The 2019-2022 class of the MMA Art Scholarship Program bid farewell at the closing ceremony in the Hild Villa

On August 31, the closing ceremony of the 2019-2022 Art Scholarship Program of the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA) was held in the Hild villa, in the headquarters of the MMA Institute of Art Theory and Methodology (MMA MMKI). The event was attended by György Vashegyi, the president of the MMA, Gábor Richly, the general secretary of the MMA, László Koppány Csáji, acting director of the MMA Art Theory and Methodology Research Institute, as well as Ádám Farkas, an ordinary member of the MMA, the heads of the scholarship sections, the academics of the MMA and the 100 farewell scholarship recipients.

The celebration started with the production of violinist Eszter Krulik and cellist Ditta Rohmann, scholarship holders of the music section of the MMA Art Scholarship Program, who performed the first movement of Zoltán Kodály's duet for cello and violin.

The guests present were greeted by László Koppány Csáji, the Acting Director of the MMA MMKI, who emphasized that although they had gathered for the closing ceremony it did not mean to say goodbye, but to outline the possibilities to continue to follow the scholarship holders' careers and support them in the future. He also encouraged the artists and art theoreticians who are ending their scholarship period this year to, if they have time, continue to participate in one of the section meetings, share their opinions, and get to know the future scholarship recipients, since the scholarship program is not only about financial support, but also about building relationships as well.

György Vashegyi, the president of the MMA, drew attention in his opening speech to the fact that there are not only possible future members of the academy among the successful participants of the scholarship program, but the best of the entire Hungarian artistic life. He added that the academics can also learn a lot from the scholarship recipients also often recognize the exceptional talent of their "students" who even overperform them. According to him, the class that just graduated had to overcome the greatest difficulties caused by Covid, as two out of the three years of the program happened during the period of the epidemic, which made it significantly more difficult to maintain contact. He emphasized that, above all, MMA sees the future in the scholarship recipients, so they would like to involve them in the circulation of the life of the academy much more actively than before.

In his speech, Gábor Richly, the general secretary of the MMA, said that at the time when the scholarship was created, they not only wanted to provide financial security to the artists, but they also had an equally important goal of creating a community, an audience through it. Despite the limited opportunities due to the epidemic, he is confident that the past three years have been suitable to develop a strong bond  between the participants of the program, and he also wants the scholarship recipients to see the academy as a kind of alma mater after they leave. He emphasized that the number of ten times more applicants even to this day justifies the significance of the program Also he sees a non-negligible factor that the female-male ratio is also balanced in the list of winners, several of whom have even received such serious recognition like the Kossuth - award.

This was followed by a reading by Tibor Weiner Sennyey, writer, poet, literary translator, scholarship recipient of the literature section, whose twelfth book - a compilation of his essays about Béla Hamvas - was published in 2019, after his books of essays and short stories, short novels, and four books of poetry. He is currently working on his first novel. and who this time appeared in front of the audience with his works Arra and The Beekeeper's First Bee.

The closing speech was given by Ádám Farkas, regular member of the MMA, head of the fine arts section, who praised the work of the 2019-2022 class. He revealed that the scholarship program strengthened not only his faith as a teacher and his thoughts about art,  but even his doubts. With the help of the program he could come across valuable materials from the point of view of art theory, philosophy and sociology. He also added that thanks to the unique scholarship system provided by MMA, the academy has access to fantastic values ​​that come not only from theoreticians, but also from artists. The collection, organization and publication of the materials created in this way will be a very important goal to accomplish in the coming years.

Finally, the audience had the privilege to enjoy the performance „Folk Music Compilation from the Two Shores of Lake Balaton".by the folk singer Andrea Navratil, folk musician Gábor Nagy and jr. Dance artist Zoltán Zsuráfszky dance artist, the folk art section scholarship holders of the MMA Art Scholarship Program.

At the end of the lectures, those present could participate in a reception, and they had the opportunity to see the exhibition of the works of the 2019-2022 scholarship winners in the Hild villa.

Galéria