Japan’s famous leather goods gallery feels expelled from Vilnius: 16-year-old local to be lost

The other sheets, the “Siren” downloaded

Mėsinių st. Galería Sirena has been in the house marked with number 9 since 2006. According to I.Serapinienė, a lot of work has been done during that time to make the place attractive and known not only to Lithuanians.

“We, the public institution Naujoji Sirena Handicraft and Handicraft Center, belong to the Vilnius Fine Arts Association. We are also in the Vilnius Crafts ethnographic business and fairs program. This program expires in December of this year and its extension is being considered.

Now I have learned that there are plans to expand the program and that the 12 galleries participating in it will continue to operate, and it has been decided to move our gallery to take away our facilities and privatize them.

I wonder if there is an interested person who wants to do great hikes. Now I am in an unequal struggle, we want to stay in this place, because we have been working here for 16 years and we are in the largest tourism publication in Japan with this address since 2016 ”, said I. Serapinienė.

Relations with Japan are very important both for the founders of the gallery itself and for the people who work with it, who create leather handbags, sundries and other leather goods.

Both ambassadors approached

She shares two scriptures that demonstrate a warm relationship. The first is the speech of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan in Lithuania Shiro Yamasaki to the Mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašiai, which was signed a few weeks ago. He thanked the mayor and the entire municipality for their support and cooperation in the activities of the embassy and other organizations related to Japan, and reported on the promotion of exchanges between Lithuania and Japan carried out by the New Mermaid.

The ambassador’s letter mentions the center’s activities related to Japan, participation in exhibitions and other events, and on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the issuance of Chiyun Sugihara’s “Life Visas”, he organized a leather miniature exhibition Sugihara facilities and “Living Visas”.

“Gallery located in Mėsinių st. 9 in Vilnius, is included in the Globe-trotter Travel Guidebook – Baltic Countries, a tourism publication published in Japan, which is the largest and most comprehensive Japanese travel guide on the Baltic countries, helping to attract interested Japanese tourists In Lithuanian crafts. It would be a great pleasure for you to hear about this contribution from the “Nueva Sirena” Arts and Crafts Center to increase the opportunities for cooperation between the two countries, “said the speech.

The Lithuanian ambassador to Japan, Gediminas Varvuolis, also asked the Vilnius municipality to retain the address of the Mermaid Gallery. According to his leadership, the embassy began cooperating with the New Siren Crafts and Arts Center in 2014, when representatives from the center participated in the largest interior exhibition “Interior Lifestyle Tokyo” in Japan. As the Japanese became interested in leather products, they were exhibited at the embassy for several years.

Also mentioned is the tourist publication published in Japan, which supposedly encourages Japanese tourists to visit the Mermaid Gallery, where you can not only buy Lithuanian leather products, but also learn about their traditional production methods and peculiarities.

We want to stay in this place because we have been working here for 16 years and we have been in Japan’s largest tourism publication with this address since 2016, – said I. Serapinienė.

“An important aspect is the address of the Sirena gallery registered in the publication – Mėsinių st. 9. Maintaining this address is essential to keep the information updated in the Japanese publication, whose editors update the information at their own discretion and do not agree with the embassy on the changes, ”signed the ambassador in the address.

Missing from the charts

According to the Crafts, Ethnographic Business and Fairs program, all participating galleries must, in a sense, “work” for the city – prepare educational activities, participate in fairs, etc. I. Serapinienė states that all this is being done and has not received any complaints so far. But for some reason it is the gallery she founded that is losing its facilities.

The draft decision on the extension of the program in 2021-2030, which is being discussed by the council committees this week, does not include the Sirena Gallery or the premises on Mėsinių Street. The document provides a list of tenants who participate in the program and rent premises on preferential terms without tender.

Everything will have to start from scratch, because it is the destruction of the company, the destruction of that great work.

These are the Stained Glass Factory, the Vilnensis Jewelery School, the Meno Niša Gallery, the Menas Sau Public Institution, the Vilnius Fine Arts Association, the UAB Gintaro Gallery, the UAB Jūratė.eu, the Vilnius Ceramics Workshop and the Public Institution of the Guild of Crafts. This provides a list of non-residential premises that program participants can rent through a public tender. However, Mėsinių st. Address 9 not entered.

I.Serapinienė says that it has heard that it will have the opportunity to rent the premises elsewhere through a public tender. “Everything will have to start from scratch, because it is the destruction of the company, the destruction of that great work,” said the gallery’s founder excitedly.

According to her, everything is due to the neighbor’s desire to rebuild the building, to invest a large amount of money, and the municipality, claiming that it does not have the opportunity to contribute an adequate part, enables it to acquire that premises.

The founder of the gallery regretted that the fact that the company employs people with disabilities is not taken into account, it seems that they only speak out loud about sensitivity, justice, the participation of people with disabilities, but when it is try to get to such a company, there is no one.

“I just want to know – if everyone thinks we need to be destroyed, we will have to accept it. But it seems to me that Lithuania does not need it that way,” I. Serapinienė is convinced.

It would take 90 thousand. euros

According to the Vilnius City Municipality, the new crafts and fairs program is currently being discussed in council committees. It is planned that of 15 premises, 10 premises will be offered for rent without tender to current users, and the remaining 5 premises will be leased through public tender. No decision has been made yet.

“The municipality summoned a commission and presented proposals by which the current tenants of the premises could be offered to stay in the same premises without a tender, and for which public tenders for leasing should be announced.

Premises in Mėsinių str. Municipalities 7 and 9 have part of the premises leased to the Sirena Gallery. The private owners of the building plan to renovate the premises, so the municipality would have to contribute in proportion to the available area of ​​the premises, which would amount to about 90,000. euros. Therefore, the sale of the premises belonging to the municipality is being considered ”, – the reason why“ Sirena ”is left without this premises is indicated by the municipality.

However, I.Serapinienė claims to have documents proving that the house has been renovated, so it is not clear who needs it again. Therefore, you suspect that this is just a way to allow private owners to increase their real estate in this house.

The municipality does not agree with this idea: “We want to emphasize that the aforementioned neighbors would not allow themselves to privatize, since the municipality sells properties in strict compliance with the law. The sale would be made through an electronic public auction. Instead of Mėsinių st. Rooms 7 and 9 Other premises have already been offered for the Crafts and Fairs program – Aušros Vartų str. 9, covering an area of ​​more than 70 square meters. m. “

Last June, I. Serapinienė also had problems with the municipality of Kaunas regarding the facilities where production takes place. But they decided in favor of the businesswoman. Read more about it here: The Kaunas institution, which creates heritage products at the hands of the disabled, is expelled from its premises.