The Greece 2021 committee, created to prepare events to commemorate the bicentennial of Greece’s Independence from Ottoman Turks, has kicked off its work with a mechanism for funding for sponsorships.

Greece 2021 Chairperson Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki presented the plan on Wednesday during a plenary session of the committee.

“This is a celebration for everyone, without exclusions, and can be expressed in as many creative and imaginary ways as possible,” Ms Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said, adding that there may be adaptations of plans along the way.

She pointed to the centennial of Greece’s Independence in 1921 which coincided with negative news from Asia Minor and political developments that did not allow for celebrations, and hence, there is an outstanding debt to celebrate the bicentennial. The committee will kick off its focus at “locations where the first fires of the revolution started burning, and will go to every city and village in Greece and in every part of the planet where Greece is celebrated.”

There will be a four-pronged focus. Firstly, there will be a promotion to help people better understand the Greek Revolution and its universal importance while connecting it with other revolutions of the same historical period and examining how it influenced the world and was influenced in turn.

Secondly, there will be plans to look at Greece today and highlight modern Greek society by ensuring the active inclusion of local communities within the country and by promoting Greece abroad at international expos and organisations with the motto of ‘1821-2021: This is Modern Greece’.

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Thirdly, Greeks who have left their mark in the last 200 years will be highlighted, and the life and work of those who contributed to society both in Greece and abroad will be explored.

Finally, 2021 will be explored as a window into the future of Greece, with actions focused on the country’s future prospects to highlight how Greeks envision and want to see the future of Greece.

New online platform for proposals

The committee has invited individuals and organisations to submit proposals for the celebrations on its new platform at a meeting of its plenary on Wednesday.

The platform is apply.greece2021.gr, and actions must fall under four directions that are laid out.

Ms Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said that the Committee is self-funded, and members are not paid for their committee work.

The 31 members of the committee include several outstanding personalities, including historians Richard Clogg and Mark Mazower, Byzantine and modern Greek studies professor Roderick Beaton and Nicholas Negroponte, founder of MIT’s Media Lab.

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A video was released calling people to action: