From 8 to 12 September the first international festival “Voices of Friends: Poetry & Art” was held in the resort area of Borovoe, organized by the public organization Eurasian Creative Guild (London) with the support of the British magazine OCA Magazine, publishing house Hertfordshire Press and hotel Rıxos Borovoe.
The Voices of Friends: Poetry & Art Festival is part of the popular Eurasian Creative Week (ECW) event, which has been hosted by the Eurasian Creative Guild in London since 2017. The festival brought together dozens of creative people, experts and professionals in their field from different parts of the world to present themselves, their work and exchange experiences.
The Opening Ceremony of the festival was held by the vice-chairman of the Guild Marat (Mark) Akhmedjanov, the general director of the Rixos Borovoe hotel Jesper Frankl and the deputy akim of Akmola region Aina Musralimova also welcomed the guests and participants of the Voices of Friends festival. The event was attended by the Head of the Department of Culture of the Akmola region Sabitova Aigul, the Chief specialist of the Department of Culture of the Akmola region Beisembayeva Dina, the Head of the Museum of Literature and Art Nurbek Nuralin, representatives of the local government Akhetova Aliya, Popov Yuri, Bystritsky Vladimir and others.
In the evening of the same day, the opening of the first international art residence in Kazakhstan (Schuchinsk) – ECG Horizons took place. This is a space for Eurasian writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and other creative people who want to work and develop together.
On September 9, the presentation of the corporate member of the Guild – the Literary Agency from Russia “Large Print” took place. Representatives of the agency Kristina Biktasheva and Ivan Mitryaykin presented the works of the authors: Olga Chernienko, Oleg Shtelman, Grigory Bystritsky, Boris Alekseev, Leon Smith, Lana Rementsova, Arina Lezhina, Saria Mammadova. The representatives also shared information about why it is important to promote your creativity and how to do it correctly, and then donated the books to the library fund of the creative residence “ECG Horizons” and expressed their desire to cooperate with the publishing house Hertfordshire Press on the publication of the graphic novel “Elish and the Wicker Stories” in Russian.
In addition to the agency, other members of the Guild also made presentations. Among those are the writer Marina Alyasova, who shared the story of writing the book “Do not marry girls”. In her book, Marina talks about relationships between people, about the institution of the family, about dreams and problems with finding yourself. Then a children’s poet and writer from Belarus, winner of the Open Eurasia – 2019 contest Mikhail Kunitsky, who recently published a fairy tale for children “A Journey on Four Legs” in cooperation with the British publishing house Hertfordshire Press, made his presentation. In the end, the aspiring author Vadim Kuramshin from Petropavlovsk told the guests about his activities and shared his plans regarding the publication of the book.
On September 10, a presentation of the children’s adventure book by Christoph Schlessing “The Wonderful Adventures Of Yuloph” took place, followed by a literary marathon by correspondence participants from France, Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Crimea and Great Britain.
The program was intense not only offline, but also online. With the support of ECG Expert Councils, zoom conferences were held on the topic “The era of bloggers – challenges and prospects”, “Is it easy to write a detective story?” , “Poetic bridge between the shores of friendship”, “How was the very first almanac“ Voices of Friends ”created?”. The main event was the conference dedicated to the special issue of OCA magazine – OCA PEOPLE, on the theme “Blue Diamonds of Eurasia. Who creates modern classics? ”. The meeting was moderated by the hero of OCA People – 2021, a literary agent from Kazakhstan, Bakhtygul Makhanbetova, with the support of the director of the festival, Anna Larry.
In addition to presentations and conferences, the festival included master classes from business coach Elena Bezrukova “How to bring your creativity to the world”, from the vice-chairman of the Guild Marat Akhmedjanov “How to publish your book in London?” and from the representative of the creative association “Art-Burabay” Yusuf Krykbesov on intuitive painting.
The film block of the festival consisted of screenings of films from the winners and participants of the Eurasian Film Festival. Films such as “Pop” by Vladimir Khotinenko, “Duel” by Anastasia Baulina, “Baulan Sholak” by Nurgeldy Sadygulov and “None” by Nevrida were presented.
On September 11, a presentation of the Lyra musical and poetry group and the Art-Burabay creative association took place. During presentations the guests of the Burabay region learned a lot about the talented and enterprising people who live there.
On September 12, an excursion to the Burabay National Park took place under the guidance of Pavel Kosovich, publisher of the Bohemia magazine, with the support of Elena Tsygvintseva.
