by Cristina Rotaru on October 2, 2011.
in Vienna Circle
Source: The Vienna Review http://www.viennareview.net/services/vienna-circle/the-vienna-circle-the-idea-society

Dedicated to the “International Development and Enhancement of Arts,” the Vienna-based IDEA Society is a non-profit organization that serves as an open platform for cultural institutions and art enthusiasts worldwide.

It focuses on supporting creativity and cultural differences and promotes international collaborations between artists, institutions and the open public. The Society also addresses awareness and charity engagement as part of its projects, most recently by supporting the United Nations initiated International Day of Peace on Sept. 21.

Established by the General Assembly in 2001 and addressing all nations and people, the Day became the annual celebration of non-violence and cease-fire, commemorating tolerance as a way to successful coexistence.

Honoring that day, the IDEA Society organized an ARTconnection event on Sept. 21 in support of a global cessation of hostilities. Open to the public by free admission, the event was held at the St. Basilius Hall in the Garden Palace of Penzing in cooperation with the Georgian Embassy and artists Milan Vukovich (Austria) and Giorgi Okropiridse (Georgia).

Previous ARTconnection events marked the link between art, culture and business and featured everything from experimental jazz gigs to conceptual painting.

The current exhibition, meant to acknowledge art as a primary facilitator of communication, promised to acclaim mutual understanding and respect once more.

“Expressions of values and desires are reaching out through this Creative Power to enhance the Intercultural Dialog and to straighten Cultural Understanding. I hope that this message will be commonly shared in our Society Today,” said Dr. Stefan Stoev, Founder and Chairman of the IDEA Society and Ambassador for Peace at the Universal Peace Federation.

“Peace was and still is particularly precious for my country; it is the basis for rapid economic development in present-day Georgia,” agreed Paata Gaprindaschwili, the Georgian Ambassador in Austria.

Another culture-bridging project of the IDEA Society set for the Vienna Art Week on Nov. 18 at the Sigmund Freud Museum of Vienna is PANGAEA, an art collection that will afterwards tour the world as a travel exhibition. Launched in 2008 as an enhancement of cultural diversity, the collection brings together the works of artists from around the world. One of the many examples within PANGAEA is Venezuelan born artist Jean Carlos Piña Sará, who grew up in poverty on the streets of Maracaibo. By the age of 18 he had moved to Brazil and survived by doing all sorts of crafts work; since 2009 he is working with Atelier Favela as a teacher for Percussion, Capoiera and Visual Arts in collaboration with the IDEA Society.

The initiative, in support of UNICEF and collaboration with The Vienna Review, wishes to enrich social multicultural experience. In that spirit, all paintings will be based upon the theme “Our society of today and tomorrow,” highlighting the richness of a global cultural heritage.

“Art in its expression can also be seen as a beautiful Media for Peace Education,” declared Dr. Stoev. “Because I believe that the health and the prosperity of our emerging Global Society depend on the establishment of good common values, which will prevail over aggression and destruction.”