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Krakow 2000 Festival Bureau was established in January 1997 as a municipal institution of culture. Its basic task, until the end of the year 2000, had been the organisation of the Krakow 2000 Festival: a unique 5-year programme culminating at the turn of the millennia. Already in 1995, Krakow was nominated European City of Culture for the year 2000. After the first year of the Festival (1996) featuring events suggested by Andrzej Wajda, Krakow 2000 Festival Bureau was established. It is an institution ensuring continuity and consistency in proper organisation and promotion of the Krakow 2000 Festival. Bogusław Sonik, previously the director of the Polish Institute in Paris (1990-96), was nominated Director of the Bureau by the Executive Bureau of the Municipality of Krakow.
The Krakow 2000 Festival Bureau prepared successive editions of the Festival, including the Year of Poetry (1997) culminating with the Meeting of Poets of East and West, and the Year of Krzysztof Penderecki (1998). Throughout all that time, the Bureau conducted intensive work on the year 2000 projects, cooperating with numerous Krakow institutions and artists, and implementing appropriate information and promotional campaign for the Festival and the City of Krakow in Poland and in Europe.
This experience, which brought tens of Festival events in the year 2000, reinforced the position of the Festival Bureau -leading organiser of Krakow cultural events.
Thanks to the experience gained in the process, the operation of Krakow 2000 Festival Bureau was recognised as especially crucial for the promotion of Krakow and Poland also after the year 2000. On 2nd July, 2001 Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Mayor of the City of Krakow signed an agreement on joint management of Krakow 2000 Bureau.
Currently, the basic task of the Bureau is the preparation of the annual Krakow festival in three acts… (spring, summer, and autumn) and promotion of the City of Krakow and Poland. The number of projects implemented/managed by Krakow 2000 includes Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival and Rozstaje Festival of Traditional Music. The tasks of the Bureau comprise also the implementation and promotion of other local, national, and international culture-related projects; this is frequently done in close cooperation with other institutions of culture and education, organisations, artistic associations, Polish and foreign culture institutes, and organisation of such popular mass Krakow-specific events as: Floating of the Wreaths and New Year’s Night in the Main Market Square of Krakow.
Another important area of operation of the Krakow 2000 Festival Bureau is the publication and distribution of publications, both documenting the events organised (as e.g.: Krakow 2000 in Photographs, Mysteries, Initiations, and programmes, etc.) and more general ones, as Guide to the Culture of Krakow in two language versions, Krakow in 20th-Century Polish Poetry, and Tadeusz Kantor in Film Collection - a set of 5 video cassettes.
Culture Information Centre was established in 1994 as Culture Information Point by the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Krakow. Since 1997 it has been a division of Krakow 2000 Festival Bureau. From its earliest days, the Centre has continued to inform on all the aspects of Krakow cultural life; here you can obtain basic information on the most important events in Małopolska.
Every day a few hundred people make use of Culture Information Centre, currently the only Krakow bureau providing cultural information. Information is also provided on the telephone and by e-mail. The information gathered and published by the centre helps numerous event organisers, operators, as well as press, radio and TV journalists, and website administrators in their daily work. CIK offers them support and knowledge also through its publications and website (www.karnet.krakow2000.pl). It is here that the bilingual monthly Karnet has been published since 1996 together with its free special editions: high-circulation Events published annually for the coming new year and presenting the main coming events.
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