During the festival, there were exhibitions of paintings by such artists as: Yusuf Krykbesov, Marlan Nysanbaev, Maksat Kantarbaev, Elena Bezrukova, Rina Akhmetova, Lidia Drozdova, Diana Anpilogova, Evgenia Serebryakova, Maria Luzina, Victoria Uskova, Elena Tsygvintseva, Nelly Filippova, Milana Yusufova, Rashit Minikhanov.
The main intriguing part of the festival was the announcement by the Executive Director of the Guild of Taina Kaunis and the Awarding Ceremony of the winners, finalists of the “Voices of Friends – 2021” poetry and art competition.
Poetry Category Winners:
1st place – Julia Olshevskaya-Hatzenboller (Germany)
2nd place – Rashit Minikhanov (Kazakhstan)
3rd place – Olesya Zaitseva (Russia)
Visual Arts Category Winners:
1st place – Eduard Kamenskikh
2nd place – Aruay Tasmaganbetova (Kazakhstan)
3rd place – Gulnara Joldoshbekova (Kyrgyzstan)
In addition to the main certificates, special certificates were awarded to Victoria Levin (Israel), Yusuf Krykbesov (Kazakhstan), Maria Andranyuk (Kazakhstan), Mikhail Ananov (Georgia).
The official Award Ceremony was attended by Khasenov Galym Kenzhebekovich – assistant to the district akim, Karimov Aleksey Mansurovich – press secretary of the district akim, Karsybaeva Damesh Sadvakasovna – Head of the Department of Culture and Language development and Director of the Higher Technical College – Orazalin Shokan Zhetpisbaevich and other representatives of local authorities.
A special moment of the ceremony was the presentation of the Grand Prix to the winner of the III Eurasian Film Festival Taalaibek Kulmendeev for the feature film “Munabia” and the official transfer of certificates of the Arkady Bezrukov Prize, the prize from Aya Maksutova to the winners of the 9th Open Eurasia – 2020 competition
The final phase of the ceremony was a speech by Jesper Frankl about the further cooperation of Rixos Borovoe with ECG (London) and the announcement of the second “Voices of Friends” festival from 13 to 17 May 2022.
Official participants of the festival (offline and online):
Anpilogova Diana – USA – Ukraine, Kantarbayev Maksat – Kazakhstan, Krykbesov Yusuf, Zhagiparovich – Kazakhstan, Drozdova Lidia Dmitrievna – Kazakhstan, Nysanbayev Marlan Kenesovich – Kazakhstan, Akhmetova Rina Vitalievna – Kazakhstan, Amankeldiev Akimzhan – Kazakhstan, Kendzhaemov – Kazakhstan, Makhanbetova Bakhtygul Shahzadaevna – Kazakhstan, Tlepina Barshagul Nuradinovna – Kazakhstan, Yusufova Milana Kamalovna – Kazakhstan, Abdybachaeva Sabina – Kyrgyzstan, Nurtaza Aknur – Kazakhstan, Anna Lari – Russia, Taina Kaunis – Russia, Mark Akhmed (Marat Akhmedjanov) – Great Britain Artemyeva Nadezhda Anatolyevna – Kazakhstan, Kosovich Pavel – Kazakhstan, Akmatov Azimbek Kazatovich – Kyrgyzstan, Alyasova Marina Vasilievna – Kazakhstan, Bikshataeva Kristina – Russia, Kulmendeev Taalaibek – Kyrgyzstan, Kunitskiy Mikhail Petrovich – Belarus, Mitryaykin Ivan Pavlovich – Arkad, Beznrukova – Elena , Nelly Kopeikina – Russia, Abdaliyeva Perisat Koshoevna – Kyrgyz Stan, Goylo Gayane Vilfridovna – Russia, Oksana Zhukova – Crimea, Karpuk Lyudmila Illarionovna – Kazakhstan, Elvira Oleshchenko – Kazakhstan, Shpanko Marina Vladimirovna – Kazakhstan, Adolina Gordon – Germany, Aitikenova Raushan Takeevna – Kazakhstan, Nadezhda Nikolaevna Krybrennikov Kazakhstan, Yulia Olshevskaya-Hatzenböller – Germany, Loskutov Natalya Vitalievna – Russia, Victoria Levin – Israel, Rose Red – Russia, Keti Kairos – France, Hosiyat Rustamova – Uzbekistan, Aldona Groupas – Great Britain, Elena Ananyeva – Germany, Nargisa Karasartova – Kyrgyzstan, Bubuira Bektenova – Kyrgyzstan.
Victoria Levin, Marina Starchevskaya, Lyudmila Katz, Adolina Gordon, Irina Sapir, Luciya Kamaeva, Mikhail Ananov and Musakun Satybaldiev.
Contacts: