AdminSuccessfully ended the 7-day Cultural Festival “#EntreCultFest”, 6 – 12 November 2022, within the project No. 2020-1-BG01-KA227-YOU-095019 “Entrepreneurship and connectivity of young people in the Balkans through creativity and culture”, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, KA2. Bulgarian Memory Foundation implement the project in partnership with the “Association for Macedonian-Bulgarian Friendship”, Bitola, Republic of North Macedonia and the Association “GLAS” Bosilegrad, Republic of Serbia.
The program of the Cultural Festival offered a variety of creative initiatives that inspired young people to unleash their creative potential and entrepreneurship. From Prof. Radostina Neikova, author of animation books, artist and illustrator of children’s books, the participants gained new knowledge and developed skills in bringing different forms to life on screen. “We provide young people with an idea for fun and opportunities to bring their creative ideas to life in front of a camera, as well as to gain new knowledge about making an animated character,” noted Prof. Radostina Neikova. The participants worked in teams, which stimulated communication and good mood among them. In the animation workshop they had the opportunity to produce an animation story by creating characters, drawing and breathing new life into different materials collected from nature.
Aleksandar Dimitrov, Chairman of the Association “GLAS”, Bosilegrad, opened an exhibition “Bosilegrad, before and now”, which presents the life of the town in the past and today. Mr. Dimitrov told the participants about the traditional for Bosilegrad Easter Festival, which has been held there for 29 years. Originally, this was a children’s competition – Easter egg breaking tournament, which over time has grown into a festival of children’s joy and happiness on the occasion of the holiest Christian holiday – Easter. The competition increasingly establishes Bosilegrad as centre for one of the most original and beloved children’s events.
Zoran Veljanovski from the town of Ohrid, R.N. Macedonia presented to the participants the special insight into photography as an art. His photographs radiate a primordial form of modernism that reveals all the mysteries of R.N.Macedonia: from the past, through the present and with an eye to the future. Through the eye of the camera, Zoran locates his mythical probe between Ohrid, Prespa and many more European and world cities and areas seen through his lens. In a group activity, moderated by the photographer, participants were tasked to make a photo-portrait of representatives from the group according to predefined criteria.
Pavlina Sikalevska from the Ohrid Studio of filigree, highlighted the characteristics of the filigree technique. The technique of filigree is to create an ornament by soldering elements of fine wire, precious and base metals (silver, gold, etc.). The resulting lace can be soldered to any base or form an ethereal pattern. “The essence of the filigree technique is quite simple, but it requires a high level of artistic and jewelry craftsmanship, as the whole process is exclusively manual,” Ms. Shikalevska explained. Thanks to its high quality and artistic value, the filigree products enjoy success both in the Republic of North Macedonia and abroad.
The young people were introduced to the topic “Shared Art in the Balkans – Traditions, Contemporary Art and New Approaches to Content”, presented by Snezhana Yoveva-Dimitrova, Director of the State Institute for Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria. According to Ms. Dimitrova, culture is a powerful tool for interaction between people and enables unification, and the big theme of contemporary art is to provoke people to empathize with it.
Kaloyan Konstantinov, a journalist, presented the topic of “Media Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue”. He told them about himself, about what journalism is, what “new” journalism is, and presented the first Bulgarian project for building a democratic media, which is supported entirely through transparent civic funding.
The program continued with Violeta Cepenkovska, an entrepreneur from Ohrid, who showed in practice how cultural heritage and tradition can be turned into entrepreneurship and successful business. This is what “Fort Café” was all about – a successfully implemented idea from 12 years ago for a café right next to the Samuil Fortress in Ohrid. In the 21st century, the spirit of tradition, cultural heritage and the way of life over the years can be felt there.
Ms. Yanitsa Boycheva, politologist, presented to the participants the main ideas and specifics of cultural entrepreneurship – its importance for the social and economic life of citizens. She drew their attention to different aspects and the use of apparently redundant information in the development of a business model of entrepreneurship. Showed them how long and complex is the transition of an entrepreneur in the creation and realization of their own business.
Asen Kolev, choreographer of the ensemble “Pirin”, presented to the young people detailed and interesting information related to Bulgarian folk dances and costumes, which are grouped into six folklore areas. Each of the dances is distinguished by its own style, which is understood as the external manifestation of the movements of the human body and character, the totality of the inner feelings and the state of mind of the performers. In his dances, the choreographer weaves facts and phenomena of life, feelings, thoughts and ideas not in the form of philosophical reflections, but in vivid images and pictures. Along with what they learned, the participants danced and had fun from the heart, sharing and learning together different folk dances from their countries and presenting authentic folk costumes, some of which have been preserved for more than 120 years.
On the last day of the event, each of the participants received from the team of the Bulgarian Memory Foundation a certificate for the knowledge and skills acquired during the Cultural Festival “#EntreCultFest”. In addition, an exhibition was organized of the picturesque clay vessels that the young people made by themselves during the pottery workshop.
The information and views set out in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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