IETM Autumn Plenary Meeting in Vilnius 8-11 October 2009
From 08-10-09 till 11-10-09 - Vilnius, Lithuania
Menų spaustuvė has a privilege of hosting IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting – www.ietm.org) network‘s plenary meeting in Vilnius October 8-11 2009.

IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting) is a membership organization which exists to stimulate the quality, development and contexts of contemporary performing arts in a global environment, by initiating and facilitating professional networking and communication, the dynamic exchange of information, know-how transfer and presentations of examples of good practice.

A plenary meeting is the main IETM network meeting organized twice a year (spring and autumn) in different cities, bringing together +/- 500 professionals to exchange ideas in an informal way and build closer relations with various partners/members. It normally includes around 25 working sessions and a full performance platform of work from the host country or city.

IETM Autumn Plenary Meeting in Vilnius puts a new point on IETM meetings map. East is the direction. East, which became very sexy two decades ago, right after the Berlin Wall came down. East, which started losing its glamour as the iron curtain sank into the history.

The meeting in Vilnius will deal with Eastern Promises on one hand and Western expectations on the other. It will explore the new colonisations of all sorts, going from the East to the West and vice versa; and the territories culture and art has colonized in our own societies.

With the help of International Theatre Festival Sirenos, the meeting will present the rich tradition of the Lithuanian theatre, starting with the great masters of metaphor and rebellion, and finishing with new names and trends on the Lithuanian performing arts scene. Lithuanian Dance Information Centre has been involved in creating a programme representing national contemporary dance panorama, which will also be presented for meeting participants. Apart from Lithuanian arts, a platform for Latvian and Estonian showcases will be given space.

The main organizers of the meeting are Menų spaustuvė, International Theatre Festival Sirenos (www.sirenos.lt) and Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009 (www.culturelive.lt). The meeting will be organized in collaboration with Lithuanian Dance Information Centre, Vilniaus festivaliai, theatre studio Meno fortas.
The artistic programme:

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With its empty beaches, mild climate and unbelievably low prices, Lithuania’s Curonian spit made a perfect family holiday destination!

Can a family of four holiday anywhere outside of the UK for an affordable sum? Researching beach holidays earlier this year in France, Spain and Greece, I couldn’t find anything for less than £3,000.

I don’t mind investing in a good time but this is ridiculous. What happened to the recessional bargain? I reluctantly resigned myself to that idiotic concept, the “staycation” (holidaying at home – also known as not going on holiday at all). And then I heard about Lithuania.

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where: National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, Konstitucijos Avenue 22
when: 2 September - 6 December 2009

The international exhibition “Cold War Modern: Design 1945–1970” brings together art and design from the West and the East of the period which marked dramatic conflict and competition between two major political blocks for first time.

The period 1945–1970 was a time not only of political tension, but also of exceptional creativity. It touched a wide range of human activities – from everyday life to the most remarkable achievements in culture. The Arms and Space Races, and the development of science and technology, have made a huge impact on culture. Concentrating on these highly troublesome and volatile years, the exhibition will reveal the Cold War as a competition between differing concepts of modern life and art in a world divided by the Iron Curtain.

The exhibition includes works by outstanding artists from the West (Lucio Fontana, Pablo Picasso, Ossip Zadkine, and others) and the East (Jiří Kolář, Josef Koudelka, Boris Michailov, Yevgeniy Vuchetich, and others), modern design and craft objects (by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Pierre Cardin, Joe Colombo, Charles and Ray Eames, Dieter Rams, Eero Aarnio, Raymond Loewy, Paco Rabanne, Eero Saarinen, and others), architecture projects (by Archigram, Archizoom, Le Corbusier, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Arata Isozaki, Peter and Alison Smithson, and others) and films (by Stanley Kubrick, Mikhail Kalatozov, Andrei Tarkovsky, and others). Achievements in science and engineering, such as the model of the first artificial satellite “Sputnik”, model of the “Vostok” spacecraft capsule, spacesuits of USA astronauts and USSR cosmonauts, models of Moscow and Ješted (former Czechoslovakia) TV towers and others, will also be presented to the viewers.

The exhibition is organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Curators: Jane Pavitt and David Crowley.

Date: September 30 - October 3, 2009
Venue: Artis Centrum Hotel
Organisers: * Euro Working Group of OR and Development, * Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania, * Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Lithuania

The scope of International Vilnius conferences on sustainable development is to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary communication, emphasising those areas that provide the most benefits for state-of-the-art of sustainability development including sustainability methodology for sustainable economics and sustainable human life connected with knowledge-based and economic technologies.

