The regional Romany festival “Art against prejudices” is being held in Tirana from 5 to 7 April, on the initiative of the European Commission and the Council of Europe. The meeting forms part of a programme of events promoted for the International Romany Day to be celebrated on 8 April. The festival will be animated by performances of artists from South-East Europe including Muharem Serbezovski, the “Silvi Duo Band”, Muharem Tahiri and Hamza Tahirov. Exhibitions of sculptures, photos, paintings and arts and crafts exemplifying Romany culture are being held at the same time at the International Centre of Culture in the Albanian capital. There will also be round tables on the role of art and culture in the process of integrating Romany gipsies and on the contribution that their culture can make to Europe. It is calculated that there are some ten million Roma in the continent. In some countries of Central and Eastern Europe they amount to 5% of the population.
