BY MUSIC NOTES THROUH THE CITY

At the first glance, Katarzina Smolarek from Poland, Yuki Saito from Japan i Viktor Đuknić from Serbia do not have that many in common. Except for one thing – music. All of them are young artists and speakers at the panel discussion at the premises of European Youth Capital who talked about their road to success, gave some advice to young people and showed them how it is important to be devoted to what you do. Apart from being excellent musicians, they are primarily young people who are outside the framework of practicing, strict formats and are examples and role models to their peers.
“I wanted to say one thing to young people, that they must not give up their goal and that they should be persistent in what they do. I hope I at least made them think about the things waiting for them on that road. They could have got different advice that was not only related to music but daily life. I think they should be modest and primarily establish their own personality and to know what they want. I cannot say I am successful yet, but I do try to meet some expectations of mine and I think the most important factor is, as well as in everything else to move your boundaries”, Viktor Đuknić says.

The goals of the festival matched the mission and vision of the European Youth Capital, so the cooperation was natural.

“Through the discussion with EuropStrings artists, young guitar players who are the guests of the festival, as well as musicians in general, found out how the creation of a music career at the teenage part of life looks like, as well as what kind of waivers and efforts are required. They talked about ups and downs, experiences from competitions as well as love for the guitar which in the end prevails and overcomes all problems. The idea about the panel discussion is the result of the cooperation with the OPENS organization. Through the discussion, we mutually came up with the idea to organize additional content within the festival, which would be related to the platform “EuroStrings”, as well as with goals of OPENS”, Raško Radović, director of the festival explains.

“In the light of Novi Sad being the European Youth Capital, the plan was for young people to share their experiences, successes, waivers, challenges on the road with young people from Novi Sad and to inspire young people to take their road. The response was solid, we are satisfied that the panel was participated by young people who were genuinely interested in the topic“, Mladen Ilić, OPENS Youth Activity Coordinator Assistant says. This is just one of many activities which are parts of the concept of OPENS Living Rooms and more activities of this type and interested content are expected in the following period.