Overheard on the river Bug.

The Borderland Foundation was launched in May 1990, and the Center "Borderland of Arts, Cultures, Nations" in January 1991 by the governor of the Suwałki province. Both are established in Sejny, in North-East Poland, close to the border with Lithuania. We have chosen Sejny, a small town near the Lithuanian border, because elements of the material and spiritual legacy are still present here. The main street with the White Synagogue recalls Jewish presence; the little evangelical church reminds us of Protestants. The Polish and Lithuanian presence is a reality of today's Sejny. In the vicinity of the town one can also find many traces of Russian "Old-believers", and if we move further to the south and to the east, we may find more vast territories of cultural interpretation: Tartar, Karaites, and Armenian districts, all of Belarus and Ukraine. We are trying to gather the wisdom and richness of borderlands - a wealth which results from co-existence of different traditions and beliefs. We are searching for a path that begins in ancient times and goes toward the present day, for a language which can make the elders' wisdom avaible to the young generation and can inspire new artistic, pedagogical and scientific research. The main objective of the Borderland Foundation and the Center is to contribute to strengthening the environment through its initiatives, processes, and groups of people as well as individuals rebulding the identities of their living environments and traditions, but at the same time respecting ethnic differences and cultural diversity. In other words, their goal is to develop everyday practices which create open communities in areas where of different national, ethnic, religious and cultural minorities co-exist, and to find and develop means to preserve traditional cultures, sometimes also minority cultures. Some of our activities are permanent, daily work. They are: Cultural Heritage Classes , Sejny Theater, Klezmer Music Group, the Documentation Center of Borderland Cultures, the Art Gallery "Papuciarnia" and Borderland Publishing House. Other activities are organized once or a few times per year. They are: Memory of Ancient Time, Meeting the Other; Central European Forum of Culture; Gipsy Art Village, European Borderland School, Open Regions of Central and Eastern Europe, Camera Pro Minoritate, Café Europa, Borderlander.

THE BORDERLAND TEAM:
Maria Dybiżbańska, Teresa Jarzębowicz, Irena Namiotkiewicz, Renata Mackiewicz, Małgorzata Sporek-Czyżewska, Agata Szkopińska, Anita Sznejder, Bożena Szroeder, Agnieszka Szyszko, Urszula Wasilewska, Danuta Wilkialis, Iwona Zaborowska, Jan Czerniecki, Krzysztof Czyżewski, Jerzy Czyżyński, Dariusz Jachimowicz, Michał Moniuszko, Wojciech Szroeder, Wiesław Szumiński.

BORDERLAND FOUNDATION
CENTRE BORDERLAND OF ARTS, CULTURES, NATIONS
16-500 Sejny, ul. Piłsudskiego 37, post box 15, POLAND
ph./fax 48 87/516 27 65
Foundation office:
16-400 Suwałki, ul. Kościuszki 71 post box 36,
ph./fax 48 87/565 03 69
e-mail: fundacja@pogranicze.sejny.pl

White Synagogue

The Bordeland Team