The General Assembly of the International Federation of Railway Personnel for Arts and Culture (FISAIC) was held in Sofia from 29 August to 1 September 2024. The meeting was opened by the General President, Kurt Neuwirth.
The welcome speech was given by the Chair of the Bulgarian Association, Vesselka Kamburova.
14 FISAIC member countries took part: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Switzerland. The President of FIRAC, Peter Kókai, and the President of IFEF, Rodica Todor, also attended.
A key aspect of this year’s General Assembly was the election of the new Board members for the next two years.
The new Board members are:
- General President: Kurt Neuwirth (AT)
- Deputy General President: Guy Greivelding (LU)
- General Secretary: Evangelia Analyti (GR)
- Treasurer: Pedro Neuenschwander (CH)
- Coordinator of Technical Commissions: Roman Štěrba (CZ)
Two Vice Presidents:
1. Hungary, represented by Andras Barcsa
2. Denmark, represented by Harry Johannsen
Two Auditors
1. Belgium, represented by Charles Chiers
2. Germany, represented by Tobias Schwab
Congratulations to all elected members!
The FISAIC General Assembly concluded with a ceremony to hand the flag over to the representative from Italy, the country that will host the FISAIC General Assembly in 2025, and the presentation of the Venus of Arles award to the representative from Hungary, for its valuable and long-term contribution to FISAIC.
A festive programme with traditional dances and songs from Bulgaria was prepared by the organisers.
FISAIC is the Federation of Railway Personal for Arts and Culture. FISAIC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UIC on 1 December 2016. FISAIC aims to promote and support the cultural activities of railway personnel of all nations in their leisure time, and to establish relations among the creative railway personnel of national associations and unions in order to organise cultural events and contribute to the development of cultural motivation and activities. The international FISAIC cultural organisation was founded in Strasbourg in 1952 under the motto “one for each other and not against each other”.
