On October 31, Vitebsk /Sergey Kochetov - BELTA/. A multifunctional centre for ceramic crafts is being established in the village of Kopys, Orsha district, with the participation of the Faculty of Art and Graphics of Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov. The prospects of the project for the revival of folk traditions were discussed with a BELTA correspondent by Dmitry Senko, Dean of the Faculty of Art and Graphics of VSU, Associate Professor, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences. The project is planned to be implemented in tandem with the local production and trade centre for folk art and crafts, and the idea of uniting practitioners and representatives of university science belongs to the Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Kosinets. Today, a modern base for the development of ceramic crafts has been created in Kopys, but the local centre is experiencing staffing problems. A solution was found in the creation of a multifunctional centre with the status of an educational and scientific complex, which is designed to solve scientific, pedagogical, and production and technological tasks, noted Dmitry Senko. First of all, it concerns the creation, on the basis of the centre in Kopys, of a platform for training personnel in the field of "artistic ceramics," which has been opened at Vitebsk State University. The developed infrastructure provides opportunities for conducting practical classes and various types of internships for students in Kopys, not only for ceramists but also for representatives of other creative specialities, and for organising plein air sessions with the invitation of specialists from abroad. Such a platform may be in demand as an educational and methodological centre for teachers of art schools and schools of arts. Another promising area is the organisation of scientific research on a modern production base in Kopys. Vitebsk State University is researching the behaviour of ceramic products under various firing conditions, based on which new technologies for working with ceramics are being developed. The accumulated knowledge and developments can be adapted to the production of items in the ceramic crafts centre to create unique artistic products, which are of great interest to ceramics enthusiasts, including foreign ones.