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This Fund
was established in Nalchik, the Republic of Kabardina
Balkaria in 1991. It enjoyed the support of the President of
the Republic and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic as
well as most of the Circassian and Kabardinian Intelligencia
of the North Caucasus.
The reason
it was set up originally was to support the Circassian
artists, poets, musicians, singers, authors and all those
people who worked within the artistic fields. The original
purpose was simple. After the collapse of the USSR,
financial and moral support to this segment of society
diminished and in some cases ceased to exist. Under the
Communist system all these creative people received fixed
salaries from the State on which they could depend for
existence. With its disappearance, many creative people
turned to other means of work to support themselves and
their families. Therefore it was not surprising to find
authors driving taxis or musicians hauling goods in the
bazaars of Nalchik. The creative talents of the Republic
were being slowly decimated and the new generation of
would-be artists were turning to other fields of endeavor
away from their destined creative fields.
The
Diaspora Circassian author, Mohydeen Quandour, saw the
situation and along with many of his Kabardian friends,
established the Fund in order to give a small but meaningful
support to the creative people. This was first done through
the establishment of stipends for talented children. Later a
fund was organized to send artists, singing groups,
musicians etc to the Circassian Diaspora where they felt the
much-needed appreciation for their creativity and
productions. Annual Prizes were established for authors,
for singers, for artists from the three Circassian
republics. Quandour dedicated all the remuneration from his
published books (worldwide) for these purposes. The program
was successful and much appreciated in the three Circassian
republics. It continues to this day.
Other Challenges
I. Under
the new management of Dr. L.H. Balagova in 1998, the Fund
turned to cultural and literary endeavors. One of the most
critical aspects of Circassian culture was and continues to
be under threat today; the Circassian language. Why? The old
Soviet-time dictionaries are still used for official work.
These are mostly diluted with Russian vocabulary in
accordance with Stalinist policies of Russification of the
Circassian language. (See separate article on Language
problems on Home page). Therefore a program was established
in 2002 to create a new Circassian- Circassian and
Circassian-Russian dictionary. Teams of volunteers were
established under the supervision of Circassian and
international scholars to begin collecting and collating the
lost words, phrases and vocabulary for the new dictionaries.
Contacts were established with the leading Circassian
universities as well as Leiden University (Holland) and
London University (SOAS) for collaboration on this vital
project. Support of International organizations such as
UNESCO is being sought in order to promote this project.
II. Work is
under way to restructure the Circassian Cyrillic alphabet in
order to make it easier to learn for young children.
Outstanding specialists such as Prof. Mohadeen Komakhov of
the Language Institute of Moscow, Prof. Rieks Smeets of
Leiden University, Prof. George Hewitt of London University
(SOAS) and Prof. Mohammed Appazhev of KBR State University
are our Consultants on this project.
II. The
Fund is coordinating with all the Diaspora organizations (Khasa)
to strengthen ties between all Circassians of the Diaspora
and the motherland. This is being done through the
creation of cultural clubs, publications and the
organization of special seminars and discussion groups.
We
appreciate any support in ideas, finances or concepts, which
you may have to offer. Our contacts are:
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