romani_flagOn the occasion of the last International Roma Day, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland has announced the plan for establishing – together with an alliance of Roma artists and the Open Society Foundations – a new Roma Institute for Arts and Culture.

The Institute will be Roma-led, giving Roma a space in which to tell their own story, and will carry out an important educative function for other European Citizens. Roma communities indeed have been living in Europe for more than 600 years, but relatively little is known about their heritage.

The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) will take the legal form of a foundation and is expected to be launched by the middle of the year in Berlin, since the German government has offered to host it.

For more information, please contact Giacomo Manca at giacomo.manca@eurodiaconia.org

Find the full press release here (DE – EN – FR)