This year The Annual Meeting was hosted by the newest member of VIEWS International – The International Council for Cultural Centers (I3C) from Bulgaria (associated last September in Fondi, Italy). The General Assembly was hold in the Bulgarian capital on 22 September in the offices of The Sofia Bread House, part of I3C.
The majority of the members were present (France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania and The United Kingdom), Belgium and Turkey were present by proxy so the required quorum for a legitimate meeting was guaranteed. The hosts from Bulgaria were present as observers. The Chief of The Executive Office Anca David honoured The Summit as well.
The Assembly went off very smoothly through the agenda guided by the delegated administrator Anna Rita De Bonis: activity and financial reports were approved unanimously, provisional budget and future projects voted as well. Two members of The Board, The President Michael Thornton (UK) and Stavroula Kousteni (Greece), were discharged (effective as of 2019) after their mandates expired. A discussion about innovative platforms and solutions to foster easier collaboration within the network of VIEWS International concluded this year’s General Assembly.
After the official part of the event our hosts Zdrava Vodenicharova, Sandra Topalska and Ivan Karastoyanov from The Sofia Bread House were so kind to demonstrate their unique way of making bread. That session was rather a mutual sharing experience while the participants were split in pairs who had to knead their dough together, to exchange thoughts and feelings and at the end to express themselves through shaping their breads in a certain way. Everything ended up with a storytelling and a lot of positive emotions.
During the leisure time some of the delegates enjoyed shopping and a sightseeing tour led by the certified guide and UK representative Nikola Bakalov while the rest took the opportunity to outline future initiatives, cooperations and partnerships in an informal atmosphere.
So at the end there is just one thing to say: See You all at The 2019 General Assembly… maybe in Paris 12