Hungary: Second annual BUVERO camp for young Romani women underway

The second year of BUVERO, the Romedia Foundation's summer camp for young Romani women is underway from 9-23 August in Dunavarsány, Hungary. This year the number of participants has doubled and 24 young Romani women are attending what the foundation calls an "intense and rewarding learning experience".

Just like last year, participants will have the opportunity to work with renowned professionals from all over the world, learning about everything from Romani history and culture to the power of forming a community, storytelling, media, journalism, filmography, editing and more. After these two weeks of training in citizen journalism, the best stories produced (whether video reportages, short films, or music videos) during the summer camp will be exibited in Berlin this October at the BUVERO EXPO.

That exhibition will benefit from being seen by a broad international audience, furthering Romedia's goal of making Romani culture and history better-known throughout the world as a way to combat prejudice and stereotypes. It will feature cross-border cultural learning sessions, a workshop on the exhibition, a contemporary art exhibition highlighting Romani culture, a Time Capsule installation and performance at the TAK Theater im Aufbau Haus, as well as film screenings and discussions with innovative performers.

That event is being organized in collaboration with TAK Theater im Aufbau Haus and the Galerie Kai Dikhas in Berlin. It will be a comprehensive contemporary art and media happening built around projects that have already come to fruition as well as the new artworks and media created during this year's Buvero camp, the workshops of BUVERO EXPO, and new audio-visual performances stemming from collaborations between contemporary artists, musicians and actors.

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The summer camp so far

Romedia Foundation says that on 9 August, 24 young Romani women arrived at the camp site in Dunavarsány with "high expectations and excitement about these new learning opportunities!" Romedia's executive director, Katalin Barsony, familiarised the participants with the concept of the Media Summer Camp and set the tone for the next 15 days.

The first lecture, on prejudice, was given by Professor Síklaki István of ELTE University. Agnes Daroczi, an activist, former TV presenter, founding member of Romedia and journalist lectured on Romani identity and what it means to be of Romani heritage.

The discussion of these issues was set in the context of how the visual depiction practices of the mainstream media portray Romani people. Journalist and sociologist Vera Munk then gave several lectures about media, starting with an introduction to basic journalism, and continuing with a lecture on professional journalism and reporting.

Both of her lectures discussed film/video and print media as well as postmodern media and blogging. The first five days of theoretical training will be followed by 10 days of practice.

Romedia says the practical sessions are the "most exciting and important" part of the summer camp, as participants will get an opportunity to start expressing themselves creatively, both behind the camera and in front of it. Participants have already interviewed each other to report directly from BUVERO.

FOTOGALERIE