The main focus of this conference is to provide a launch pad to collaborate between the young, dynamic and experienced researchers and practitioners from disciplinary and inter-disciplinary areas to come together and help the sustainable development with their models, solutions and share their in-valuable experiences.

The Preliminary programme of the Conference can be viewed here

Date: 30 September - 3 October, 2009
Venue: Reval Hotel Lietuva, Vilnius, Lithuania
Organisers: KTU Regional Science Park, Kaunas Regional Innovation Centre, Kaunas University of Technology, Ministry of Economy The Republic of Lithuania, Enterprise Europe Network, Representation of European Commission in Lithuania, Baltic Association of Science/Technology Parks and Innovation Centres, Agency for International Science and Technology Development Programmes in Lithuania.

The 2009 Baltic Dynamics Conference – The Dynamics of Innovation Spaces: Bringing Innovation to Society – will be held in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania on 30 September to 3 October, 2009. The conference organisers are delighted to invite experts and policy makers from around the world involved in innovation and SMEs development as well as in technology transfer – innovative companies, representatives from SME support institutions, public authorities responsible for SMEs and innovation – to participate in the conference, present your experience and discuss the issues and new initiatives in the field.

The Baltic Dynamics Conference is annually organised Baltic countries initiative aiming at a promotion of international co-operation in the fields of innovation, SMEs support and technology transfer. The Conference is organised since 1995 in turn by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and attracts participants from a broad range of countries from all continents around the globe. It promotes exchange of experience and adds to the successful development of innovation and economy.

The Conference will aim at promotion of innovativeness among policy makers, business, science, education and society. Submissions from academics, policy makers, consultants, managers in innovation management, technology transfer as well as in SMEs support field are strongly encouraged and should focus on the following topics:
Triple Helix – Implications for Policy and Practice
Regional Innovation Environments and Innovative Regions
International Co-operation in Knowledge Transfer
The Role of Traditions in Innovation Processes
Innovative Approaches in Business Management
@Innovation
Creativity and Innovation Management
new Entrepreneurship Development Policies and Initiatives

Draft programme of the conference can be accessed here

The Baltic Sea region currently attracts around 125 million tourists per year, while the Mediterranean Sea region, surrounded by countries perfect for vacations (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt or France), attracts 500 million tourists.

During the Second Baltic Sea Tourism Forum in Vilnius, heads of the region’s national tourism administrations and representatives of the UN World Tourism Organization agreed that forces should be joined during the crisis: advertising should be more effective and cheaper.

Furthermore, the move would allow attracting tourists from distant countries who may have known nothing about separate countries of the mentioned region.

Verslo žinios, 25.09.2009.

A cycle of concerts “Music in the Trakai Island Castle”
Location of the concerts: Trakai Castle hall

October 4, Sunday, 4.00 pm.
Trakai Castle hall
QUARTET OF CIURLIONIS, EDMUNDAS SEILIUS (tenor), KRISTINA ZMAILAITĖ (soprano): Massenet, Debussy, Duparc, Ravel…
October 18, Sunday, 4.00 pm.
Trakai Castle hall
QUARTET OF VILNIUS STRINGS, JUDITA LEITAITĖ (mezzo-soprano): Čiurlionis, Schulhoff, Scarlatti, Mozart, Schubert, Weckerlin…
November 8, Sunday, 4.00 pm.
Trakai Castle hall
MUSICA HUMANA, soloist - JULIJA STUPNIANEK (soprano): Antonio Vivaldi
November  22, Sunday, 4.00 pm.
Trakai Castle hall
QUARTET OF CIURLIONIS, VERONIKA POVILIONIENĖ (vocal) and vocal group, DAINIUS PULAUSKAS (keyboards), VALERIJUS RAMOŠKA (trumpet)

December 6, Sunday, 4.00 pm.
Trakai Castle hall
QUARTET OF BALTIC GUITARS, soloists: JUDITA LEITAITĖ (mezzo-soprano), SERGEJ KRINICIN (guitar)
December 20, Sunday, 4.00 pm.
Trakai Castle hall
QUARTET OF CIURLIONIS, soloist ASTA KRIKŠČIŪNAITĖ (soprano): Naujalis, Kačanauskas, Indra, Juozapaitis, Weckerlin, traditional Christmas  songs.

Additional information:
You can travel from Vilnius to Trakai on concerts days by special bus for free with the tickets, which will be purchased in the Lithuanian National Philharmonic. The bus leaves at 13.30. from the Arkliu street Square and return after the concert. Seats are limited!
You can visit the Trakai Island Castle museum with tickets to the concert date for free , but not earlier than one hour before the event.