With great attention of all participants, this year the workshops took place under the guidance of Croatian language teacher Vedrana Iskra and the participation of Grozdana Lajić Horvat from the Youth Theater, Lada Kanajet Šimić from the Croatian Heritage Foundation and Marija Matković, dance workshop leader. They successfully combined dance and music, dramatic expression and mastering and supplementing the basics of the Croatian language through various interactive forms in the spirit of the educational atmosphere.
As part of international cooperation, the project “Traveling School” organized by the Croatian Heritage Foundation and the Community of Croats in the Republic of Northern Macedonia – Skopje branch and in Tetovo organized by the Macedonian-Croatian Society is taking place from April 29 to May 1 in Skopje and Tetovo. The interactive project also took place in Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, the USA and Australia, and in 2008 it was presented in Northern Macedonia. This year, the realization of the project began with a visit to Skopje and continued in Tetovo.
In Skopje, on Friday, April 29, several interactive educational workshops were held as part of a program for learning Croatian for children between the ages of nine and sixteen as part of the project in the premises of the Cultural Center “Kočo Racin” Skopje, in the halls of the “KO-RA” Gallery. The opening was attended by Croatian language students in the Republic of Northern Macedonia, representatives of the Croat Community in the Republic of Northern Macedonia and members of the Croat Community Skopje Branch and cultural workers, poet Ljerka Toth Naumova, linguist Ljlljana Kalinić Ordeva, culturologist Igor Pop Trajkov and others.
Lada Kanajet Šimić, Head of the Department of Education, Science and Sport at the Croatian Heritage Foundation, gave a speech on the occasion of cooperation between the two countries. She spoke not only as a representative of the CHF, but also on behalf of the group of present leaders of various workshops of the Traveling School, which is active through numerous projects in the Republic of Croatia and around the world. She highlighted its goals and significance, especially for the youngest. What was emphasized on that occasion was the importance of multiple links that shifted horizons, opening new opportunities for the next number of joint projects in all spheres of culture, education, science and at the same time preserved the identity of individuals and small communities such as the Croatian community in Northern Macedonia and its members who are in various ways related to their home country, be it by birth, origin, education, work, or by cooperation in various cultural spheres or science and economy. Nenad Nemet, a businessman and also the president of the Community of Croats – Skopje Branch greeted the guests and wished for the continuation of the successful work of the Traveling School. The continuous cooperation through various projects and numerous initiatives and efforts of the lecturer Vedran Iskra, who was also a long-term teacher of the Croatian language and culture in Northern Macedonia, was especially emphasized.
With great attention of all participants, this year the workshops took place under the guidance of Croatian language teacher Vedrana Iskra and the participation of Grozdana Lajić Horvat from the Youth Theater, Lada Kanajet Šimić from the Croatian Heritage Foundation and Marija Matković, dance workshop leader. They successfully combined dance and music, dramatic expression and mastering and supplementing the basics of the Croatian language through various interactive forms in the spirit of the educational atmosphere.
After last year’s Traveling School being held online due to the measures of restrictions in that period of the still current pandemic, this year the guest appearances and work with workshops and students are taking place live again. The project began in the 1990s, and took place between 2004 and 2009 in emigrant communities around the world.
The educational program combines several goals in its meaning, both in the sense of international cooperation and in order to encourage not only friendship, which is usually a lasting and thorough link between people, but primarily to establish and expand contacts with institutions and individuals, to experts all over the world, especially with the most diverse profiles of individuals in the field of culture and with all those whose professional activity is specialized or closely related to similar contents of educational significance.
It is to be believed that the realization of this project will be an incentive to further deepen and upgrade the intensified cooperation between the two countries, the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Northern Macedonia in all fields, in all spheres of activity and especially encourage young people to nurture and preserve their cultural identity. Current creative workshops create in the most direct way conditions for direct creative communication and further action and in order to cooperate with each other, create new contacts, acquaintances and friendships around the world.
Text and photos: Violeta Kalić / The Voice of Croatia