#bygy

Péter is a journalist, PR and communication consultant and kind of Finno-Ugric activist. Five years ago he established online cultural magazine Melano with a big attention to Finno-Ugric issues. Also he is one of the admins of Finno-Ugrians group on Facebook.

During this year Péter Aranyi was carrying on a promotion campaign for Finno-Ugric capitals of culture initiative in order to raise interest in it in Hungary.

‘As an activist it is hard to determinate the time what from i can call myself as a Finno-Ugric activist, but since 4-5 years i'm do the best to help this family’, - explains Péter.

We asked Péter about the conception of cultural capitals, his evaluation approach as a panel member and the perception of Finno-Ugric initiatives in Hungary.

Do Hungarians know something about FU Capital of Culture? What kind of PR activity did you caary on in Hungarian media?

I think they know much more than last year and this is a great success. I started the PR-communication in March. Now the numbers of the publications are up to 50-60 pieces. This number contains also the biggest news portals, print newspapers and also few radio channels. The Hungarian Human Resource Ministry – which organised the World Finno-Ugric Congress in 2012 in Siófok – also published the press release of the Finno-Ugric Capital 2015. This I can also call as success. In the PR communication it is always hard to make light on something that has a very short history. Doesn’t matter if it’s a company, institution or cultural initiative. I think that was also a key moment of this initiative that from this year local governments were allowed to take part so it called the attention of the journalist. Besides sending out press releases I offered this contest for a lot of mediums and in April we organized a press event Sampsa Holopainen, with the chairman of MAFUN. This was a hard time because during this 3-4 months Hungary had elections so the focus of the media were totally on that topic.

What do you participate in competition's panel? What do you find interesting for yourself in being part of FU Cultural Capital project?

I take a part in the international jury of Finno-Ugric Cultural Capital 2015 with Sampsa Holopainen, Mart Meri, and Ville Ropponen. For me it is a gift to be in this group. Since I was a child I was interested for the Finno-Ugric relatives of the Hungarians, that is why I’m very happy that Hungary also got a chance from the Finno-Ugric world. Oliver Loode, the Head of Programme Bureau, Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture said that before it would be really nice to welcome Hungarian and Finnish candidates in this year. I was really happy when he wrote me that Veszprém applied!