United in Diversity: Youth and modern culture

As an acting Team Leader of the 3P Tourism Project, Mr Parastatidis is among the Regional Cooperation Council’s leading experts on Triple P Tourism Project, a three-year initiative funded by the EU, which among other goals, aims at diversifying tourism offer of the region and improving the level of services related to tourism. He is also an experienced Communications professional in diverse international environments for 15+ years, with a specialisation in a wide range of Corporate Communication projects. Built up, inspired and successfully coordinated international teams of communication professionals and developed long lasting communication strategies and marketing plans.

Anđela works in the field of digital marketing in tourism, running the Montenegrin part of My Guide Network, a fast-growing system of online travel guides. On My Guide, she successfully promotes Montenegro worldwide by creating digital content on social media and website, together with her team. Additionally, as a part of the global team, she runs strategic alliances in Europe for My Guide Network contracts. As a digital marketing lecturer, she founded NGO TTC, which is focused on education of SMEs in the digital era (mostly service industry). Many successful workshops and lectures are behind her with numerous businesses from all around Montenegro and the region, but also from abroad. She worked on many projects so far that included her role as a digital marketing consultant and tourism marketing expert.

Irini Palla comes from Albania and she is a founder of AlbWorld, a travel guide that offers a fast and simple way to find touristic and cultural places in Albania. She has a Master’s degree in Geography and participated in the Graz Summer School in Austria. Irini has also been an Erasmus+ student in the 2018 and 2019 at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain.

Hadžera Selimović is a Young European Ambassador from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is a first-year Political Science and International Relations student at the Sarajevo University School of Science and Technology. She has volunteering experience in various cultural events such as Sarajevo Film Festival, Pravo Ljudski Film Festival, AJBDOC Film Festival, and Youth Film Festival in Sarajevo. Hadžera also has five years of volunteer experience at PitchWise Festival of Female Art and Activism. She is an alumna of the US Embassy’s Youth Leadership Programme for young leaders held in the US in 2019 and is a member of the U.S. Embassy BOLD leader’s network. She is also a TEDx Youth licensee, organising the first TEDxYouth event in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Jasmila Žbanić is a Bosnian film director and a screenwriter. Jasmila has attended the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, where she got a degree after which she worked for a time in the United States of America. In 1997, she founded the artist’s association Deblokada and started making documentaries and short films. She is known to have won the Golden Bear at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival for the feature film Grbavica, and was awarded the Best European Film and best European actress award in 2006. Her most recent film Quo Vadis, Aida? was shown in the main competition section of the 77th Venice International Film Festival.

Born in North Macedonia, Sara Klimoska trained at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje and has successfully straddled the worlds of theatre and film on a national and international level. Her most recent role is in the film, “You won’t be alone”, directed by Goran Stolevski, which will be distributed by Focus Features in 2021. Prior to that, and working with the same director, Sara played the lead in the film “Would you look at her” which won the Jury Prize for Best International Short at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. In 2019, Academy Award nominated director Milcho Manchevski cast her the lead role in “Willow”. Among other honours, “Willow” was in Feature Film Selection at the European Film Awards. She also had a role in the Serbian series “Senke nad Balkanom”. In 2020, Sara was honoured with the Best Film Actress Award in North Macedonia, handed out by the Macedonian Society of Filmmakers. Sara is one of ten European shooting stars of 2021.

Marko Stojanović Louis was born in Munich, Germany. He is the son of a famous Serbian singer and musician Ljubiša Stojanović Louis. He graduated in percussions at the Munich Music Conservatory and recording and sound design at the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts. He was a member of the soul band MaraQya with whom he released two studio albums. He released his debut solo album “Shine On Me” in May 2015 with all the lyrics exclusively in English. In April 2017, Marko released his second studio album “Beskraj”. The album hosts global guests such as Vasil Hadžimanov (Serbia), Vlatko Stefanovski (Macedonia), Bobo (Bulgaria), Adnan Šaran (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Božo Vrećo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Tanu Saxena (India) and Layth SidiQ (Armenia, USA) – to name a few. Marko’s live album “Uživo DOB 2017” was recorded over the holidays in late December 2017 at the legendary Belgrade venue Dom Omladine. In 2018 he released album “Euridika”.
Watch Marko’s Rockabye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Y-tVWM7m4

Ms Mojca Krisper Figueroa, following her studies in International Relations at London School of Economics, embarked on her carrier at European Commission, back in year 2000. She worked in numerous positions in EU Delegations (Ljubljana, Zagreb and Skopje) prior and during negotiation process. She was predominantly responsible for development assistance, as well as the civil society programmes and projects. During her carrier she also worked for non-governmental organisations and international organisations (including UNICEF and UNDP), covering various themes for the Western Balkans. Currently she is working in the team for Rule of Law, Security, Migration and Reconciliation at the Western Balkans Regional Cooperation Unit, at the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations. Mojca is within the Unit, also responsible for Cultural cooperation programmes and projects for the Western Balkans region.

Anja Kafedžiska is a fourth-grade high-school student and she also attends music school and plays the piano. She is the founder of the youth-driven civil society organisation ‘Our World, Our Rules,’ which aims to raise the voices of youth and support them with their interests in culture, sports, EU integration, tourism, environmental protection, health, and humanitarian actions. She is also a member of the city choir, the Bora Stanković Theatre, as well as several school organisations including those on literature, journalism, drama, and the environment. She has acted in many plays. At national level, some of her achievements include the Literary Olympics for which she won third place, a geo-challenge for which she won first place, and two literary competitions for which she also came in first.

Vullnet Sanaja is a cultural activist and co-founder of a number of organizations and initiatives. Amongst them Anibar, Network of Cultural Organizations of Peja, Animation Academy in Peja and Prishtina and Into the Park Festival. Mr.Sanaja has been working in several NGOs that are involved in civic engagement, environmental education and sustainable development through arts such as ERA, Forumi Kulturor and CYCC.Since 2010, he has been the executive director of Anibar based in Peja, Kosovo. Anibar is an organization that commits itself in breaking civic apathy through cultural activism. It is also the organizer of the only animation film festival in the country as well as manages the only movie theater in the city of Peja and through the organization delivers education programs in Prishtina and Peja.