The 2020 number 6 issue of Matica magazine covers events in the Croatian communities abroad across many continents and continues our series on the Adriatic islands with the cultural and natural wonders of the central Adriatic island of Pag, situated between the Velebit channel and the Kvarnerić strait, and the stories of the people that have left the island to settle abroad
The June issue of Matica magazine is hot off the presses and features some sixty diverse homeland and diaspora stories from North and South America and our own European neighbourhood. This issue offers some seventy pages laid out in a reader-friendly magazine format and features hundreds of photographs shot in authentic overseas locations, including the hubs of North and South America that are home to communities of people of ethnic Croatian extraction, from Pittsburgh to Santiago de Chile. Each article also includes a concise English language summary. Matica magazine, now in its 69th year of uninterrupted publication, is ably edited by Ljerka Galic and published by the Croatian Heritage Foundation.
Don’t miss the columns penned by our long-standing contributing columnists Šimun Šito Ćorić, Darko Mihelj, Marin Knezović, Marjana Kremer, Davor Schopf, Nino Sorić and Sanja Vulić.
News from the State Office for Croats Abroad focuses on students from our diaspora communities that are looking to study at our institutions of higher education in Zagreb, Osijek, Zadar and Vukovar. We lay out the prerequisites that need to be met by youth from the diaspora communities and our minority enclaves in the European neighbourhood for entry into Croatian universities, polytechnic institutes and academies in the 2020/21 academic year. These programmes of study are now well established at the University of Zagreb, the Croatian Catholic University, the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, the University of Zadar, and the Lavoslav Ružički Polytechnic Institute in Vukovar, with special enrolment quotas in place for youth coming out of our diaspora communities.
Along with our coverage of the thirtieth Statehood Day in the Republic of Croatia, celebrated on the 30th of May, we also cover City of Zagreb Day, which celebrates the capital city of all Croatians. The resourcefulness and creativity of its citizens are currently engaged in dealing with the difficulties arising from the recent earthquake. We look at the events associated with the Croatian stint at the helm of the rotating presidency of the European Union’s Commission and at philanthropic activity among Americans of ethnic Croatian ancestry in an article on the establishing of the one hundredth endowment fund of the Croatian Fraternal Union’s scholarship vehicle, a donation of a quarter million US dollars on the part of Elizabeth Salinger. The scholarship foundation celebrates its 62nd birthday in June and requires a minimum donation of ten thousand US dollars to establish an endowment fund. The Croatian Fraternal Union’s Scholarship Foundation Inc., based in Pittsburgh, is a unique education support programme among Americans of ethnic Croatian background and their friends on the North American continent. Croatian Fraternal Union national vice-president for membership services Franjo Bertović proudly notes that the CFU Scholarship Foundation has over seven million US dollars in its account and that this balance was seeing constant growth in each academic year. Bertović also offers a fascinating look at the seventieth anniversary of the St. George Junior Tamburitzans ensemble out of Cokeburg, which has seen hundreds of young people join its ranks over its seventy years of activity. These fans of Croatian culture, born and educated in the United States of America, are children of the information and communication era, whose free time activities are also aimed at nurturing traditional culture. The tamburitza festival is the most vital project of the Croatian Fraternal Union’s Junior Cultural Federation, and the St. George Junior Tamburitzans of Cokeburg are part of its authenticity.
The June issue features interesting interviews with communications expert Božo Skoko on the challenges imposed by the current pandemic coronavirus scare, with Hispanic studies scholar from Chile Marta Tomić on Chilean-Croatian cultural ties, and with the director of the Croatian Institute of History Gordan Ravančić, who analyses the status of history as a science in Croatian society and presents the strategic plans of the institute he leads and its rich publishing activity.
A comprehensive feature on Bernard Tichaz (born Erazmo Tićac), born in this month, who emigrated to the Unites States of America from our Kvarner region, tells of his role in designing the first nuclear-powered commercial seagoing ship, built in the USA.
Our Adriatic islands series continues with a look at the culture, history and natural wonders of the island of Pag. The cover art features a building opened on the 27th of May on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day.
Follow the link to Matica issue no. 6/2020: https://matis.hr/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Matica6.pdf