Head of the Chancellery visits INTERKULTUR

Oct 24, 2018

Günter Titsch (l.) and Helge Braun | Photo: Roger Schmidt

Prof. Dr. Helge Braun appreciates the unifying work of the cultural organization

On Monday, October 22, Prof. Dr. Helge Braun, MdB, Federal Minister for Special Affairs and Head of the Federal Chancellery, met INTERKULTUR and its President Günter Titsch in the Organization Office together with 30 interested guests for an exchange about the significance of international and intercultural collaboration.

At the beginning of the talk Prof. Braun provided an overview of the current political challenges with regard to international relations: Integration with the west and the NATO were not taken for granted anymore, as they were in previous years; politics was facing new challenges every day, which couldn’t be foreseen. In this connection he mentioned the upcoming Brexit, threatening protectionism in the economic policy, the current challenge of migration in Europe as well as discussions about operations of the Federal Armed Forces abroad. In doing so he constantly pointed out the necessity of an intensive global exchange and a supranational cooperation.

The internationally experienced hosts around Günter Titsch took the opportunity of the meeting to inform Prof. Braun about the special way of peace policy INTERKULTUR has been promoting for meanwhile 30 years with its international and intercultural choral events according to the slogan “Singing together brings nations together”. There are some numbers to illustrate the scope of this commitment: 208 events in 25 countries since 1988 with 9.591 choirs and 416.573 participants from 105 nations. On top of that, a network of 137 facilities of representatives in 64 nations, the World Choir Council with its 116 members from 88 nations – the world-spanning work of INTERKULTUR reflects the chances of an international collaboration in an impressive way.

During the conversation with Minister Braun President Titsch further emphasized that the work of INTERKULTUR was strongly depending on politics, as it had been shown exemplarily at previous World Choir Games in Russia (2016), South Africa (2018), and China (2004 and 2010). In this context he explained the manifold challenges of his organization between the priorities of politics in particular, for example with regard to the visa application process for the participating choirs from all over the world.

Prof. Braun, who is one of the closest advisors to chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and thus involved into all questions of government policy, was impressed by both the implementations of the INTERKULTUR President and the border-crossing work of his cultural organization, and he will surely carry its message of “Singing together brings nations together” to the federal capital Berlin.