Belarus becomes cultural platform for 13 countries during International Arts Festival

Belarusian culture was discussed at the dialogue platform of the V International Festival of Arts of World Belarusians at the National Library on September 25, the correspondent of the Minsk-Novosti agency reports.

The International Festival of Arts of Belarusians of the World is held every three years. The program affects both the capital and regions of Belarus.

- This year’s event is dedicated to the Year of the Belarusian Woman. The motto of the festival is “Belarus is our every matsi”. Our country is like a mother who gathers her children in one place, said Olga Khachkova, director of the Republican Center for National Cultures.

250 people participate in the festival, this year they are representatives of the Belarusian diaspora from 13 countries: the USA, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation, etc. The Russian Federation is represented by 19 regions. Geography is very extensive, ranging from Rostov-on-Don and ending with Kamchatka.

- We have been cooperating with our public associations of Belarusians abroad for a very long time and, above all, we pay attention to the most active, those who are constantly in touch with us, hold events, send final reports and strengthen relations between the two states. We invite the most interested representatives to Belarus and introduce them to its culture. The youngest participant of the festival is 6 years old. There are those who have supported Belarusian art for 30 years, Khachkova added.

In order to acquaint the guests with the country, its national identity and linguistic features, the National Library organized a dialogue platform “Belarus united us”. The organizers expect that in the future its participants will be able to head any of the public associations in their country.

The guests were addressed by the Chairman of the Youth Council under the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Alina Retkova.

- The forum participants will be able to learn about the main activity of the Youth Council – international cooperation between young deputies and members of youth councils of different countries. Our main partners are the Russian Federation, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China and other countries of the East and Asia, the states of Latin America and Africa. But we develop the exchange of experience not only outside our country, but also inside, supporting foreign students and working young people who come to us. In addition, we hold dialogue platforms where children share ideas, talk about their countries and their cultural experience, said Retkova.

A separate aspect of the work of the Youth Council is the creation of joint initiatives. A project on preserving historical memory was developed with colleagues from the Russian Federation. In the information space, with the help of video rubrics and interactives, young people share the exploits of the heroes of the Soviet Union, talk about the continuity of generations and about the historical memory that the fraternal peoples of Belarus and Russia carry.

- I am from Russia – Republic of Karelia, city of Petrozavodsk. She came to Minsk for the first time and participated in the festival. I was impressed by the city’s infrastructure. The organizers have prepared a rather rich program. Yesterday we enjoyed an impressive gala concert, where each performer showed his professionalism and skill. In my country I do Belarusian folk dances. I really like your national costumes, the ideas of the productions that we rehearse. I am very happy to be a part of such a big event. Such events are probably held in Karelia, but a festival of such a high level is new to me, said Alyona Rogozina, a participant of the festival.

Visitors to Minsk and guests from Italy are Marta Peperna and Yuri Borghetto. During the meeting with the participants of the dialogue platform, the young man told why he was given such an atypical name for an Italian. The fact is that his father admired the feat of Yuri Gagarin, so he named his son in honor of the man who first conquered space.

Representatives of Italy admitted that they were in Belarus for the first time, but they studied the cultural features of the country at home.

- In Naples, we met Tatyana Pumpuleva, head of the Belarusian cultural society BELLARUS. This organization works in our city and holds many events dedicated to Belarusian traditions, cuisine and costumes. We loved it so much that we wanted to see it. So we got to Belarus. We have noticed that culture is very important in this country. It is amazing that people from all over the world can come here and share their work, as well as learn about the art of countries near and far abroad. In Italy, we did not notice this, said M. Peperna. The festival started only yesterday, the day before we rehearsed a lot. The city has not yet been fully viewed. Nevertheless, we saw the Red Church, walked around Nemiga, we were very impressed by the Komarovsky market.

Photo by Sergei Pozhi