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RELEASE 17 JUNE 2010
Newsletter 2/2010Summertime greetings from FÖSS!In this newsletter you will be able to learn about two new FÖSS projects. Information about the new Board, the new secretary and the current work plan is also presented. This year the Annual General Meeting of ESIN will be held in Denmark. The new Board of FÖSS and the work plan for the year 2010A new Board for FÖSS was elected at the Annual General Meeting in Mach, a few new people came aboard. FÖSS would like to thank the Board members who were in turn to resign for their valuable co-operation. Ms. Pirjo Hoffström was re-elected as the chairperson. Members of the current Board of the association are as follows:
The membership dues for 2010 are kept unchanged; i.e. an individual ordinary member 5 €, a family 10 €, a supporting member 5 €, an association 20 €, a municipality 100 €. FÖSS is involved as a co-operating partner in the Interreg project "Green Islands", for which the main applicant from Finland research and development institute Aronia of Åbo Akademi university. The project application, which was submitted in May, has been reacted upon positively; also a pledge concerning national financing has been given. Sweden carries principal responsibility for the project, the other partners being Estonian islands and the Åland Islands. FÖSS also participates as an "additional partner" in the "Virtu" project (Virtual Elderly Care Services on Baltic Islands). Also this project has been reacted upon positively in respect of financing. New projects within the realm of FÖSS: "Voices from the Archipelago" and "The Cultural Heritage of the Archipelago""Formerly, everything used to be better" is a saying that is often utilised as a counterreaction against modern society. The past is apt to be considered as more rosy and more beautiful the more remote it appears to be, but what about actual facts? Most of us are unable to recall what were the living conditions in the archipelago at earlier times – many of us, as a matter of fact, don't know what it means to be an archipelago inhabitant today. That is why FÖSS has initiated two projects, "Voices from the Archipelago" and "The Cultural Heritage of the Archipelago", with the aim to preserve reminiscences of the archipelago and to make archipelago stories visible. By preserving reminiscences and by forwarding stories we will be more conscious about our past, about the impact it has had on past generations, and about the impact it has on our everyday life. This information might strengthen one's identity as an archipelago inhabitant and heighten the feeling of solidarity in archipelagos. It is not just the island inhabitants themselves who will be able to profit by learning about reminiscences old and new. Also tourists and summer guests will learn more about the islands by means of them. Naturally, a lot of books and research materials deal with archipelagos, but, as a matter of fact, the achipelago inhabitants themselves are the ones who mould the archipelagos into their current shape. This renders the stories valuable from the point of view of their contents. So, please, come along and bring with you your stories about life in the archipelago! You can either write down your story as it is or pick up one or several themes, for example reminiscences from school years, about electrifying, about transportation past and present, etc. (more information available in Finnish and in Swedish). If you prefer to present your story in the form of an interview we can record it and write it down. During the summer of 2010 storytelling workshops will be organised at various locations in the archipelagos. At these you, together with other likeminded person, will be given an opportunity to recall and tell about occurrences in the archipelago. Please, contact us in case you or your association/village community will host one of these storytelling workshops! If you think that you don't have the ability either to tell your story or to write it down, perhaps you will create a box of reminiscences. A box of reminiscences is a kind of visual history of recollections, into which you may place various keepsakes connected with your life, for example photos and letters or hobby articles and tools like toys, fishing nets and yarns. It is up to you to decide about the contents of the box. The stories will, inter alia, result in articles in magazines and digital media, and also in educational teaching materials. It is up to you if you will participate anonymously. Project co-ordinators and their contact details: The projects "Voices from the Archipelago" and "The Cultural Heritage of the Archipelago" are financed by Svenska kulturfonden (The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland) and by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Secretary of FÖSS and, also, the Swedish-speaking
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