Theme of the 2012 Congress: “Embracing our Hungarian cultural heritage”
Embracing our Hungarian Cultural Heritage
We invite all interested members of the community to the 52nd Hungarian As-sociation Conference to be held on No-vember 23-25th at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Cleveland. Featured events of the Conference are the Friday night Lit-erary and Artistic program with classical guitarist, Jozsef Halajko, a graduate of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and the Boston Conservatory, and flutist Gabor Simonfalvi, a graduate of the Béla Bartok Music Conservatory in Budapest.
Saturday night we will be celebrating and honoring our Árpád Society recipients, Miklos Peller and Maximillian Teleki at the Hungarian Association Ball. Both are dedicated Hungarian Americans who serve the community in an exemplary fashion.
Mr. Miklos Peller had spearheaded the request for the reopening of Cleveland’s St. Emeric’s Catholic Church. It was a 40 month long struggle. His patience and per-severance and well as his faith in the resto-ration of a Hungarian Catholic parish are commendable and of great service to the Hungarian Catholic community.
We would also like to honor Maximillian Teleki, President of the Hungarian American Coali-tion. As President of the Coali-tion, he not only considers the welfare of the Hungarian Ameri-can community but is also able to coordinate meetings for Hun-garian representatives, artists, musicians, authors, and educa-tors from Hungary who wish to interface with their American counterparts.
We commend the high pro-file of the Hungarian American Coalition and salute their contri-butions to scholarships and Hu-man Rights Advocacy as well as being instrumental in securing the Visa Waiver program for Hungarians visiting the United States. Join us on November 24th for lunch as Max Teleki recounts his expe-riences as President of the Hungarian American Coalition (HAC), Board Member of the Tom Lantos Institute (TLI), and Board Member of the Inter-national Center for Democratic Transi-tion (ICDT). He will outline Hungary’s role as seen from these perspectives and update us on Hungary’s future pro-spects in his speech titled: “Why ‘Em-bracing our Hungarian Cultural Herit-age’ Matters in 2012 and Beyond.”
The weekend will feature a series of lectures and films tying into our theme of “Embracing our Hungarian Cultural Heritage.” One lecture of spe-cial interest will be the preservation of a miner’s home in Vintondale, Pennsyl-vania, that was recently purchased by the “Hungarian Ethnographic Outdoor Museum at St. Endréd.” It was a daunt-ing process to catalogue everything in this home, untouched since the turn of the past century.
Pursuing this theme we would like to explore the Hungarian cultural herit-age in areas outside the borders of Hungary during the Saturday morning, November 24th round table discussion. Hungarian minorities have had to struggle to maintain their identity and have contributed greatly to the devel-opment and dissemination of Hungari-an self- awareness. Many recounts of their struggles are still oral history and we hope all participants will share their family history. The roundtable discussion will be held in English and Hungarian. Come join us in “Breaking the Silence.”
During the weekend we will feature an exhibit of ceramics of religious subject matter revived through native folk art by Csángo Hungarian artist Mária Petrás. The exhibit room will also have books, ceramics, paintings and items from the Hungarian Heritage Museum of Cleve-land on sale
Friday night, November 23rd, János Nadas and Gyula Kozmon will host a young adult art show featuring works by area Hungarian American Artists. We are still accepting artist applications, so please apply by writing to magyartarsasag@nadas.org.
We will carry out our theme of em-bracing our Hungarian cultural heritage by ending the Saturday luncheon with a fashion show of Hungarian folk costumes and modern day pieces that reflect this tradition. If you would like to model, or are willing to loan blouses, skirts, scarves or vests for this presentation, please con-tact us at magyartarsasag@nadas.org or call Vali after 6 pm at 216-651-4929.
Our Hungarian Conference promises to be a reaffirmation of our Hungarian roots, culture and traditions. Come join us, meet new people, share your ideas and join our community. Hoping to see you in November.
‒ Dr. John Nadas, President