The Cyprus State Orchestra (CSO) and the Cyprus State Youth Orchestra (CSYO) are under the responsibility of the Cultural Services. At present the CSO prepares approximately ten series of concerts a year which are performed on a permanent basis in all major towns in the free areas of the island. In addition, it gives regular concerts in schools and occasional concerts on various occasions. Since October 1999, the Ministry of Education and Culture, in its effort to develop aesthetic education in children, started implementing educational programs in schools with the Cyprus State Orchestra.
These Educational Programs take the form of:
(a) visits to schools by members of the orchestra where they work with the children during their music lesson, or for a whole day (music day) and share with them intense musical experiences.
(b) big projects, in which the orchestra, a school and a composer cooperate for the production of a major work.
(c) especially prepared concerts for the children, in concert halls. The CSYO prepares 2-3 programs a year which are presented in the major towns.
A 10-day annual summer school is also organized for additional individual and group tuition and training in chamber music. The Cultural Services also organize concerts of Cypriot artists who reside permanently abroad and of foreign ensembles invited within the framework of the program of cultural exchanges between Cyprus and other countries.
Associations and Foundations in Cyprus
The Cultural Services provide financial aid to nearly 80 associations or foundations which are interested in cultural development. Financial support and assistance are also offered to municipalities in organizing local art festivals. Within the concept of cultural decentralization, encouragement is given to private initiative too and occasional grants are offered.
Cyprus Dance
The aim of the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture is the development of artistic dance through supporting research and artistic creation by encouraging individual initiative, the encouragement of popular participation by appropriate education and information, and the promotion of the instruction of young people in the subjects of classical and contemporary dance. The Cultural Services also promote the projection of Cyprus artistic potential abroad, while at the same time they strengthen through subsidization the agencies that are increasingly active in this field. In 2001 the “Dance Platform” was organized for the first time, giving the opportunity to ensembles to present their work within the framework of an organized program. The event has now been established as an institution.
The Ministry has adopted the institution under the name DANCE PLATFORM – Choreographic Meetings and instituted a prize for the best choreography.
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