The Department for international cooperation



The Karic Foundation - London

The Karic Foundation branch in London was founded in 1998 by Mrs. Hafa Karic, who is its president. One of the main goals of this branch is the promotion of Serbian culture and art.
The Foundation has founded an annual piano festival "the Karic Foundation Piano Competition" where only the works of Serbian composers are performed . This annual international competition for young pianists is held in Tunbridge Wells, and the competition programme is decided by the pianist Marina Milic - Apostolovic.
At the 1997 and 1998 competitions the works of the following composers were performed: Vasilije Mokranjac, Dusan Radic, Dejan Despic, Marko Tajcevic, Miroslav Stakic, Zoran Hristic and Svetislav Bozic. The winner receives a trophy and a cash award of 500 pounds, and also a tour around Serbia is organized for him and the cutting of a CD with the award winning compositions.
The first pianists to perform the works of Yugoslav composers in London were Danijela Karic, Danica Karic and Gorica Nedeljkovic. The young Danijela Karic will play compositions by Serbian composers, including the work by well known composer Svetislav Bozic, dedicated to her and entitled "Metohijsko pojanje", the work has been performed for the first time at the competition in Tunbridge Wells.
"We can proudly say that the Foundation has found a unique and new way of promoting the jewels of Serbian music in the world. With the big prizes, publicity and attention with which we overwhelm our competition winners, we are simply forcing young musicians and their teachers to look at the music we send them and prepare the compositions of Yugoslav composers for the competition", says Hafa Karic.

The Karic Foundation branch in London has very good relations with other humanitarian organizations. It actively cooperates with the "Women's Committee for Helping Child War Victims", it is a co-founder of the "Laza Kostic" Foundation in London, it also cooperates with the "St Andrej Prvozvani" Foundation which is active in Serbia, Great Britain and Russia.
The Karic Foundation branch in London has also organized a large number of fund raising actions for medical treatment and operations for young patients from Serbia, and it donated its own funds for a number of these.