3 May, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. The organising committee meeting on the preparation and holding of the international arts festival "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" took place on 2 May in the government, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Tozik. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the press service of the government.
The programmes of the main events of the arts festival were discussed: the official opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, the Days of Belarus, Ukraine, the Union State, and Youth. In total, the festival programme includes 70 events, including 21 concerts by popular foreign performers. For the first time during "Slavianski Bazaar", Youth Day will be held, featuring the international festival "Fire of Dance" with the participation of dance groups presenting youth subcultures.
During the meeting, candidates for the presentation of the special award of the President of Belarus "Through Art – to Peace and Mutual Understanding" were considered. Proposals were made regarding the composition of the jury and the chairpersons of the international contests for pop song performers "Vitebsk-2012" and the children's music contest. The jury of the pop song performers' contest will be headed by composer Maksim Dunaevsky, and the children's music contest by Dzhemal Sepiashvili. Twenty-one applications from 18 countries have been received for participation in the pop song performers' contest, and 21 applications from 21 countries for the children's contest.
The government also considered options for the festival's information support, including forms of cooperation with foreign television and radio companies, including the possible sale of broadcasting rights for festival events. "The issue of concluding an agreement between Belteleradiocompany and VGTRK (Russia) on broadcasting events of the XXI International Arts Festival "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" was discussed," the press service clarified. Proposals were made on awarding journalists for the best publication, television or radio report about the festival.
The State Institution "Vitebsk Culture Centre" informed about the progress of work on attracting sponsorship and increasing festival revenues, and ticket sales. Festival revenues are planned to increase by 80% compared to 2011.
Anatoly Tozik paid special attention to the insufficient coverage of the festival preparations in the mass media. It was noted that national TV channels poorly promote the preparatory events, and there is a lack of materials about new facilities and creative projects being prepared in Vitebsk. The Ministry of Culture, the departments of culture of regional executive committees, and the Minsk City Executive Committee are not systematically working to organize the participation of young Belarusian representatives in the qualifying rounds of the international pop song performers' competition "Vitebsk-2012" and the international children's competition.
Following the meeting, the Ministry of Information was instructed to ensure systematic work on organizing media coverage of the festival preparations, placing promotional videos about the festival events on national TV channels, and approving regulations for rewarding representatives of foreign and national media for the best publication or TV/radio report about the festival. The Ministry of Culture and the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee were instructed to coordinate the work of all interested ministries and departments to hold the festival at a high organizational and creative level.
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BELTA