The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) has introduced the names of 5 finalists for its €10,000 biennial Tajsa Roma Cultural Heritage Prize Award happening on Saturday (29 November), on the historic Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Romania.
The finalists are:
· Lifelong flamenco dancer and actress Coco Reyes from Spain (pictured);
· prodigy of Italian high fashion Noell Maggini;
· British singer-songwriter with an everyday presence on the Maxim Gorki Theater Riah Knight:
· Albanian visible artist Sead Kazanxhiu, and
· artist turned activist Selma Selman from Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose work showcases the survival methods of Roma households who accumulate and promote metallic. It transforms luxurious automobiles into scrap metallic, digital waste into gold and handbook labour into artwork.
They have been chosen from over 36 nominations that ERIAC acquired from throughout Europe this yr.
Their work spans visible arts, efficiency, style, music, and neighborhood engagement, affirming the creativity and continuity of Roma cultural heritage throughout Europe at a time when illustration within the area stays scarce.
Celebrating its fourth version, the Tajsa Prize will honour a Roma particular person whose work advances Roma cultural expression and reimagines heritage for future generations.
The Prize embodies Roma cultural management, satisfaction, and self-determination.
Speaking in regards to the award, Timea Junghaus, Executive Director, ERIAC, mentioned, “The Prize highlights the brilliance, creativity, and mental management lengthy current in Roma communities, but too usually missed in mainstream cultural narratives.
“The title “Tajsa,” that means “tomorrow” in Romani, displays this future-oriented imaginative and prescient. The Prize celebrates at this time’s excellence whereas inspiring future generations to inherit a stronger, extra assured Roma cultural panorama.”
“The Tajsa Prize has aimed to have fun excellent Roma people shaping up to date Roma tradition, encourage a brand new technology of creators by means of recognition and help and strengthen the worldwide presence and authority of Roma inventive and mental voices,” Junghaus added.
Previous winners embody Romanian Roma actress, playwright, and director Alina Șerban (2019), Zita Moldovan (2021) Romanian actress, long-time TV host, co-founder of the Giuvlipen Roma feminist theatre firm and Małgorzata Mirga-Tas (2023), internationally acclaimed Polish-Romani visible artist, identified for reimagining Roma historical past and identification by means of large-scale textile works, and the primary Roma artist to characterize a rustic on the Venice Biennale.
An ERIAC spokesperson expressed the importance of being nominated for the Tajsa Award:
“Being chosen as a finalist for the Tajsa Prize is each an honour and a accountability. This recognition highlights the dedication of Roma creators and changemakers working throughout Europe to protect our cultural heritage and push for inclusion and visibility. We hope that our work evokes future Romani generations to proceed shaping a extra equitable and vibrant cultural panorama.”
Rooted in ERIAC’s founding rules, the Tajsa Roma Cultural Heritage Prize celebrates the previous, current, and way forward for Roma cultural identification. “Tajsa” means “tomorrow” in Romani—symbolizing continuity, evolution, and hope for generations to come back.
The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) is the transnational group devoted to the popularity of Roma arts and tradition on the European degree. Serving as a world inventive hub, ERIAC fosters the change of concepts throughout borders and inventive disciplines, promotes Romani contributions to European tradition, and paperwork the historic and up to date experiences of Roma individuals.
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