to one folklore area. We start with Dobrudzha, because we all agreed that this seems to be the area that is least known, at least abroad," said Nedyalkova.

At the official opening of the seminar meeting, a tripartite agreement will be signed to support a festival of Bulgarian folklore ensembles from abroad, planned for July 2025 in Bulgaria. "The three parties that will make sure this festival will take place will be - our Association of Bulgarian Folklore Ensembles Abroad, the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad and the Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts," said ABFEA's Chair.

"We are working on a register focused entirely on folklore groups, which will give information about their creative life abroad," Nedyalkova added.