Competition for the position of the Cultural Attaché in Japan has been won by Gabija Čepulionytė
The Ministry of Culture’s competition for the newly established position of the Cultural Attaché in Japan has been won by Gabija Čepulionytė. Of the nine competitors who participated in the competition, she received the largest amount of the commission’s points.
In 1995, Čepulionytė participated in the establishment of Japan’s Information Centre: the first institution which officially represented Japan in Lithuania. In 1997, when the Embassy of Japan was opened in Lithuania, she started working as the head of the Department of Information and Culture. In 2007–2010, she was appointed as the first Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Japan. After returning to Lithuania, she continued working at the Department of European Affairs and International Relations under the Ministry of Culture, where she was responsible for relations with the countries of Asia. In 2019–2020, she worked as an advisor to the Minister of Culture. From 2021, she started working as the coordinator of cultural education interventions at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.
“Returning to the work of the cultural attaché in Japan is the opportunity to use the accumulated knowledge, experience and connections in order to present Lithuania at another level: as a modern, creative European country which has gained international recognition over the past decade in many fields of professional art and is a full-fledged participants of global art processes. I will devote special attention to literature and publishing projects, education of literary translators, visual and interdisciplinary arts and music”, Čepulionytė says.
She notes that she will aim for commemoration of important dates – the anniversaries of Jonas Mekas and Aleksandra Kašuba, the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, the anniversary of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis – at prestigious cultural institutions of Japan. She also intends to develop cooperation with Japan’s principal state, municipal and private institutions of art and academia, as well as festivals both in the Tokyo metropolis and other regions where the old cultural traditions are upheld, and the modern cultural infrastructure is well-developed. A lot of attention will be devoted to promoting Lithuanian artists at prestigious international events and later encouraging their independent participation in Japan’s art market.
Čepulionytė has translated works by Haruki Murakami, Yukio Mishima and other Japanese authors. She has organised tours of Japan’s traditional and contemporary theatre collectives as well as visual arts exhibitions in Lithuania. She acquired her master’s degree in oriental studies and Japanese philology at St Petersburg University. Čepulionytė has studied at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies and theatre history and management in Tokyo under the Bunka-cho programme of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs.
The competitor who won the competition may start working in the position after receiving the security clearance issued in accordance with the law and after approval by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. The duration of the term of the Cultural Attaché is three years.
Photo from the archive of the Ministry of Culture
Last updated: 21-03-2022
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