We started this year with the preparation of routes for remote corners of Cyprus, and ended the Galaxy of Talents ceremony. In 2010, Vestnik Cyprus celebrated his fifteenth anniversary not as an ordinary newspaper, but as an ecosystem for the Russian -speaking community. We organized excursions through our own tourist agency, staged children's concerts with the help of editorial staff, gave lessons and conducted lectures at the educational center, answered questions by phone through their reference service. They also published magazines, brochures, books, united people under the auspices of the Cyprus Association "Horizon", met with compatriots from all over Europe. This was not a job, but a mission: all the editorial staff were, first of all, by public figures: they helped, explained, studied themselves and taught others.
From history to routes: how a tourist project was born
The long -term training of copyright articles on the history and culture of Cyprus led to the creation of a tourist agency Vestnik Kipra Travel and Tours. It took up the organization of unusual excursions, trying to introduce readers of the newspaper with the most amazing and unknown places of Cyprus. After some time, we received a professional license and worked for several years, forming more than 50 different excursion routes along Cyprus and sending buses with dozens of Russian-speaking tourists and local residents weekly. After the market section between large tour operators, such small agencies as ours had to close. According to statistics, in those years, 99% of private Cypriot travel companies ceased to exist. But I never spared about this episode in our history. As, however, she never spared about any of our projects. Some brought us profit, others worked for reputation, others helped gain experience and master related areas.
Fashion and theater: Week on wheels
In the spring, we spent our first (enchanting!) Fashion show, and as soon as we finished, the “Week on Wheels” immediately began: we brought a children's theater from Russia to Cyprus. The performances were held in Nicosia, Larnac, Paphos and Limassol - everywhere with a full house, because there were no Russian children's theaters with the game program in Cyprus - we were the first.
15 years "Bulletin of Cyprus": when the date is also an event
In July, our newspaper celebrated its 15th birthday. This is a considerable period: even local media do not always manage to stay afloat for so much time, to talk about a foreign language that goes abroad! We sadly observed an irreversible tendency to close Russian -speaking printed publications around the world. Of the more than 200 newspapers, which in 2002 were presented at the Russian press congress, no more than 50 remained “alive” by 2010.
The "Bulletin of Cyprus" not only kept afloat, he constantly developed and became more influential. The newspaper informed its readers about the life of the island, about political, economic, cultural events, versed in the intricacies of legal and immigration issues, taught languages, arranged holidays and festivals, and simply brought the Russian -speaking residents of the island. With our information support over the years, a considerable number of interesting actions have passed that popularized Russian culture and created an objective picture of Russian reality.
Conference that brought the continents closer
In October, Cyprus was visited by participants in the first international conference of the heads of public organizations and the Russian -speaking media organized by the "Herald of Cyprus." To teach the interaction of the media and public organizations, participants from France, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Malta, Ukraine, Great Britain, and Sweden flew into Cyprus. Taking this opportunity, we asked our guests about how Russian -speaking people live in their countries, what worries them, what pleases, what they are striving for. And they were able to apply the knowledge gained in their work.
Euro -study: compatriots and profession
After a couple of months, other European guests arrived. In those years, the “Bulletin of the Cyprus”, together with public organizations from France, Latvia and Spain, took part in the European program designed to investigate the needs of the Russian -language residents of Europe. It was necessary to conduct large -scale surveys in four countries and write a voluminous report for the European Commission with recommendations for the professional orientation of our compatriots. We had to figure out why people cannot work in the specialty, which prevents the career from making, which knowledge is not enough. The collection of information, polls, analysis was carried out a year and a half and went in parallel in France, Latvia, Spain and in Cyprus - with the constant coordination and adjustment of our plans. And so, in 2010, 16 co -authors of this study gathered in Cyprus (four of them - employees of the “Vestnik Cyprus”) to prepare their recommendations for 18 months of painstaking work.
And again - a common cause: the concept of compatriots
To the second all -Chip Conference of compatriots, the Vestnik Cyprus prepared a brochure with the concept of joint activities of Cyprus compatriots, which was based on the redesigned concept of the Association of Russian -speaking residents of Cyprus Horizon.
50 years of diplomacy: special issue and creation of an archive
That year was anniversary not only for the newspaper, but also for Cyprus-Russian relations. For several months, we carefully prepared events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Cyprus, and the special issue of the newspaper to the historical visit of the President of Russia. Then we had to highlight the history of Cyprus-Russian relations from 1960 to 2010 for the first time in one material. As it turned out, there was no finished text, no one presented a complete picture, and we collected information on bitches, from the archives of the Cyprus press, Cyprus and Russian worldly.
A general strategy of children's events has appeared
In the same year, the "Bulletin of Cyprus" developed a strategy for holding and developing children's holidays. Before that, everything was chaotic: we united thousands of families, but our concerts, matinees, festivals, show were not connected in one system, did not complement each other. Five years before, in 2005, we first brought Russian -speaking children to a “big scene”: “Russian -speaking” creative teams debugged on the May holidays on the Limenian embankment - school - school - school - school - school - school "Angara", the Dance Studio "Credo" and the Holmark dance club.
After the concerts, our parents thanked us for the first time the children had the opportunity to appear before a large audience. Indeed, before the performances of the children were seen only by their own parents on the annual “graduation”.
A lot of time has passed since then. In Limassol, many thousands of Cyprus-Russian festivals were regularly held. The annual International Children's Festival and Days of Children's Creativity were collected together by hundreds of young artists. Having met all the teachers personally, having visited school holidays and concerts, I was pleasantly surprised at how many interesting events are held by schools, studios, clubs, centers working with Russian -speaking children. Colossal work!
I wanted to tell all the teachers a lot, and we thought about how to do it. So the idea of the Galaxy of Talents ceremony appeared - the first concert of the festival “Constellation of Talents”. VK then prepared awards for each of the schools who participated in concerts, competitions, festivals organized by the "Herald of Cyprus".
We ourselves, having founded the Bravo! "Children's club, began to work professionally with children. And by 2010, they were finally able to combine all our projects into a single system that allows you to increase the level of performing skills of children, give them an incentive for further creative development, unite schools, create a platform for regular communication. It was already a mission. And we enthusiastically began to implement our ideas.
Natalia Kardash
(Fragment from the book “20 years in Cyprus - in the center of events”, published in 2019)
This article is part of a series of articles about the history of the "Herald of Cyprus" dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the newspaper. Read other materials by tag#History of the Herald of Cyprus and by links:
How in 30 years the "Bulletin of Cyprus" has influenced the life of Russian -speaking people
1995. Advertising booklet, which accidentally became the beginning of a new era
1996. The newspaper comes to life: the first headings, the first letters of readers
1997. They came here, "to talk in Russian"
1998. "Bulletin of Cyprus" - almost "Literary Gazeta"
1999. "Bulletin of Cyprus" united lovers of books and films
2000. Library "Vestnik Cyprus" and the first KVN
2001. Change of team: a new stage in the history of the newspaper
2002. Seven employees and a thousand guests
2003. Sturrent period: magazines, courses, reference books
2004. The largest regional media holding
2005. The anniversary year and the emergence of multinational holidays
2006. The editors received up to 500 visitors per week
2007. Uniting adults and children, newspaper employees established the Association
2008. Good traditions "Bulletin of Cyprus"
2009. How we went on the air: the story of "Televials" in Cyprus
