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High school and university students learn to film, edit, and promote video within the project Creative Studio Space “Berdyansk V3.0”. Thanks to workshops and mentoring support, the participants of the training create videos for social initiatives, as well as cover cultural events online, which is especially relevant during the pandemic.

To achieve the primary goal of the project which is strengthening the competitiveness of youth and SMEs in Berdyansk, about a dozen memoranda of cooperation with socially-oriented organizations and enterprises of the city has already been signed. This partnership gives young people participating in the project the opportunity to practice the creation and video editing and gives the enterprises additional resources to promote their initiatives and activities.

Dmytro Polubok, a student, shared his impressions of the project:

“For me, the project started in the summer with the participation in workshops on the organization of interviews, filming, and preparation for them. I often attend such workshops, and thanks to the project Creative Studio Space “Berdyansk V3.0”, which took place partly online, I managed to avoid pausing my development and gain new knowledge. Now, as part of the project, we are learning to shoot and edit videos on various topics. In the future, I plan to continue to do this and, possibly, do this professionally. ”

Among the tasks of the project “Berdyansk V3.0”, supported by PLEDDG’s SME Fund, is also the creation of opportunities for young people to master the skills of modern media professions. Thanks to the support of PLEDDG, a video content preparation studio was set up in the city, and the necessary equipment was purchased.

Currently, the studio trains in such areas as copywriting and SEO-management, intellectual property and media law, photography, and video, creating your brand, storytelling, marketing, and SMM.

Tetiana Kulykova, head of the psychology studio, told us:

“As a head of the psychology studio, I already have pages on social media. The workshops on the basics of working in the media space and PR allowed me to find out how to bring order to my content to make it really useful and interesting for potential clients. New information motivates me to be more active on social media and hold more online events. For example, recently I used the knowledge acquired during the training while organizing an online event. While planning a webinar on art therapy and self-esteem for my students, I used the advice of the instructors and invited everyone who wanted to join. The result, both in terms of the number of participants and their involvement, exceeded my expectations 5 times over, and I still get requests for the recording of the event.”

The project has platforms on most popular social networks and constantly updates them with new educational and entertainment information directly from the project participants – young videographers, editors, and SMM-specialists. For example, the YouTube channel of the project regularly posts videos with tips on video editing and SMM promotion, and the Instagram page contains short video products from training participants.

As told by Andriy Cheprasov, head of the project and NGO “Information and Resource Center for Culture Communications “Dialog”:

“Thanks to the project, we are able to adapt to the challenges presented by the pandemic, including by broadcasting cultural and sports events of the city online. For example, a performance held as part of the Project “Theater against violence”, thanks to our cooperation and informational support, gathered over 4,000 views, while in physical terms, the theater hall cannot hold more than 1,000 viewers”.

PLEDDG supports initiatives aimed at creating new jobs, expanding the areas of the creative economy and the participation of young people in it. The global pandemic poses additional challenges for both the economic and cultural areas of urban development. Instead, rapid adaptation to these changes, broad involvement of partners, the introduction of new business models that take into account the economic and cultural needs of the city becomes a guarantee of development and lays new paths for growth.