Kontenta is a free audiovisual studio created to support the youth in creative industries. It gives young people the opportunity to work individually, conduct group classes and lectures, record vocals and musical instruments, and shoot video blogs as well as podcasts—every activity connected to content-making.
Now, the map of Kontenta spreads to the Dnipropetrovsk region in addition to the already-existing Kontenta studios in the Chernihiv region, Kyiv region, Kharkiv region and Kirovohrad region.
On April 19, the Cultural Platform team held an official opening of the mobile studio for professional work with sound and video at the Kamyanske Center For Youth Initiatives.
The youth of Kamyanske recorded their own podcast in the newly-installed audiovisual studio together with Yevhen Zabarylo, co-founder of the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO, and discussed topics relevant to the modern generation of Ukrainians.
“At a time when we are witnessing an increase in the negative impact anxiety has on society, creating opportunities for empowerment of teenagers and young people is crucial for ensuring the well-being of not only the young generation, but also the entire country. Active and educated adolescents play a key role in supporting public initiative and promoting the development of democracy and open society,” notes Yevhen Zabarylo, chairman of the board of the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO.
In Kamyanske, there was a sound design event held at the opening as well as a training workshop for the youth center employees on how to use studio equipment, which the NGO team conducts in each community.
On the next day, April 20, the civil society organization team installed Kontenta at the Kryvyi Rih Central Library.
People of Kryvyi Rih visited the official studio opening and project presentation, where the NGO explained the potential Kontenta holds for the community as a whole, the media, and the local government. They also attended a workshop explaining how to use the technical setup of the studio so that the adolescents could use the studio freely during the library opening hours.
Ukrainian musician and beatboxer Artem Nazarenko held a sound design event where the adolescents learned to explore the sounds of their surroundings and use them to their advantage by finding out-of-the-box solutions for their task — to record a track together.
The main goals of Kontenta are: to popularize practices from the field of creative industries, improve the creative skills of teenagers and young people in Ukrainian communities to ensure the sustainability of the creative economy, promote the development of emotional intelligence, and improve the mental health of Kontenta’s participants through collaborative creation.
The project is implemented by the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine. In 2024, they plan to install 20 Kontenta studios in different communities across Ukraine. The selection of communities where these audiovisual studios will operate is still ongoing. You can contact the team on behalf of the community via e-mail at hello@cultpz.org.
Photo Anja Lozinska–Korman
Anastasiya Mishustina
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