The annual multi-genre patriotic arts festival "We Are Proud to Be Ukrainians," organized by the Donetsk Youth Palace "Yunist," brought participants together around the theme of preserving and raising awareness of Ukrainian identity through art, which is particularly relevant in today's world.
The festival was attended by students and teachers from vocational, pre-higher, and higher education institutions in the Donetsk region, other regions of Ukraine, and abroad. In total, more than 100 competitive works and performances from 29 educational institutions were presented at the festival, distinguished by their content, emotional expressiveness, and genre diversity.
The festival was held in seven categories and four age groups. In each of them, the winners were determined based on the results of a professional jury and online voting, in which more than 1,000 people took part, making the competition open and truly socially significant.
At the end of the festival, the Grand Prix in the "Vocals" category was awarded to the Chamber Choir of the Ivan Karabits Bakhmut College of Culture and Arts. The Grand Prix in the "Instrumental Genre" category was won by Kasim Frolov, a student at the same institution. The Grand Prix in the "Original Genre" category was awarded to Oleksandr Khololovych, a representative of the Donbas State Pedagogical University.
An important part of the festival was the participation of guests of honor, who gave the event a national and international context. Among them were the Krynytsia Folk Choir (Poltava State Medical University) the Gorlytsia Folk Ensemble (Davydivska Branch of the Pyriatyn Cultural Center of the Pyriatyn Territorial Community in Poltava Region), and the Ralets band (Cologne, Germany).
The festival "We Are Proud to Be Ukrainians" has become a space for contemporary cultural expression, in which art emerges as a means of self-awareness, dialogue, and the presence of Ukrainian culture in the national and international dimensions.