Press releases

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Press conference April 16, 2025.

On Wednesday, April 16, we invited local and regional media to a press briefing. We divided it into two parts: in the first part, Lukasz Wudarski talked about this year’s Golden Mills Awards, while the second part was devoted to the activities carried out under the “Builders in Kuyavia and Pomerania” project.
This year, the Golden Mills, or Kujawsko-Pomorskie Cultural Animation Awards will be given in five categories: in response to votes from the community of cultural animators in the region, there was a new category: Manager/Woman of Culture. WOAK director Lukasz Wudarski talked about the idea of the award and the need to appreciate people who usually remain in the shadows.
“Female Builders in Kuyavia and Pomerania” is a project that is a continuation of last year’s Festival of Forgotten Cultures. Katarzyna Pągowska, WOAK’s deputy director for substantive affairs, and Anna Weistock-Mentel, project specialist, talked about the project.
Finally, the program for WOAK’s May anniversary celebration was briefly presented.

The “Female Builders in Kuyavia and Pomerania” project was co-financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture – a state purpose fund.

The project “Female Builders in Kuyavia and Pomerania” was co-financed from the budget of the Self-Government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship

The Golden Mill Awards in the Animator/Animator of the Year and Manager/Manager of Culture categories are prizes of the Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Piotr Całbecki.

The Golden Mill Award in the category Hope of Cultural Animation was under the Honorary Patronage of the Chairwoman of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship Assembly, Elżbieta Piniewska.

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Press conference February 21, 2025.

What is universal design? This concept is derived from architecture and implies such a design philosophy that the objects realized are accessible to as many people as possible. On cultural grounds, one can speak of universal design when a given work is accessible without the need for adaptation. Referring to this philosophy, WOAK will implement the Universal Art Design project in 2025-26.

The Universal Art Design project is funded by the European Union within the Creative Europe project. The value of the subsidy from the European Union is 200,000 euros.
The project is also co-financed from the budget of the Local Government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Partners in the project are the Teatro Stabile del Veneto national theater from Italy and the Kulturanova association from Serbia.

On Friday, February 21, a press conference was held at WOAK, where the assumptions of the Universal Art Design project were presented, as well as information about the call for artistic groups interested in participating. The recruitment will last until April 17, 2025.

The conference was attended by Katarzyna Pągowska – WOAK Deputy Director for Content, author and coordinator of the project, Patrycja Gancarczyk – WOAK Accessibility Coordinator and Anna Weistock-Mentel – Project Specialist.

The Universal Art Design project is funded by the European Union within the Creative Europe project. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Executive Agency for Education and Culture (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA is responsible for them.

Supported by funds from the Local Government of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region.

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Press conference January 16, 2025.

The topic of the first press conference this year was primarily the National Film Festival “Greenhouse”, which will be held from February 28 to March 2. Lukasz Wudarski, director of WOAK, reminded the audience that this is a festival without prizes, and therefore also without competition… Greenhouse is also primarily workshops, meetings and a free exchange of experiences.

The second theme of the conference, was this year’s 50th anniversary of WOAK, which will be recalled on various occasions.

The third topic was this year’s WOAK activities aimed at male and female artists and cultural personnel in the region. Among other things, Katarzyna Pągowska, deputy director for substantive affairs, spoke about the projects we are preparing: Creative ferment – debuts, Come to the boards and Universal Art Design.

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Press conference September 27, 2024.

In November, at the WOAK in Toruń, we will be talking about the Women Builders. In the Year of Brave Women in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, we have decided to title the second edition of the Festival of Forgotten Cultures “Female Builders. Herstories of Brave Women.”

On Friday, September 27, we invited the media to briefly talk about what we have prepared for you this year. Katarzyna Pągowska, Deputy Director for Content Affairs, talked about the idea of the project, while the details of the Festival program were presented by Lukasz Wudarski, Director of WOAK.

The conference was also attended by Magdalena Jasinska and Anna Weistock-Mentel, who have conducted field research in the region since August. The purpose of this research was to gather information about women who changed local communities with their commitment, determination and perseverance. Often forgotten, they are almost always underestimated. Their activities still remain in the shadows.

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Press conference September 12, 2024.

Hours before the start of the second edition of the Young Theater Festival, a press conference announcing the event was held at WOAK. The invited journalists and journalists were greeted by Lukasz Wudarski – WOAK director and Katarzyna Pągowska – deputy director for substantive affairs.
After a brief introduction, Zofia Papinska and Jakub Jagielski – coordinators of the Festival – took the floor. They briefly presented the idea and program of the event.

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Press conference May 22, 2024.

Spring is a joyous time for the Provincial Center for Cultural Animation. In recent weeks, we have received numerous announcements about obtaining funding and acquired grants, thanks to which we will introduce new projects to the offer at WOAK and continue existing activities. We are happy about these successes and the fact that our ideas have been appreciated by grantors. One hundred percent success in obtaining grants is the success of many people involved in preparing applications, instructors: Agnieszka Zakrzewska, Paula Rudź and Patrycja Gancarczyk from the Department of Cultural Animation, headed, of course, by the director duo: Łukasz Wudarski and Katarzyna Pągowska.
During Wednesday’s (May 22, 2024) press conference, we briefly presented information about the projects that will be implemented thanks to the obtained funding. As Katarzyna Pągowska, deputy director for substantive affairs, emphasized during the conference, our “efficiency” is 100%. All the applications we have submitted have received grants.
Follow our website and social media. We will keep you updated on the progress of each of these projects.

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Press conference February 24, 2024.