The exhibition of paintings by a Slovak author, Milosav Dvorak, was opened at Synagogue Gallery in Nis. The exhibition was jointly organized by the National Museum of Nis, the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Belgrade and the Honorary Consulate of Slovak Republic in Nis. The opening ceremony was attended by Her Excellency Dagmar Repcekova, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Serbia, Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic in Nis Stela Jovanovic. Ambassador Repcekova said that she visited Nis for so many times that she no longer felt like a guest, and once again thanked Nis citizens and the host city for outstanding hospitality sincere friendship. She said that the cooperation so far in all areas was excellent, and that she was convinced that it would be even wider and better in the future. Mayor Bulatovic said that rarely a country turned out to be such a good and faithful friend to Serbia as Slovakia was, and that this exhibition was another proof of that. The author himself, Miloslav Dvorak, said that he was immensely happy about the opportunity and honor to exhibit his works in Nis and that he was thrilled with the fact that his paintings were in the extraordinary ambience of the Nis synagogue and that the Serbian audience would have the opportunity to see them. Otherwise, Milosav Dvorak is a Slovak mid-generation author. He is a

a doctor, specialist in neuroscience, by vocation  while painting  is a hobby and love from an early age.

The Sicevo Art Colony 2018 was ceremoniously opened last night in this pictorial village near Nis. Sicevo Art Colony is the oldest art colony in the Balkans. It was founded in 1905 according to the idea and with the efforts of the Serbian painter Nadezda Petrovic. During the continuous organization, from 1964 to the present day, almost 500 academic artists of different generations and stylistic orientations from all over the former Yugoslavia and from abroad participated in the work of the Colony. Nis City Council Member Jelena Mitrovski greeted the participants at the official opening of the Art Colony. The selector of this year’s Art Colony is Miodrag Daja Andjelkovic, Master of Graphic Design from Nis. The organizer is the Nis Gallery of Contemporary Arts. This year’s Art Colony Sicevo gathered 12 painters from the region. This year the Colony will also mark the significant jubilee of the Art Secondary School: 70 years since its establishment.

With the traditional handover of the city’s keys to the actors and the screening of the movie South Wind directed by Milos Avramovic, the Festival of Acting Achievements in Domestic Feature Film Nis 2018 started. After the reception held at Nis City Hall, the actors, the guests of the festival and the members of the film crews, together with the Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur walked the red carpet to the Summer Stage at Nis Fortress.  Мy fellow actors, the fortress is ours! It was heard for the 53^rd time at the festival opening ceremony. The keys to the city were handed over to the president of this year’s jury Ms. Ana Sofrenović by Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur. On this occasion Deputy Mayor emphasized that he was proud that the City of Nis has been cherishing the tradition of the oldest film festival in Serbia. “The view from the Summer Stage obliges all actors to be as good as possible every year. For 53 years now, you are the ones who give us support, the power, watching us in the rain, which I personally witnessed a few years ago. You are the one who gives reasons for the actors to come to Nis every year. Thank you for that.” as the president of this year’s jury Ms. Ana Sofrenović said.

August 10^th

The Member of Nis City Council for Culture Jelena Mitrovski and Assistant Mayor Nebojsa Randjelovic received the guest guests from Norway, the members of the Rognan Hornorkester who are the guests of Nis Jazz Festival Nisville. The reception was attended by the Mayors of Nis and Saltdal, Darko Bulatovic and Rune Berg, who took the opportunity to discuss the continuation of cooperation between the two twin cities. The orchestra was founded in 1908 under the name Rognan Hornmuzik and it has been one of the first members of the musical association in Northern Norway. It has 28 members. The guests thanked for the warm welcome and stressed that they were extremely pleased to present their music in Nis.  They were delighted with the festival and all accompanying programs. Assistant Mayor Nebojsa Randjelovic said that he was glad that he had the opportunity to listen to the performance of Rognan Hornorkester, wishing them many more successful performances and pleasant stay in Nis, expressing his hopes that the cooperation between the twin city of Nis and Saltdal would continue. On this occasion the orchestra from Saltdal performed together with local orchestra Impresija and announced the possibility of continuing cooperation.

Long-standing friendly relations and cooperation between the City of Nis and the Norwegian Municipality of Saltdal, which were also formalized in the 1985 by Twinning Protocol, are continuing to mutual satisfaction as the Mayor of the Norwegian Municipality of Saltdal Rune Berg said on the occasion of the visit of the official delegation of Saltdal Municipality to Nis. At the meeting between Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur and Mayor Berg the potentials of both cities were presented and the aspects of future cooperation were disused. According to Mayor Berg the cooperation could be directly continued in the field of education, culture and youth. Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur pointed out that he was pleased that guests of the City of Nis would have the opportunity to attend the Nisville international jazz festival and that their amateur jazz orchestra would perform at this festival. Deputy Mayor pointed out that humanity that Norwegian showed to the Serbian internees in the past.  The delegation of the City of Nis was in Saltdal last June where attending the celebration of 75 years since the first Serb prisoners from concentration camps were taken for forced labor.  “I was amazed to see how the Norwegian people care about the Serbian memorial complex-Serbia cemetery where a total of 1911 Serbs were buried, out of 2081 who were sent there for labor. The Municipality of Saltdal and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway will invest additional funds to reconstruct the memorial complex. Then came an idea and a need to cooperate again, and the Mayor of Saltdal was in Nis, “said Deputy Mayor Bandjur. Beside the Mayor with his associates, an amateur jazz orchestra from this city is staying in Nis performing at Nisville Jazz Festival.

