At the opening of KONTENTA in Kryvyi Rih, the Cultural Platform team presented a mobile audiovisual studio to local youth, public activists, and government officials. They also explained what opportunities the studio creates for the implementation of cultural and educational youth projects.
KONTENTA started working at the Kryvyi Rih Central Library. The studio carries all the necessary equipment so that the youth of Kryvyi Rih can conduct individual studio work, group classes and lectures, record vocals and musical instruments, and shoot video blogs and podcasts free of charge.
“All equipment is very easy to connect. This box is mobile, beautiful, and technological. There is built-in lighting and a GODOX light so that the shot will look stylish,” says Yevhen Zabarylo, co-founder of the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO. “There are different variations of how to use the studio. You can record podcasts, and conduct workshops; there are enough microphones to record vocals and music, and all the necessary equipment to work in the domain of sound design.”
This is already the eighth KONTENTA opened by the Cultural Platform in the communities all over Ukraine. There will be 20 of them in total. The civil society organization plans to unite Ukrainian youth into a joint network that will contribute to social cohesion and stability.
“These studios are for everyone who can broadcast ideas. This solution provides teenagers with the opportunity to be present in modern life and promotes their resilience because they have the right to express their opinions. This is something that we never had before and was not foreseen in the systems that were formed by the Soviets. Then, only paternalism existed: you always had to wait to be given the floor to speak. But in a democratic society, everyone has the right to their voice, because it is written in the Constitution. And this right is easily implemented in the «KONTENTA» project. You can have any kind of conversation here. You get the opportunity to work with the latest digital infrastructure, which will be presented in the format of youth online radio,” Yevhen Zabarylo continues.
Local youth during the project presentation and workshop on how to use studio equipment
By working in the studio and attending Cultural Platform events, young people will learn about digital legislation and discover the capabilities of NGOs, because the demand for information from Ukraine is at an all-time high. Thanks to licensed software, all products created by young people can be uploaded to streaming platforms.
Within the framework of the «KONTENTA» project, a colorful fluffy flower arrives in the communities of Ukraine to pair up with the studio. It is a mobile photo zone that creates comfortable conditions for the adolescents to express themselves, and be in tune with their mood while simultaneously reflecting youth trends.
Yevhen Zabarylo, head of the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO, notes that there should be more such elements in youth centers:
“It is very relevant for youth spaces to create new unique attributes that interact with mental health. When a young person enters a space and sees something there that they have never seen before, but feels that it resonates with them, they understand that they have been thought about. They were awaited here. And this is something that has never existed in libraries, cultural centers, or youth spaces. These places were just walls where you had to follow the rules. All that is in the past now. And this flower is the first attempt to make something completely different.”
Non-standard approaches in the field of youth policy development are also supported by the local government of Kryvyi Rih. At the KONTENTA presentation, First Deputy Mayor Serhii Milyutin told how the community will use the new opportunities of the audiovisual studio:
“We are trying to reverse the approaches we have in the culture of our city. We have ten palaces of culture, 18 art schools, there are universities where people can engage in art, culture, and grow. But time does not stand still. And to be in trend, we must make some modern non-standard moves. Together with the Cultural Platform, we want to give more opportunities to young people, for their development—namely the «KONTENTA» project. I really want civil society organizations and individual artists to join, so that we create a new ecosystem of modern youth culture. Here in Kryvyi Rih, we are used to being the best, so I think that we will be one of the best ones in this project as well.”
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.
Photo Anja Lozinska–Korman
Tetiana Koliadych
Follow the project on social media: Instagram, Telegram, Facebook