On June 2, 2023, a conference was held in Montana, Bulgaria organized under the scholarly leadership of the Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) Branch in the city, which was established 5 years ago. Co-organizers of the conference are the Municipality of Montana, the Regional Academic Center of the BAS - Montana and the Regional Historical Museum - Montana.

The topic of this year's forum is: "The Bulgarian Northwest: Education and Culture". It is dedicated to the anniversary of the founding of the National Community Center "Razum 1883" in the former Golyama Kutlovitsa (now Montana). 21 researchers from institutes of the BAS and cultural institutions from the region - Montana, Vidin, Oryahovo, Chiprovtsi, Beogradchik and Georgi Damyanovo - participated in the conference. Their reports and discussions examined the main aspects of the creation, development and activity of educational and cultural institutions in Northwestern Bulgaria during the last two centuries.

The participants in the conference were greeted by the coordinator of Regional Academic Center - Montana, Mr. Valeri Georgiev, the head of the IBSCT-BAS Branch in Montana, Prof. Alexandre Kostov, Dr. habil., Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Mayor of the Municipality of Montana Mr. Zlatko Zhivkov, the member of the board of the BAS and Chairman of the 39th National Assembly Assoc. Prof. Borislav Velikov.

The conference is part of the festive program on the occasion of the celebration in the city of Montana "Holy Spirit". The event was met with great interest by the public in the city and was widely covered in the central and local media.