On the final weekend of June 2024, Amorpha Academy 2024 completed its first training module for Young Ambassadors of Culture. Diverse cultural topics presented by 14 outstanding lecturers joined the programme from Bulgaria, Japan and Korea. The 2024 academy edition explores relations between Europe and Asia with a focus on Japan, Republic of Korea and the Philippines. The original selection of countries grew with the addition of a feature lecture on Vietnam and a short introduction to Singapore.

The lecture programme ran between May and June and trained 22 participants aged 16-29 years selected through an applicaton process. The original in-person format aimed to train local youth was broadened to national participation following requests by young people based in other Bulgarian cities. With a slight delay, Amorpha Academy 2024 was launched in a hybrid format to include trainees from the cities of Sofia, Burgas, Pleven and Veliko Turnovo.

Topics on the programme included an outline of Korean Literature, Japanese manga, Philippine romance novels, the new wave of contemporary women’s writers in Japan, traditional Korean poetry by women authors, Japanese philosophy writings and arts manifesto, contemporary Japanese writers published in Bulgarian, Filipino komiks. An introductory seminar in literary cricitism and book review writing trained participants in core skills to create literary or other cultural content. A special lecture on public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy introduced key terminology and the political and economic factors promoting the widely popular cultural content from the region.

A special competition launched at Varna Secondary School of Humanities and the Arts invited students to create cultural content prompted by the topic ‘My Encounter with Korean Culture’. The competition was part of the preparation for the special lecture by H.E. the Ambassador of the Repiblic of Korea in Amorpha Academy 2024. The Academy selected 23 participants to recieve the prizes specially prepared by the Korean Embassy, ‘Kimbap’ Korean restaurant in Varna and Amorpha Foundation. During the award ceremony, two Academy trainess who had arrived from Sofia for the occasion, delivered inspiring speeches presenting their experiences in the Republic of Korea and shared with the students current opportunities to travel and study there.

A public lecture part of the programme presented Sofia University – Bulgaria’s olders higher education institution – and its founding academic programmes in the field of Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian studies. Invited by Amorpha Foundation, the Dean of the Faculty of Classical and New Philologies spoke on the importance of knowledge in the cultures and languages of the world to create global personalities who have the skills and understanding to contribute to the peaceful and thriving coexistence of an intensely linked and co-dependent new world. The Dean also met with over 50 students from the local humanities school to discuss the role of the humanities in education and in shaping the future. She was able to collected thoughtful feedback and opinions by the students whose studiese focus on literature, history, geography and the arts. In a lecture designed for Amorpha Academy’s trainees, the Dean, who is also a foremost member of Bulgarian academia in the field of Japanese studies, presented the ethics and aesthetics of the Japanese worldview in the context of Japanese literature.

In July, trainees will continue their team work online to edit and publish digitally the cultural and literary content they have created during the Academy. The cultural content will be available in a special section here on Amorpha Academy’s website and shared through a series of publications through the organisation’s social media platforms. A special newsletter in English and Bulgarian will be distributed to all current and upcoming lecturers, as well as with local embassies and consulates, the foundation’s educational, cultural and other contacts.

Follow us for more cultural content on Japan, Korea R., Vietnam and the Philippines!

Second training module on FILM coming up with a call for application aimed at young Bulgarians aged 16-29 years TO BE LAUNCHED AT THE BEGINNING OF AUGUST.

More cultural events introducing East and Southeast Asia coming up at Amorpha’s space for culture and training in Varna, Bulgaria, in JULY!