Engaging With Diversity Rewarded - The Routes Award

AMSTERDAM, January 28 - On Tuesday 26 January 2010, the Routes Princess Margriet Award for
Cultural Diversity was presented at the Royal Flemish Theatre in Brussels,
Belgium. The awards, organised by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF),
were presented by HRH Princess Margriet to two innovative voices in theatre,
Borka Pavicevic and Stefan Kaegi, who have inspired direct communication
between vast varieties of people. They each received a prize of EUR25,000 to
support their future endeavours.

Borka Pavicevic (1947, Montenegro) is dramaturge and publisher, who in
1994 founded Belgrade's Centre for Cultural Decontamination (Centar Za
Kulturnu Dekontaminaciju: CZKD) to fight the homogenisation of culture under
the Milocevic regime. As a creative space for cultural exchange, the centre
has since supported thousands of independent artistic productions and public
gatherings that aimed for the development of civil society in Serbia and
former Yugoslavia. The centre's relevance only continues as Serbia takes its
initial steps towards joining the EU.

Stefan Kaegi (1972, Switzerland) is an international theatre-maker whose
productions are often anchored in the social reality of odd places and always
feature real people playing themselves. For example, Cargo Sofia seats the
audience in the back of a cargo truck driven by two Bulgarian truck drivers
who present what their Europe is all about. Kaegi was unable to attend since
his current project, Best Before, will be premiering shortly in Vancouver.
Other of his works will take place throughout the year on streets, parks,
backs of trucks, tops of high-rise buildings, internet and, yes, even in
theatres.

Among those attending the ceremony were HRH Princess Margriet of the
Netherlands, HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, Secretary General of
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ed Kronenburg and EU Commission
Representative Xavier Troussard. During an onstage discussion, Troussard
applauded the two winners as sources of inspiration: "We must multiply those
kinds of spaces, whether real or virtual, where individual citizens can
experience for themselves the value of diversity." The European Cultural
Foundation was very pleased with this statement coming from the heart of
Brussels as it sums up their main goal.

The award reflects the ECF's over 50 years of commitment to help create
and reinforce a coherent, inclusive cultural space across Europe and beyond
its borders. The foundation does this primarily by stimulating cultural
cooperation and strong cultural policies.

A more in-depth report with interview/profiles with the winners will
appear shortly at:

routesaward.eurocult.org

For the publisher: The Routes Princess Margriet Award for Cultural
Diversity was established in 2008 as tribute to Her Royal Highness Princess
Margriet of the Netherlands. For over 24 years, she acted as chairperson of
the ECF. The Routes Award is an initiative of the European Cultural
Foundation (ECF) in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture
and Science and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is made possible by the
generous support of ACLEU (Association of Charity Lotteries) and the Rabobank
Foundation. For more information see: routesaward.eurocult.org

Press contact ECF: Mascha Ihwe, mascha at eurocult.org, +31(0)20-573-38-68 or +31(0)6-43-08-42-05