‘Our festival is striding triumphantly across the globe!’

The Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk International Festival of Arts has become a truly family holiday as well as a celebration of traditional values. “No matter how hard someone might try to drown out or downplay the significance of the festival, nothing works out — it is striding triumphantly across the globe,” the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, stated at the solemn opening ceremony of this remarkable cultural forum in Vitebsk.

This year Vitebsk has hosted the 33rd song contest in a row. The Head of State stressed that the festival had become a true epoch, while the philosophy of this holiday was rooted in its motto: Through Art to Peace and Mutual Understanding. “Here, on the picturesque bank of the Dvina River 1,050 years ago, the first stone was laid into the city that is today rightfully called our cultural capital. There is something special in this corner of Belarus that has throughout centuries inspired the creation of masterpieces of fine art, unique architectural objects, great literary and musical works, as well as festivals, competitions, and many other creative projects,” the President emphasised. “For centuries, a unique atmosphere has been created here — the atmosphere of creative search, the dialogue of civilisations. For centuries, trade routes have intersected here, linking the East and the West, the North and the South. This city has been gratefully absorbing new ideas and trends, and developing thanks to that.” 
As Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, that is why the history of the festival began specifically in that place — in the city of world-famous people whose professional path started in the local workshops. Vitebsk has become the creative homeland of real geniuses. “The Slavic soul is boundless in its openness to the world. Therefore, our festival has long gone beyond the geographical boundaries of the Slavic brotherhood,” the Belarusian leader pointed out.
The current forum edition has brought together like-minded people from four dozen countries — from Russia to India and from China to Colombia.

“Today, for the first time, we welcome the culture ministers and creative teams from the member states of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), which is now our organisation, too. This is a landmark event in the life of Belarus. We have joined the community of countries to which the future belongs — the future of human development based on the principles of equality, respect and creativity. At least, such a spirit prevails in the SCO today,” the President underscored. 

Congratulations to all those awarded by the President at the opening of the festival

“Today this festival unites people of different generations, religions and cultures — true connoisseurs of art who share a variety of preferences — from the avant-garde to the classics. Most importantly, it has become a truly family holiday, a celebration of traditional values.” 
Aleksandr Lukashenko expressed gratitude to the forum organisers, performers, masters of art, and all those who come to Belarus every year to spend the best days of the festival summer in our country.
On the festive stage of the Summer Amphitheatre in Vitebsk, the Belarusian leader presented the main prize of the festival — the special award of the President of Belarus Through Art to Peace and Mutual Understanding — to People’s Artiste of Russia Grigory Leps. The President bestowed the Union State awards in literature and art for 2023-2024 upon people who had made a significant contribution to strengthening friendship between the peoples of Belarus and Russia. The Head of State also presented the Grand Prix to the winner of the 22nd International Children Music Contest, Yasmina Husniddinova, a talented young singer from Uzbekistan.   

The Grand Prix of the 22nd International Children Music Contest was won by vocalist from Uzbekistan Yasmina Husniddinova.
In the photo: Jury Chairperson Eteri Beriashvili and Yasmina Husniddinova.     BELTA
      Winner of the 33rd Vitebsk-2024 International Pop Song Contest Carolina Balan from Moldova      Ilya Shvedko


Music bands from African countries got everyone in the hall up on their feet with groovy dances   Ilya Shvedko

Day of SCO National Cultures held at Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk Festival

Special attention is focused on this important novelty in the festival schedule. This day is really significant and special for the history of the Vitebsk forum. Belarus has recently become the tenth full member of the SCO family and is already fully demonstrating the importance it attaches to this co-operation. This was also noted by members of the official delegations of the SCO members who arrived in Vitebsk. First of all, SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming thanked Belarus for the warm welcome.
“This is the first event held in the country after its official accession to the SCO family. We are convinced that regular interaction between Belarus and the SCO members will play an important role in strengthening our co-operation while laying the foundation for further development of interaction,” Zhang Ming stressed. 
Strengthening cultural liaisons is one of the priorities, with Belarus’ Culture Minister Anatoly Markevich urging the participants of the meeting to engage in a dialogue of cultures. 
“We already have an initiative proposal from Belarus to hold an international youth forum Through Traditions — into the Future. Therefore, today we will also discuss this topic with our colleagues and see how we have progressed in those roadmaps that already exist in each country. We have long established close co-operation with the Russian Culture Ministry, meeting annually at joint boards and synchronising our positions. A roadmap — consisting of 57 points — has been developed. We are implementing them step by step, including through young people. There are many projects enabling our youngsters to unite, to be in the same teams: whether it is a symphony orchestra, or a Memory Train. We are laying the groundwork. If young people follow us with the same understanding as we do, then everything is great: we have a succession of generations. We do not allow formalism in any case. We also develop a common position on topical issues and respond clearly to all challenges,” Anatoly Markevich underlined. 
The meeting of the SCO culture ministers was also attended by Azerbaijani Culture Minister Adil Karimli. Baku and Minsk have long-standing friendly ties, but now — after Belarus has joined the SCO — these ties will develop even more actively. “Azerbaijan strives to deepen co-operation with all the countries of the SCO family across various fields, including culture, education and science. Our goal is to strengthen relationships and use their potential to support sustainable development. In November, Azerbaijan will be hosting the COP29 World Conference, at which a meeting of the SCO culture ministers is also planned. We hope this meeting will become an important platform for discussing the negative impact of climate change on cultural heritage,” Azerbaijan’s Culture Minister added. 

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by