Speeches, Remarks & Statements in 2009

The Ambassador converses with Ambassador Zoran Jolevski and High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek. (LP)

Arts in Embassies program
Remarks by Ambassador Philip T. Reeker

◊ To see more photos from the event please, click here. 

October 7, 2009

Good Evening, Just a short few words to welcome all of you dear friends.  Solveig and I are absolutely delighted the weather is so beautiful tonight and we are able to welcome you to this residence that we are so honored to occupy.  We have just completed our first year here in Skopje, returning to Skopje.  It continues to be great honor to be President Obama’s personal representative to the Republic of Macedonia.  I wanted to say special welcome to good friend of ours and of Macedonia, Ambassador Knut Vollebaek, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and his colleagues who joined us tonight. My friend, our friend, Ambassador Jolevski is here. He heard we were having a party so he flew in from Washington.  In fact both of us flew in from Washington.  I just came back on the weekend after two weeks away, accompanying President of Macedonia in the United States, having some meetings in Washington myself and we decided we needed an excuse to have a party.  We decided to make this the official opening of our Art in Embassies exhibition of artwork that was provided to us by the Arts in Embassies program, which is run by the Department of State. 

Solveig and I have been great supporters of the arts throughout our lives and it gives both of us special pleasure to be able to share with you some artwork that we selected from a collection maintained by the State Department as well as works that we’ve acquired personally over the years and works that we borrowed through the Arts in Embassies program from artists and galleries in the United States.   Secretary Clinton recently told the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies that, “We really need to step it up and get American artists and their work exhibited as a real symbol of American Culture and the Arts.”  Though this has always been a part of our diplomacy efforts, I think Secretary Clinton brings a new energy to this effort and Solveig and I are honored to be a part of this initiative under her patronage. 

As with all exhibitions and presentations of the arts, there was a lot of work that went into this evening and I would like to take a moment to thank those who helped things come together so beautifully. 

• I will start with Kim Brown, Chris Volciak and our General Services team for coordinating the shipping and installation of the Art in Embassies collection. 
  
• Next I want to mention Marijeta Sidovski, an award winning artist and curator from the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art for supervising the installation of the art work at the residence.
  
• Finally I want to mention Toni Velkov, the photographer who took the photos of the art work to include in the catalog.  I also want to make sure that all of you take a copy of the catalogs with you as that is why we had them made. 
  

I also would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Georgi Sareski Trio.  We are very honored to have them here this evening.  Georgi Sareski on the guitar, Dzijan Emin playing Keyboards and French horn and Oliver Josifovski with the Double bass.

Sareski, Emin and Josifovski are among Macedonia's most innovative musicians.  They have been together since 2004 creating music with particular energy and emotion and I know I have enjoyed listening to them this evening.   

I think I should mention that Georgi Sareski studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston from 2001 - 2005, where he graduated majoring in jazz composition and arranging.   We are very proud of how our universities in the United States can contribute to arts and education worldwide. 

Since the opening of the United States Information Service office here in Skopje in 1973 the Unted States has supported a lot of cultural events and programs in Macedonia.  Since our arrival a year ago, the US Embassy has continued to support several cultural programs including the Struga Poetry Festival, the upcoming Skopje Jazz Festival where Dzijan and Georgi will perform later this month, The Manaki Film Festival, and a creative writing workshops for tomorrows poets, novelists and dare I say journalists?
We also teamed with Simon Trpceski, who is here tonight – our dear friend and a national treasure for Macedonia – who was able to help us bring wunderkind American/Venezuelan composer Ilyich Rivas for a show with the youth symphony and hosted the Ari Roland Jazz quartet for shows in Gostivar, Veles and Kumanovo.  We know that by supporting your wonderful arts and sharing the talent that is a part of our country, we build a stronger relationship between our two countries.  I like to say that even this is part of our strategic partnership and cooperation between the Republic of Macedonia and the United States of America.

Though I want to turn the floor back over to these wonderful musicians, I also have some exciting news that I want to share with you this evening.  Through the years, part of our support for Macedonia has been through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, this is something I am particularly interested in because I think this country is so rich in cultural monuments from so many different parts of history.  It is a program that was designed to help preserve objects or institutions of particular cultural significance in countries where we maintain diplomatic missions.  Some of you may read or seen last month before my trip to the United States that I signed a grant of $54,500 that will provide support to the Daut Pasha Hamam to help preserve the building and the artwork it contains.  In recent years we have also funded the preservation of manuscripts for Ohrid, the restoration of the Hamam in Tetovo and improvements to Kokino to make it more educational and interesting for visitors.   

This year, I am pleased to tell you, the U.S. Embassy is making an even more powerful commitment to preservation of cultural heritage in Macedonia.  This summer, in conjunction with the Cultural Heritage Protection Office in the Ministry of culture., Embassy Skopje applied for an Ambassador’s Fund grant – a large grant, these are difficult to come by and very competitive.  But we applied for a Cultural Preservation Large Grant for the Church of the Holy Mother of God “Peribleptos”, in Ohrid.  Tonight I am pleased to announce you that we were one of only three American embassies to win this award.  The State Department will be contributing $650,000 to restoration of the Church at Peribleptos.  This is a powerful sign of our Strategic Partnership with Macedonia and our joint efforts to preserve its cultural heritage.

The primary goal of this project is to preserve and restore the frescoes and the architecture of the Church. The work of the fresco painters Michael and Eutychius is representative of some of the finest Byzantine achievements from the 14^th century.  The frescoes require urgent conservation due to extensive water damage.  We look forward to working closely with the Cultural Heritage Protection Office at the Ministry of Culture in realizing this project.

Though there will be a public ceremony at Peribleptos to formally announce this initiative, tonight I want to specifically recognize Pasko Kuzman and Kristina Biseva for their work in putting this grant proposal together with John Surface and Ljubinka Brashnarska of our Public Affairs office.  I know that many late nights were required to meet the short deadline and appreciate what all of you did to make this happen.

Now, with that announcement about which I am very excited, I will turn the microphone back over to our wonderful musicians and again want to thank all of you once again for joining Solveig and I this evening.  There is not much better than a beautiful fall evening in Skopje with art, music and good news with a great group of friends.

Thank you.