Cooperation between the City of Nis and the French municipality Montsegur started in October 2012 in the framework of decentralized cooperation with the Council of the Department of Gironde, and at the initiative of the French Embassy in Serbia, with the agreement that this cooperation would be dedicated to youth, culture and sustainable local development as it was

Lavern and Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur. He emphasized the importance of this cooperation which was primarily reflected in the exchange of experiences in the field of culture. At the same time the Deputy Mayor thanked Mr. Lavern, who, on his arrival to Nis, emphasized the importance of Nisville Jazz Festival, at the same time mentioning that the festival would be opened by mixed young jazz band composed of 17 musicians from our city and 23 musicians from Montsegur. He praised the jazz festival and stressed that it meant a great deal to him that he was in Nis on this special occasion to support the joint jazz band and that he could learn about the organization of the festival because the Montsegur had their own jazz festival they were very proud of.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovc visited today the Nis fortress where the final preparations for the start of the main program of this year’s International Jazz Festival Nisville were in progress. The mayor, together with the Director of Nisville, Ivan Blagojevic, visited the newly opened Jazz Museum in the building of the former Turkish Bath where the history of the Festival and the development of jazz culture in Nis was exhibited. On this occasion the Mayor emphasized the great importance this museum had, as well as Nisvillle in general, in creating a more complete and richer tourist offer in Nis. “The city recognized the significance of Nisville and included it among the public events supported by the city, the Jazz Festival was a cultural treasure and unique brand of Nis, after which this city became recognizable and far beyond the borders of our country. This can be seen at every step. The city is crowded with people from all over the world, and I expect estimated 200,000 people to see some of Nisville programs during these ten days, which will be a huge success for the city, “Bulatovic said. Nisville Director Ivan Blagojevic expressed satisfaction with the support provided by the city to the festival without which Nisville could not have been one of the top ten music festivals in Europe, according to the British Guardian. Blagojević hopes that the ministries of culture, youth, and tourism will also recognize the significance of this event, and provide support that will enable Nisville to progress, both technically and program related, primarily through the arrival of the world’s greatest names in the world jazz scene. Mayor Bulatovic emphasized that the support from the city increased from 20 million in 2016 to 28 million dinars this year, which testified that Nis was aware of the value of this festival and was ready to support it in the coming years and in the future.

Mayor of Nis Darko Bulatovic met today with the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E.Mr Amr Aljowaily, the first diplomat from this friendly country who visited our city after more than 15 years. The meeting, agreed a few months ago, coincided with the evening performance of the modern ballet ensemble of the Cairo State Opera at Nisville Theater Festival, so the issue of expanding and enhancing cultural cooperation was imposed as one of the main topics of discussion between Mayor Bulatovic and the Ambassador. The Ambassador said that cooperation should not be limited to Belgrade and Cairo, as the two main and largest cities. On this occasion he also invited Nis folk ensembles to be guests at one of the numerous ethno festivals in Egypt. Also, the initiative for closer connection, and the twinning of Nis with some of the larger cities in Egypt, was initiated, which was accepted mutually. Mayor Bulatovic pointed out that Nis was a city with a rich but insufficiently investigated archaeological heritage and there was the need for establishing cooperation with Egyptian experts who had vast experience in the field. He emphasized that the National Museum in Nis was ready to connect and collaborate with some of the Egyptian museums or archaeological institutions. Ambassador Aljowaily said that he was familiar with the rapid development of Nis Airport Constantine the Great and pointed out that it would be good to launch an airline, regular or charter, between Nis and airports in Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh, and that this would be important not only for citizens of this part of Serbia, but also Bulgaria and Macedonia, and would enable a much larger tourist exchange in both directions.

The 11^th International Student Folklore Festival, which has gathered more than 500 participants from eight countries, Greece, Georgia, Bulgaria, Bolivia, China, Costa Rica and Mexico and the performances in seven cities in Serbia this year, was officially opened last night in Nis. In short – half of the world in the southeast of Serbia! Their hosts are the Student Cultural Center Nis and the Academic Folklore Ensemble Oro. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic welcomed the participants and organizers of this significant cultural event at Nis City Hall with a wish to feel good in our city. “The City of Nis recognizes the social and cultural significance of this festival, and will do its best to be a good example of how love, peace and tolerance among young people should be spread, and art is the best way to accomplish this,” said Mayor Bulatovic. The Director of the Student Cultural Center, Dragana Petković, said that the Festival has been growing and developing for years, and so, apart from Nis, concerts will be held in the municipalities of Bela Palanka, Vladičin Han, Knjaževac, Ćuprija and Ražanj.

On the occasion of celebrating the days of city’s patrons – the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen and in the honor of Nis citizens and the guests of the City of Nis, the central ceremony was held at Officers’ Mess Building. The audience was addressed by His Grace Bishop of Nis Arsenije and Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic congratulating their fellow citizens the days of the city’s patrons using the opportunity to draw the attention to the importance of the work of Constantine the Great and the connections that exist between past and present. Historian Nebojsa Ozimic, a writer or co-author of several books on Emperor Constantine spoke of the establishment of the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Jelena as a city festivity.