A landmark international project “Serbia&Ugra. Media School” took place in Ugra

From June 12 to 16 in Khanty-Mansiysk, with the support of the Government of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, 30 bloggers from Serbia and Russia, including from Makeyevka, Donetsk People’s Republic, worked with federal and international experts to create and promote content.

The co-organizer of the project was a participant in the regional program of the World Youth Festival 2024, President of the Association Srbija za Mlade (Serbia for Youth) Jovan Dražić.

Jovan Dražić shared that the Srbija za Mlade Association has been working on a huge number of youth projects in Belgrade for more than 10 years. According to him, the World Youth Festival in Sochi was wonderful, filled with meetings with a large number of hospitable and positive people, as well as the regional program “Live and work in Russia.” Then he had a conversation with the director of the Department of Youth Policy, Civil Initiatives and External Relations of Ugra, Yakov Samokhvalov, about a joint media project, where Serbian bloggers would also participate.

“And now, three months later, we are back in Ugra with excellent escorts! Such a meeting is a good format for interaction with colleagues, every day we met with representatives of business and tourism, with well–known speakers in Russia, including the head of the autonomous okrug. There are already many ideas for cooperation with the region. I hope that the media school is just the beginning, and in the future, we will have many new joint projects,” Jovan Dražić shared.

As an expert in the tourism sector, Jovan Drajic appreciated the high level of organization and comfort created for guests from Serbia.

For other foreign guests, the acquaintance with the autonomous Okrug took place for the first time. “This is my first time in Russia, in Ugra. We have a centuries-old connection with your country. We always repeat the phrase that Serbs and Russians are brothers forever. I am looking forward to walking through the streets of Ugra to enjoy nature, the extraordinary sights and beauties of your country,” Thiago Ferreira, Director General of the international organization Welcome to Serbia, stated.

Thiago came to study at the media school not only as a student, but also as an expert. At his lecture, he told the Russian-speaking and Serbian audience about marketing communication tools for the development of the media industry.

For five days, the guys worked with federal and international experts to create and promote content: Pavel Kukharkin, media technologist, producer, blogger; Ivan Gakh, program director of federal projects; Kirill Shevelev, creative producer of VKontakte; Evgeny Kleshch, podcast producer, writer; Maxim Sharafutdinov, Russian journalist, TV presenter of Channel One, Andrey Romanov, correspondent and presenter of Match TV, etc.

Maxim Sharafutdinov revealed the secrets of public speaking, starting with the timbre of voice, behavior in and off-screen, and ending with easy ways to get rid of excitement. “The Media School is a useful platform for international cooperation. This mutual penetration of cultural codes means a lot. There is mutual educational integration between the participants, which is really very expensive,” Federal Speaker Maxim Sharafutdinov said.

According to the results of the intensive course, exclusive projects were presented in Ugra, which are planned to be implemented on the territory of both countries. One of them is “Sisters,” which tells about the fate of the inhabitants of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Republic of Serbia during the Balkan conflict and the events in Ukraine. Another interesting project is “Through the Lens,” which will tell about people of different nationalities through photography.

The media school project was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. The attache of the representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in Ekaterinburg, Egor Rybin, visited the media school and talked with Serbian participants on various topics on the international agenda. He stressed that such an exchange of experience would make content more diverse, interesting, relevant, would contribute to the development of the media industry and, in general, would strengthen cultural ties between the two peoples.

“The project itself is large-scale, the prospects for the media school are the widest in the international format, and with proper support and broadcasting, the project will continue to exist and expand its borders,” Egor Rybin stated.

The participants from Russia were impressed by the contact with foreign guests. According to them, the delegation from Serbia are incredibly creative, creative, open and smart guys who treat Russians like brothers. Victoria Yeletskaya, who came to the media intensive from Makeyevka, said that in addition to a useful educational program, she even managed to learn a new Serbian language for herself.

At the end of the educational intensive, following a meeting with Ruslan Kuharuk, Acting Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, agreements were reached on the implementation of the second module of the Russian-Serbian media school in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.