The Festival of Cultural Diversity was organized from 16th to 23rd October 2018 at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Organized by the Foundation Cultural Heritage without Borders Bosnia and Herzegovina (CHwB), the Festival celebrated the diversity of cultural heritage brought to BiH by former migrants, nowadays national minorities.
“Throughout the various festival programmes, the relationship of our society with the migrants and national minorities has been questioned in the past, but still is today. Our wish was to point out a significant contribution which, through different time periods, left different cultures and civilizations to the development of our society and its cultural heritage,” says Aida Mia Alić behalf the CHwB BiH.
The Festival was funded by the Government of the United States of America and was organized with the support from the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As part of the Festival program, on the 16th October was organized the opening of the “How Much is the Migrant Worth ” exhibition.
“The exhibition brings personal and collective stories of national minorities that talk about friendship, love, and dedication to our society, but also bring us closer to their personal experiences and life stories,” says the author of the exhibition, Aida Mia Alić.
The Festival also included special events aimed to promote national minorities and their contribution to BiH society. As part of the programme, ”Espresso with the Italians” and “The Trip to India” events were held at the Historical Museum of BiH.
Representatives of the Italian national minority, Tihomir Knežiček, and Zdravko Latal, shared unknown stories about this specific minority group, while Murisa Halilović, a representative of the Roma national minority, spoke about the uniqueness of the Roma community in BiH and beyond.
During the Festival, a special designed tour “The Sherlock of Sarajevo” allowed individuals to walk through different epochs of Sarajevo and learn about (in)visible heritage that belongs to all of them.
The festival is part of the project “(In)Visible: Cultural Rights of National Minorities in BiH”, funded by the Government of the United States of America. The activities of this project were realized in cooperation with associations of national minorities from Tuzla, Banja Luka, Prnjavor, Gradiška, Sarajevo, Visoko and other cities, as well as various institutions dedicated to the preservation and protection of the cultural heritage of BiH.