Czech and Slovak Cultural Center

This is a great opportunity to learn about two countries in one place without hopping on a plane! Come to Landmark Center on Sunday, April 17th, 2011 from 1-3:00 PM. Landmark Center is presenting an Urban Expedition to Czech Republic and Slovakia. This is a free family friendly program sponsored by Landmark Center. Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota has put together a stage program with a shorter version of their Dvorak Concert by Frank Trnka, his soloist Jody and her husband Stu on Guitar and Sax, a performance by the present and newly crowned Miss Czech-Slovak Minnesota, dance performances by the Mlada Skupina, Tanecni Mladez and Teens and the St. Paul Czech and Slovak Folk Dancers and a “style” show of Slovak, Moravian, and Bohemian Folk Dress. Denis Novak, Vice President of Sokol MN will be the emcee. The “Czech/Slovak Moms” club will offer a puppet show using the Sokol theatre and also a pernicky decorating area and coloring area for children. Sokol MN will sell a variety of goodies–kolache for sure and we think cabbage rolls and pirohy and euro-dogs. All this has been put in place very quickly, but was an opportunity we could not pass up. See more information athttp://www.landmarkcenter.org/SundayPR2010.html

By Donald Pafko, Honorary Consul for the Slovak Republic

The annual conference on Czech & Slovak Culture & History was held March 10th-12th, 2011 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, under the sponsorship of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.

The conference kicked off with a welcome reception held at the Kosek Building in the Czech Village. Dignitaries who were invited to be presenters at the conference were introduced, and Director Gail Naughton welcomed all conference attendees and promised a very interesting and stimulating conference.

The conference officially began Friday morning, March 11th. Subjects covered on the first day of the conference included a very broad range such as “Czechoslovakia 1989-1992″, “What We Know About Slovakia’s Last Two Decades and Why We Should Care”, “The Czech Republic 1993 to 2011″,. The day concluded with a gala dinner and a presentation entitled “1989-2011 Transitions to Democracy”, featuring Slovak Ambassador Peter Burian, former Slovak Ambassador Martin Butora and Jiri Ellinger, Head of the Political Section, Embassy of the Czech Republic.

Saturday’s conference activities commenced with a welcome by Gail Naughton who gave an update on the status of the new National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. Presentations for the second day of the conference included subjects such as “Being Hungarian in Slovakia: The Politics of Minority Rights”, ”The Collision of Nationalism, Democratization, and Europeanization in Post Socialist Slovakia”. The day concluded with a gala dinner reception at the Marriott Hotel. Ambassador Adrian Basora, former US Ambassador to Prague, made a presentation entitled “The Velvet Revolution 22 Years Later”.

This concludes a series of conferences dealing with Czech & Slovak Culture & History. Many thanks to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library for promoting and organizing, and sponsoring this every informative and productive conference. I look forward to more of such conferences in the future.

Pictured from left to right.
Slovak Ambassador Peter Burian, Gail Naughton, Director – NCSML, Dr. Pavel Cernoch, Czech Representative to the EU in Brussels, Sharon Valasek, Honorary Czech Consul, Donald Pafko, Honorary Slovak Consul