A series of conversations with the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO program mentors about conscious citizenship, creative economy, and Ukrainian youth
— Hello there! Tell us about yourself, please.
— Hello! My name is Taras Kovalchuk and I come from Kharkiv. Currently, I live in Ukrzaliznytsia trains. Just kidding! In Kyiv 🙂
I have my own 3D production company working in digital fashion: we make AR masks and do clothing visualization. I’m also the editor and author of Futurezine, a digital fashion and technology media outlet, where I also host a podcast of the same name. In general, I moved to the digital world a long time ago, but now I also look fashionable in it!
— How and when did you join the team of mentors of the Cultural Platform? Why was that interesting to you?
— In June 2023, Yana Polupanova wrote to me saying that there was an offer to join the Spilno Camp in Chernihiv as a mentor. It was a challenge for me because I had never worked with the youth before, but I thought it would be interesting to try. At first, I told young people about blogging and video editing but later moved on to the topic of innovations and artificial intelligence. We started analyzing what young people dig, what they are interested in, and what their feedback is. Together, we came up with relevant topics and directions for the workshops. Blogging is interesting for some, while others do not want to communicate publicly at all—I try to make my workshops interesting and relevant for the majority. Over time, the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO team and I have adapted the format to better suit the needs of each community.
There is a digital technology module within the Spilno Camp project: there I talk to young people about artificial intelligence and its role in the creative economy. Recently, the participants of Spilno Camp in Kryvyi Rih learned not only how to generate sound, videos, and pictures using generative AI but also managed to create their own AR mask that reacts to the image of a cat created by youth at other workshops by the Cultural Platform. That’s really cool and it demonstrates how quickly they progress in using digital tools over just a few days.
Artificial intelligence has already become a solid part of our lives, so it is a very necessary tool that must be introduced to young people. The sooner the better. Through teaching them, we also research the behavioral changes brought on by the quick changes in the world (both physical and digital) and learn how to adapt to them and how to use them to our advantage.
There is a big difference between learning all about AI at 10 years old and 10 years from now.
— How was your first mentoring experience? Your expectations/reality.
— It was a very interesting experience because the day before I spoke at a conference in front of 300 people, and everything was super cool, I wasn’t worried at all. The next day, I arrived at the Camp in Chernihiv and got completely lost in front of ten children. I did not understand how to properly communicate with them and didn’t know what to do.
This contrast is very funny to me now: I was completely calm at a conference with an audience of 300 SMM managers, marketing directors, and CEOs of many agencies and businesses; but then I saw 10 children, and was like: “I don’t I understand what to do and how to communicate at all.”
Over time, it became easier, especially during trips within the framework of the Spilno Camp. Communities project. At first, when I came in, everyone was just running and shouting. Now I already sense how to communicate better, taking into account specific group dynamics. I already understand which group needs to be given which tasks.
— Which places have you been to as a mentor?
— If we are talking about geography, then I have already lost count of the number of places I have been. I definitely was in Chernihiv, I definitely was in Poltava, I definitely was in Kehychivka, Kamianske, Dnipro, Kropyvnytskyi, Yuzhne, and Podilsk. There were too many places to keep track of. Geographically speaking, I get confused sometimes and don’t remember exactly where I’ve been.
— What is your motivation to be socially active? Do you see yourself as a social activist, do you see your influence on young people?
— I love giving young people innovative tools and seeing how they interact with them. It’s cool to realize that adolescents are learning more about the tools that can significantly increase their creativity. The influence on the modern generation is obvious—we do not act within the classical educational paradigm but give them something extra for their development, creativity, and self-expression, which is very important.
Digital technology workshop in Kropyvnytskyi, Boryslav, Yuzhne (2024)
For me, this activity is an opportunity not to lose my common sense and learn to switch between different types of tasks. The earlier teens and young adults learn about various digital technologies, the better. Because then we will be able to develop faster in the modern age. The fact is that the overall potential of the country can skyrocket due to young people getting access to modern tools, and as a result, we can become a more innovative state, and create our own innovations.
— What is the most interesting part of this activism to you? What stays with you, what makes it meaningful?
— What touches me the most is when someone gets excited about the topic of the workshop, comes up to me afterward, and starts asking about it in more detail. At such moments, I understand that this is a cool feasible result of my work and that it all makes sense because there are people who are so impressed by it so much that they want to get into it somehow, and explore it more deeply.
— What is your most vivid memory of this experience? It shouldn’t necessarily be a positive memory, but something that struck you. Maybe it’s something sad or painful.
— At some point, I started taking a hexapod robot from Ukrainian Robotics with me. These are the funniest memories because the youth were interacting with it so actively that at almost every workshop something in this robot broke because of their intensity. We were constantly trying to somehow repair it via video calls: printing some spare parts, looking for cogs, and fastening the legs. When I remember that time, I always laugh about it.
— What do you think others need to know about social activism? How could more people join in building a conscious and active society of the future?
— The main thing to know about social activism is that it has a cumulative effect. If you did something once, it wouldn’t radically change anything globally. It is necessary to take many systemic actions, to interact, to build up a critical mass—only after that can transformations begin. So the best thing is to have a lot of patience. Activism is very different from work in terms of the resources spent. But it’s well worth it.
— Do you have any big dreams? Perhaps within the framework of this activity, perhaps on the scale of the country or the world?
— My global dream is access to technology not being determined by geography. A good friend once told me that the future is unevenly distributed, and it really is. Ukraine actually has a great level of access to technology, not compared to Japan or Korea, of course, but overall we are in a good position. But technology is unevenly distributed even within our country, too. In some communities, you may be asked how to type in the password to the tablet.
— What about the Ukrainian youth? Can you describe them with five adjectives or phrases (or elaborate)?
— Creativity, strength, open-mindedness, drive, and determination.
— What else would you like to say? Maybe we forgot to ask about something important 🙂
— Learn more about innovations and don’t be afraid to integrate them into your life.
Anastasiya Mishustina