WHO HAS MANAGED TO MAKE NOVI SAD HAPPY?

European Youth Capital Novi Sad has been visited by 250 young people from 60 different countries of the world within the festival which is held for the thirteenth year in a row named “International Student Week in Belgrade”.

This year, between 14 and 22 July, the festival was held under the slogan “The Future is Calling” and through different workshops, within the educational part of the festival, it dealt with new technologies and 4.0 revolution with the focus on information technologies, blockchain and game developing. And for those interested in arts, there were also workshops of musicals, comics and film.

“The workshops last for five days, four hours each. Each workshop has its own moderator, domestic and international young professionals. Among the events within the entire festival, the largest one was Art Night which was of humanitarian character. Since this is the first time in thirteen years that we take young people somewhere out of Belgrade, and Novi Sad is this year’s European Youth Capital, we wanted to bring them and show them the city that holds the title”, Nataša Pantić, the president of International Student Week in Belgrade says.

Every year, the festival is held with the new topic and new goals, and the main goal is to, through the promotion of multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue, wake up the team work, understanding and tolerance among young people, as the encouragement to improvement of old and gaining of new skills.

“The workshops were interesting, hanging out, getting to know people, as well as the work itself. The lecturers were great and they tried to bring explain every topic, talking some things from their experience. I think that everyone should know something about topics we worked on and I believe that those workshops were useful to everyone. I like Novi Sad very much and I am glad that we have visited it. My wish is to move to this city someday”, one of the participants says.

Taking into account that the majority of young people is in Serbia for the first time and that they do not have opportunity to visit our country often, the organizers have decided to give them a chance and to introduce European Youth Capital for one day. As European Youth Capital for 2019 and the city which is oriented towards the empowerment of young people for active and equal participation in the society, Novi Sad is the representative example of how it is invested in young people in Serbia and how they are provided supported to be initiators of changes within their communities.

“This cooperation is initiated by “International Student Week in Belgrade” and we accepted it gladly. Of course, our programs are available to young people in Novi Sad but what we wanted to do was to provide support to young people from the entire Serbia and the world to come to Novi Sad and to see what European Youth Capital offers and what opportunities for young people are there. We want to support events which exist at the national level and not only at the local one”, Katarina Živanović, International Cooperation Coordinator Assistant.

Novi Sad has become the happiest city for one day because it will be remembered by young people who will be at other parts of the world tomorrow.