The French city of Limoges, famous for the porcelain production, hosted the General Assembly of Members of the European Ceramics Route Association on October 22-23, 2021. Our city, one of the Association members, was represented by Krzysztof Hewak (president of the Association of Ceramic Communities of the Republic of Poland, head of the Development and Promotion Department of the City of Bolesławiec) and representatives of the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec: Anna Bober-Tubaj (director) and Barbara Glinkowska.
During the two-day conference, many topics were discussed regarding the functioning and further development options of the Route, prospects for expanding the tourist offer and for exchange of experiences and good practices. There was also a presentation of new centres included in the route structures: Porsgrunn (Norway), Aveiro (Portugal), (Manises) Spain and Sheki (Azerbaijan).
On the second day, panel meetings were held in narrower groups. The representatives of the route’s coordinator – the city of Faenza – Benedetta Diamanti and Elisabetta di Martino discussed the intensification of virtual activities, involving broader availability of the collections of individual institutions on the Internet, and building a coherent promotional strategy for events on the route. We also discussed the participation of Bolesławiec in next year’s edition of the Argilla Italia festival. The delegation from Bolesławiec had a chance to discuss with representatives of the Norwegian Telemark Museum: Jorunn Sem Fure, Ann-Kathrin Samuelsen and Karolina Szawica. Numerous activities were mentioned and are due to be implemented in the coming years as part of the project “Poland and Norway on the European Ceramics Route: including Bolesławiec and Porsgrunn in the international cooperation network cities with ceramic traditions”. Examples of such activities include training for representatives of the pottery industry, exchange of experience between museologists from different parts of Europe, pottery workshops and ceramics exhibitions planned for both partners.
