Cultural Directory of Slovakia

Iuventa is a contributory organisation of the Ministry of Education of the SR and its activity is oriented towards work with children and youth and education by means of informal methods.

Situated amid the Štiavnické vrchy Mountains, Štiavnické Bane is spread like an amphitheatre along both sides of the road from Banská Štiavnica to Levice. Today´s municipality was formed in the latter half of the 20th century through consolidation of the independent mining settlements of Piarg (made up of Siglisberg and Vindšachta) and Horná Roveň. Sigelsberg (Siglisberg) is mentioned as early as the mid 14th century as a possession of the town Banská Štiavnica when it was forcibly occupied by the castellan of Šášov Castle. The origin of Vindšachta probably dates back to the 16th century.

Čičmany is a distinctive village of scenic beauty surrounded by the peaks of the Strážov Hills and the Malá Fatra Mountains in the southern part of Rajec Valley, south west of Rajec municipality. The oldest surviving reference to the village dates from the 13th century. Inhabitants of the village, also famous for its characteristic folk embroidery, were originally involved in sheep raising and selling sheep cheese, with supplementary trade in coarse cloth slippers and shoes.

The National Institute of Slovak Language and Literature is a central interdisciplinary scientific, professional, organisational-methodological and documentational-presentational department of Matica Slovenská (MS), which takes care of general social practice activities in the field of national language and Slovak literature. Its establishing document and rules of organisation are issued, after approval by the MS Committee and the MS Chairman. The Managing Director is appointed and withdrawn by the Chairman of MS following the results of a competition or tender act.

The Ivan Sokol International Organ Festival is the oldest festival of organ music held in Slovakia. Its founder and dramaturgist was Ivan Sokol, a soloist with the Slovak State Philharmonic Košice.

Established in 1994, the Evenings of New Music International Festival presents current happening in the area of new music. It is a small festival but since its inception its organisers have managed to add Bratislava to the list of European cities which keep up to date with current trends in musical art.

The Envirofilm international film festival is the largest educational and promotional event of its kind in Slovakia. The objective is to present and award new films and TV programmes that by their content and artistic level help to disseminate information about nature and ideas related to environmental protection.

The Press Council of the Slovak Republic was established with the aim of promoting and protecting the rights of the public to true, verified and professionally-grounded information. It monitors compliance with the principles of ethics in the work of journalists in the periodicals published in Slovakia, considers complaints relating to contraventions of these principles and supervises observance of the right to freedom of press and free access to information sources.

After more than four decades the Regional Summer Festival of Song and Dance, which took place in a small amphitheater of Slovan Hotel in Piešťany on the 3rd of June 1956, started to be regarded as the 1st annual Folklore Festival.

This annual festival of Ruthenian-Ukrainian citizens living in Slovakia presents their folklore and folk tradition

Hont Region Parade is a folklore festival held in Hrušov that presents old-time farming skills applied in the Hrušov fields as well skills of craftsmen from all over Slovakia and folkloric performances by Slovak and foreign performers.

RUD - Crafts, Art, Design magazine has been issued since 2000. It systematically addresses the issues of traditional and contemporary craft, design and applied art. Simultaneously, it offers current profiles of artists, news reports from exhibitions, contributions and information from current happenings in the field of design, crafts and folk art production. It is published as a quarterly magazine with 56 pages, including an English summary, and is intended for professional artists and craftsmen, fine arts students as well as for the general public.

The Institute of Philosophy was founded in 1946 as a part of Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 1953 it became a part of Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS). In 1975 the Institute was merged with the Institute of Sociology under the title Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Slovak Academy of Sciences.

The Education and Culture Directorate of Banská Bystrica Regional Government supervises effective learning of children and young people at pre-school, primary and secondary levels and is also responsible for the field of culture in the self-governing region.

Although Bratislava has a rich musical tradition, it was only permitted to develop along particular lines during the communist era. Contemporary music from America and Europe was disparaged, as was Slovak music influenced by western trends, so that performances were severely restricted. The concept of organising an international festival of contemporary music occupied the minds of younger composers and musicologists as early as the late 1960s. At that time, the idea faced opposition from both politicians and the Union of Composers.

The Publishing House of the Slovak Writers’ Society publishes 30 book publications per year, including original Slovak works and translations of works by foreign authors.

Description to follow

The Directorate of Religious Affairs of the Slovak Ministry of Culture provides the implementation of state administration in accordance with the Competence Act in the section of churches and religious groups.

An award for translation from a foreign language into the Slovak language is given annually in the following categories:

Abov Cultural Centre (hereinafter referred to as ‘KCA’) is an establishment that carries out cultural-educational, professional-counselling and cultural activities within the territorial field of application of Košice-okolie (namely, the territory of five micro-regions Olšava, Slanské, Kecerovce, Hornad and Torysa). This subsidised cultural institution of Košice Self-Governing Region was established on 1 January 2009. KCA, having its offices in Bidovce, seeks to interconnect and intensify regional and local culture in 64 municipalities of the region.

Új Szó Daily is the only daily newspaper in the Slovak Republic issued in a minority language whose target group is represented by citizens of Hungarian nationality. As it has been issued since 1948, it is also one of the longest-issued dailies in Slovakia, now published six times a week. The structure of the newspaper comprises current affairs and culture, education and sport sections, but it is primarily aimed at the culture and lifestyle of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Its territorial scope is predominantly the southern regions of Slovakia.

Published since 1992, the Economic Newspaper Daily (Hospodárske noviny) is thematically oriented on economics, economy and finance. Five times a week it brings current news from the global and domestic economy, but also from politics, analysing social development trends. Current news in the structure of the newspaper is supplemented by comments, interviews and reflections. An integral part of the content is up-to-date information about events on the world stock markets, and exchange listings of the world's currencies and commodities.

An international festival of animation films for children - Biennial of Animation Bratislava (BAB) is an event that already has tradition. From its very beginnings, it was formed as an accompanying event to another major cultural event – Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (BIB).

The competition further develops the tradition started in 1965, which, since its establishment, has tried to improve design level and quality of polygraphic production of books. The main organiser of the competition is BIBIANA, International House of Art for Children.

TRANSLATE Úrad pre Slovákov žijúcich v zahraničí je orgánom štátnej správy so sídlom v Bratislave. Úrad je rozpočtovou organizáciou, ktorá je napojená na rozpočet Úradu vlády SR. Na čele úradu je predseda, ktorého vymenúva a odvoláva vláda. Funkčné obdobie predsedu úradu je päť rokov. Predseda je zároveň vedúcim služobného úradu. Predseda úradu nesmie byť členom politickej strany alebo politického hnutia, nesmie vystupovať v ich mene alebo pôsobiť v ich prospech.Úrad pre Slovákov žijúcich v zahraničí: