Young People from Ukraine and Lithuania will Unite for a Discussion

On 23 May, at 3 p.m., schoolchildren and VMU students from Lithuania and Ukraine will gather at the Small Hall of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). Together with VMU professors Gintautas Mažeikis and Andžej Pukšto, young people will participate in the discussion “Europe and Ukraine – Today and Tomorrow” and launch the “Think Tank” tradition at the University, which originates from the Centre of Ukraine in Vilnius.

VMU students are invited to attend the discussion. Registration (until 22 May) is available via the link. The event will be held in English.

The “Young Think Tank” convened for the first time this year in January at the Centre of Ukraine in Vilnius. “The forums bring together Ukrainian and Lithuanian schoolchildren to discuss Euro-integration and other topics related to Ukraine’s future. Schoolchildren themselves suggest specific topics and moderate the forums. The discussions are filmed and live-streamed on social networks,” said Algirdas Kumža, Head of the Centre of Ukraine in Vilnius, who will moderate the discussion in Kaunas.

The forums have been attended by prominent politicians and diplomats, including Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania; Marius Vaščega, Head of the European Commission Representation in Lithuania; former Lithuanian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius, Petras Vaitiekūnas, and Antanas Valionis; and His Excellency Petro Bešta, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania.

“The idea of a European ‘Think Tank’ is in line with the mission of the Centre of Ukraine to help Ukrainians understand the political, economic, social, and spiritual life of Lithuania and the whole of Europe,” said Kumža.

The Centre of Ukraine, which opened its doors at the initiative of the First Ladies of Lithuania and Ukraine Diana Nausėdienė and Olena Zelenska on 11 June in Vilnius, and, symbolically, on the street named after the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, attracts around two thousand visitors every month.

Both children and adults visit the Centre of Ukraine. The space is actively used by Ukrainian artists for art and art therapy courses, and, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Saturday School, where native Ukrainian language classes are taught, the Centre also holds creative workshops for children.

The Centre has a Ukrainian amateur choir that performs at various events; it also offers vocal and piano lessons for adults and children, and organises Ukrainian folk dancing and many other creative activities. The Centre’s Ukrainian amateur groups danced and sang for the Queen of Belgium herself, when the royal family visited Lithuania.

The Centre hosts exhibitions, presentations of artistic and social projects, and commemorations of historical events. At the end of the year, the Centre of Ukraine hosted Lithuanian language and culture as well as English language courses for around 100 Ukrainians.