Alimos, the area where we live when we are in Greece has always been considered the poorest, the least developed, of all the Athens suburbs by the sea, the so-called Athenian Riviera.
But now things are changing. We have a new mayor who is full of enthusiasm and who has a vision.
Care is being taken of the infrastructure: the streets are much cleaner and the cracks in the pavements are being repaired; the sea is cleaner and the sea front is much more inviting; the trees that line the streets are being pruned and sprayed and there is a general sense of the area being looked after.
Looking after the environment has become a priority: ours is one of the councils with the best recycling record; the mayor has furthermore, met all head teachers of the schools in the area to discuss ways of spreading the re-cycling message across schools; a pan-European workshop on energy conservation was organised recently in Alimos.
Creating a sense of community and bringing people together is another priority. There are activities for children, young people and older people, ranging from sports activities, to craft making, educational programmes and lots more. The Alimos Open University is now established, with a programme of lectures as part of an initiative for life-long learning. There are cultural activities aiming to bring the community together: the Christmas village by the shops; various activities for the Apokries period which culminated in the Mardi Gras parade (which unfortunately I missed due to the flu).
A newsletter informs all residents of the council's activities. Because we signed up for an indoor re-cycling bin, we get updates via email. All of this has been achieved while at the same time the council deficit has been reduced by 38%.
Alimos Cultural Centre.
It's a bit rough and ready, but who cares? The art did not disappoint.
This temporary exhibition features artists who were born between 1920 and 1950 and who matured during the years of the military dictatorship.
Sotiris Sorogas
Thanos Tsigos
Theodoros Stamos
Marios Prasinos, Wood
Sotiris Sorogas, Ruins
Costas Tsoklis, Tree
Alekos Fasianos, Riders
Demosthenes Kokkinides
Spiros Vasileiou
Yannis Gaitis
Demosthenes Kokkinides
Marios Prasinos, Wood 2
Spiros Vasileiou, From the terrace on Webster Street
Giorgos Derpapas
Makis Theofilaktopoulos
Dimitris Mitaras, Figures
Nikos Kessanlis
Christos Antonaropoulos, The Artemision Jockey
Interesting work for a local gallery. Interesting also that the artists are all male.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly so, Olga: it's work for galleries in the centre, so we're very pleased. Unfortunate about the all male representation - there was the work of one lone woman artist, but too much reflection on the glass made it impossible to post. There must have been women artists working around then, but they must have been 'forgotten' as happens so often.
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