At the ceremony for the president’s awards for promoting the city, Piotr Roman stressed in his welcoming speech that promotion can take many forms. “All it took was riding in a garbage truck, and suddenly you’re on TVN,” he said jokingly. The MZGK president honored with a statuette, Władysław Bakalarz, also emphasized that his company and the purchased garbage trucks had appeared in the national media.
Another award winner was last year’s laureate, a nanowater producer. It was a kind gesture to give everyone attending the ceremony a set of nano-cosmetics. The company bag contained, among other things, a small bottle of nanowater and a packet of clay. The two products were to be combined at home and applied to the face as a mask. From the stage, the nanolaboratory’s owner explained how cosmetic nanowater worked. “Although nanowater does not freeze at very low temperatures, please do not put it in the freezer. It has these properties only in the laboratory. It will freeze in a household refrigerator,” he warned. “Don’t be afraid that you have received aggressive water.”
The audience received this information with smiles and applauded. However, another award winner, Robert Tomczyk, president of TOP Bolesławiec, was curious whether nanowater was fit for consumption. “I drank this water,” he admitted, apparently proving two things. First, nano-cosmetics are indeed little known in Bolesławiec, and not everyone knows how they work. The second proof may be that it is simply ordinary water—something that could greatly surprise a few people.
The list of award winners, however, was no surprise. Once again, it included people who may not have intended to promote anything, but who had done something valuable that year. They included community activists, educators, coaches, and young people taking part in academic competitions. It was modest promotion for the city, but something worth highlighting.
One of the honorary awards went to the “Via Sudetica” Association for “Gliniada” and for activities that helped increase the recognition of Bolesławiec and Bolesławiec ceramics. The association submitted its own nomination. However, the association’s president, Krzysztof Krzemiński, was absent. The award was accepted, after being called up by the president, by a surprised member of Via Sudetica, Józefa Witas.
Krystynę Gay-Kutschenreiter received the award for the first time, as the longtime commissioner of the International Ceramic Open-Air Workshops.
The award also went to Marek Zyga—a sculptor and founder of the “Pegaz” bar, who is becoming an increasingly recognized artist worldwide—as well as the “Obstawa Prezydenta” band, nominated for a Fryderyk award in 2010 for its album “O nic nie pytaj.”
Promotion in Bolesławiec really does take many forms. Both “Gliniada” and the garbage trucks purchased by MZGK were discussed on TVN. The difference is that “Gliniada” is a parade of Bolesławiec residents who do something exceptional for the city. In this way, they genuinely promote it. The Municipal Communal Services Company simply performs its duties exceptionally well. It was only because the president was placed behind the wheel of a new garbage truck without the proper authorization that Bolesławiec received a mention in the national media.
This year, an excellent initiative was to present all the award winners with glass statuettes made by the artist Pawła Borowskiego. The Borowski Studio, run by Stanisław Borowski and his sons, is one of the most important places on the world art map associated with Bolesławiec. This is worth emphasizing and making use of.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)
