Welcoming speech of the Minister of Culture, Elva Margariti at the ceremony of starting the works for the establishment of the National Cultural Center for Children

We have been waiting for this day for a long time!

A day where we fulfill a promise and repay a debt to ourselves and our children.

Unlike “some others”, who treated culture as a small pocket in the lining of the old jacket, where the “Rama” governments put some lek for coffee have shown that culture is a priority, with the full conviction that without culture there is no future!

It was this government that undertook major investments, which no one had undertaken for decades: the total reconstruction of theNational Theater of Opera and Ballet, the Pyramid, the historic Concert Hall at the University of Arts ; that is reconstructing the Art Gallery, the National Historical Museum; is keeping the promise given for the establishment of a new, dignified National Theatre; it is rebuilding the monuments destroyed by the earthquake, it is promoting our spiritual heritage everywhere in the world, as it did with Jubilee… and many, many construction sites and initiatives that treat culture not as a decoration, but as a public good.

While the only “major initiative” that “some” will forever remain in history, for the “gigantism” of the idea and the “unequivocal vision” was tooccupy every public space, squares, courtyards, playgrounds, sports fields… and fill them with mushrooms of kiosks, which increased so much that one day we felt that the city no longer belonged to us.

This was their vision of the individual’s relationship with public space… But this is a chapter already closed, but deeply embedded in the memory of each of us.

Today we try to give the public and artists as many decent spaces as possible… Never before has Tirana had so many construction sites open at the same time.

And yet, even the investments we are making, and it does not stop here, would have no meaning if we did not invest in the artists and the audience of the future ; to our children who will go on stage to perform or who will fill the halls to enjoy art.

And today is the day we materialize one of our dreams as children of old, the dreams of our children, of teachers, artists, who always wanted to have a centerwhere they could also have the game , the education, the theater, the gym, the pottery, the garden where they could learn to plant and enjoy the fruits of the earth…

Today we lay the foundation stone of a dignified center, in this corner of Tirana, where a new cultural pole, a chain of continuity between generations, is taking shape, which from children, to students and artists of the future…

A center that thinks about children, teachers, but also parents, who will have their own dedicated spaces.

If we were to add up the square meters of the current National Children’s Cultural Center(which probably, except for those who work there and the parents who take their children to the courses, no one knows) and the old Puppet Theatre, the area dedicated to children, today is only 1400 m2 (600+800 m2).

While the new center will have about 5500 m2.

A center in the green, near the Lake Park, where there will be not only a Puppet Theatre. It is true that everyone associates childhood with dolls and with a specific building, near the center, that has a much deeper and more symbolic history than the shows of our childhood.

It is the building where Albanian parliamentarism came to life and the dictator baptized it as a puppet theater, as to appease those gentlemen, who according to him were nothing but some marionettes of history.

That’s why the building thatwe are reconstructing today will have to tell its history, but also serve as a center of culture and dialogue between generations.

The new theater will not only have a performance hall, but also rehearsal rooms and all the necessary infrastructure for a real theater.

Just as there will be halls where children can exercise their talents in music, visual arts and a multitude of genres, which will make their childhood more beautiful and guide them towards the future.
But on the other hand, talent alone is not enough.

In this center, children will learn how to be social, tolerant, love and accept the “other”, the “different”; grow up with the best Albanian values.

A year ago Tirana was the European Youth Capital, while this year it was the Sports Capital. We had never seen the most beautiful and lively Tirana.

I am convinced that Erion and its energetic staff will keep this spirit alive not only through activities, but by giving the capital more sports fields and spaces for children.

We want to raise good and free citizens!

This is the investment we make for the future, with the conviction that it belongs to the children!