Niki Arambatzis (OPANDA president): How will Athens celebrate Christmas

Interview with Anastasia Karvounis

This year’s Christmas, it’s from the brightest that Athens has experienced in recent years. Countless events, constructions, treats, face-painting, stilt walkers, jugglers, Christmas mascots await young and old Athenians, as well as visitors to the capital, daily.

The rich program of the Christmas events of the Municipality of Athens has been edited, among others, by the Culture, Sports & Youth Organization of the Municipality of Athens (OPANDA), erecting “ten Christmas villages in the neighborhoods of Athens”.

The President of OPANDA is Mrs Niki Arabatziwhich spoke to skai.gr about the organization’s work and revealed its next actions.

Mrs. Arabatzi’s interview on follows:

• How are we going to do Christmas this year?

Christmas this year will be bright and festive all over Athens. The goal is to bring the light, joy, sparkle and color of Christmas to more of our city’s 129 neighborhoods. So, apart from the Syntagma, whose decoration already attracts hundreds of people every day – I should note that the lighting of the whole city this year is done only with LED lights to save energy –, this Christmas we also launched the celebration in another very central point of the city, Omonia. After many years and after its regeneration, the area is upgraded and the celebration of the city spreads with a Christmas market with music, delicacies, decorations and goodies, an energy that will light up this area of ​​Athens as well. But the main focus this year is to make the neighborhoods shine. The cultural spaces and all the areas of responsibility of OPANDA are scattered throughout the city, in every neighborhood, in every municipal district. So, alongside the above-mentioned places, we are setting up ten Christmas villages – one or two in each municipal district of Athens –, which will become poles of attraction, joy and celebration for children and families from December 23rd until January 6th. Performances with puppets, elves, stilt walkers, bubble shows, storytelling are just some of the exciting and quality activities that the citizens will enjoy. On Friday, December 23, at 5:30 p.m., Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis will inaugurate the Christmas villages in Gika Square (Penelopes Delta) in the 7th Municipal District and I invite you and urge you not to miss it – it will be spectacular! At the same time, all our cultural venues – museums, libraries, art galleries and theaters – will offer quality Christmas entertainment and performances throughout the holidays. I should also mention the “Anna and Maria Kaloutas” Multi-Hall, which is dynamically re-entering the cultural map of Athens and will welcome the public with free admission to a number of performances that we have planned. But also the Philharmonic of our Municipality, like every year, will spread notes and rhythms in the streets of the city. The Christmas experience awaits us everywhere, throughout Athens! And I sincerely hope that with all these actions the spirit of Christmas will embrace all citizens, that we will be happy like children and that the excitement of the celebration will remain in the hearts of all of us.

• Places sell out very quickly. Will there be any modification that would help more people have this experience?

The places in our cultural centers, in our museums and also in the “Anna and Maria Kalouta” Multipurpose Center do sell out quickly, which confirms to us that our programs for children, young people and adults are indeed of high quality, and this gives us strength to continue. However, there are still places available and if we need to expand the program we will do so to serve as many residents, children or visitors as possible.

• How did the idea for such a big event come about? How do you as OPANDA manage to achieve this?

The main idea for this year was to give a note of joy and celebration to all residents and non-residents of the capital, because we all need to escape for a while from everyday life and forget about the restrictions of previous years, play, dance, celebrate . In this direction, we worked from a very early stage with the Mayor and his team, all cultural institutions of the Municipality, EATA (This is Athens), Athens Culture Net, Technopoli and R/S Athens 9.84 for him the design. As for how we do it in OPANDA, the only answer is with timely and accurate planning, research of citizens’ needs and a lot of work. There is no other way to work for the culture, sports and educational activities of the young people of a big city like Athens, which has all the corresponding structures under its responsibility. And I would like to thank the experienced staff of OPANDA in all areas of activity – culture, sports and lifelong learning – who work tirelessly in this direction.

• What are OPANDA’s plans for after the holidays? What else can we expect?

After Christmas we have our carnival events for the first time this term – they haven’t happened again due to Covid and lockdown – and we can’t wait for them to happen. We are preparing a very interesting visual program at the premises of the Municipal Gallery, at the “Melina” Cultural Center and at the Arts Center, museum-pedagogical programs and educational activities for children aged 6-12 and families in all our museums and the Creative Learning Centers located at 7 municipal apartments, as well as interesting performances in our theaters “Olympia” and “Anna and Maria Kalouta”. Also, the Half Marathon is coming in March and the Cycling Tour of Athens as well as the Champions League for 7-15 year olds, through UEFA and in collaboration with PAO, in May. In addition, OPANDA co-organizes many actions with serious bodies for sports, cultural and educational programs, such as “Together for the Child”, EPSE, SEGAS, OPECA, Premiere Nights, Little Paris of Athens, the International, Adolescent and Children’s Film Festival, Make a Wish, etc.

• Tell me about OPANDA: In order to reach the success of such goals, close contact and understanding of young people is required. How is this achieved and how easy is it, given that the new generations are difficult to reach’?

I don’t know if it’s about achieving goals, but I can certainly say that it’s about hard work and a sincere concern to provide the citizens with the services we owe them. You are of course right, young people from adolescence onwards are a “violent” target group. However, we, as the Culture, Sports and Youth Organization of the Municipality of Athens, have managed to reach these ages through all three pillars of our activity, which are culture, sports and lifelong learning. We certainly recognize the very large participation of these ages in all the mass sports events we do, as well as in our gyms, swimming pools – and not only -, I would be unfair to our young people if I did not mention their large participation in cultural and educational programs that we run in all our areas of responsibility. From our City Gallery and all the cultural venues to our theaters and Creative Learning Centres, the response has been great. But there is, if you allow me, an important parameter: as OPANDA we try to introduce very careful programs, which highlight new trends but also timeless values ​​by investing a lot in innovation and quality. We always try to act on the basis of these criteria and I confess that the response we meet is personally moving for me.

*Article photo: Andreas Simopoulos

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.