The Minister of Culture Boil Banov congratulated the community centre cultural activists and the entire amateur artist community on the special day of March 1^st.

 Here is what the congratulation speech of Minister Banov says:

 It is my honour to welcome you on the occasion of 165 years of community centre activity, 110 years since the establishment of the Union of National Community Centres and March 1^st - Amateur Art and Artistic Activity Day!

  For over a century and a half, the community centres serve as a cornerstone and have supported the foundations of our common home — Bulgaria. They are not only the protectors of the past, but a pillar and a powerful engine for preserving us as a people, as a proud and strong nation in the big European family. The Union of National Community Centres and its cultural activists have their ever-lasting mission for the years to come to preserve our intangible cultural heritage and our national identity, so it is our duty to preserve and strengthen them.

  It is with great excitement that I bow before the work of those who bring the light of the spirit and clear for us new paths of knowledge and art. That is why today I am even more confident that, thanks to our common efforts, your authority and the increasingly crucial role for the development of our society continue to rise. Our country highly appreciates the importance of these cultural and intellectual centres and this is evident, I believe, not only because of the almost 50% increase in the standard amount of a subsidized unit for the community centres, thanks to the fact that for the third year BGN 2 million is provided for filling up the library book collections, or the proposal that the Ministry of Culture made for their inclusion in the Plan for Recovery and Sustainability of the country in regards to the energy efficiency measures. I am convinced that along with this care, the very reason for the rise of the unique Bulgarian community centre-s (Chitalishte) activity stands the immense love for tradition preserved in the original art of amateur artists. And one of the evidence for this is the recently received world level recognition of the inclusion of “martenitsa” (a traditional adornment) in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

  Therefore, even today, when we all give each other wishes for health, by exchanging precisely this symbol of our revival for a new life, I wish each and every community centre and amateur artist to feel their own personal revival. As long as we have your teams of cultural activists and amateur artists, schools and libraries, we will also have our eternal intellectual and spiritual values in our national culture.

 Happy Holiday!