On March 3, 2023, on World Writer's Day, the Polytechnic Student Hub became the location for the first meeting of the "ReadUA" book club, organized by the Student Council of the city of Poltava together with the Department of Culture, Youth and Family of the Poltava City Council as part of the "Art Therapy for Youth" project. The event is aimed at popularizing the Ukrainian literary word and promoting the interest of pupils and students in reading both classic and modern literature, as well as foreign authors translated into Ukrainian.
The head of the Youth Policy Implementation Unit of the Department of Culture, Youth and Family of the Poltava City Council, Olena Strilets, spoke about the idea of creating the "ReadUA" book club as a community based on interests as well as the cultural and artistic interaction of local self-government bodies with socially active student youth of the city of Poltava.
"This year, the Department of Culture, Youth and Family of the Poltava City Council, together with the Student Council of the City of Poltava, selected three key projects that will be developed during this year full of artistic and cultural events. One of them is the youth project "Art Therapy for Youth", which encourages young people to participate in a whole series of various literary, cultural and artistic events, including a master class on coloring pictures using motivational phrases, artistic coloring of shoppers, etc.
The idea of creating the "ReadUA" book club arose quite spontaneously – at a meeting of the Student Council of the city of Poltava, it was jointly discussed the issue of popularizing reading among teenagers and young people who are fascinated by gadgets and the unanimous conclusion that reading is fashionable, useful and interesting came. Unfortunately, we rarely see young people reading, however, based on the previous number of visitors to the three literary "get togethers", we note that there is a growing tendency among novice poets to increase the number of people willing to share their work with the general public.
Therefore, the book club can become an excellent communication platform for establishing a constructive dialogue with the talented and intelligent youth of the city of Poltava. There are a lot of creative personalities, but there is often a lack of platforms for inner self-expression. I hope that the appearance of "ReadUA" will motivate young people to unite around everything Ukrainian, national", – commented the head of the Youth Policy Implementation Unit of the Department of Culture, Youth and Family of the Poltava City Council Olena Strilets.
The eloquent name of the project "ReadUA" refers to the opportunity to openly popularize the native Ukrainian language, the Ukrainian-English abbreviation thought out by the authors is deciphered quite simply – "Read Ukrainian". The organizers chose two fundamental principles as the main credo of the project – love of reading books as well as non-coercion in the promotion of Ukrainian literature and cultural heritage.
The model of a book club as a club based on interests, proposed by the project organizers, began to work almost immediately, as many people responded to the invitation to join. Literally in a day, there were more than fifty applicants in the online registration, and the age of book club participants ranges from 14 to 34 years old. So the participants were divided into two dynamic groups.
When choosing the location for the first meeting of the book club, the organizers thought about the idea of a creative meeting in a public library or some cozy place with an appropriate inspiring atmosphere to talk about books and share impressions after reading.
"The Polytechnic Student Hub was a good idea for the successful implementation of the "Art Therapy for Youth project". A wonderful gift – an incredible place with incredible energy, an open art space for young people.
I hope that one more element of life-saving art therapy for young people will be the viewing and discussing a wide variety of Ukrainian films with a meaningful message, so in the future, I plan to visit here at least a few more times. We thank the Poltava Polytechnic for creating favorable conditions for the comprehensive development of youth as a driving force for any social and cultural changes," – added Olena Strilets.
During the first meeting, the members of the "ReadUA" book club chose a number of iconic Ukrainian works for joint reading. Ukrainian translations of well-known foreign bestsellers will not be overlooked in order to enrich the reading experience.
Meetings of the book club "ReadUA" will be held by the Student Council of the city of Poltava at least once a month. Both well-known literary masterpieces and works by novice authors will be the subject of active youth discussion.
It should be recalled that an exemplary Indomitability Point and a student hub have been opened at the Poltava Polytechnic, and the head of Poltava RMA met with the students of the Polytechnic and discussed the Year of Invincibility.
Previously, the rock band "BEZ OBMEZHEN" played a charity concert at the Polytechnic in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, People's Deputies of Ukraine met with displaced students studying at the Poltava Polytechnic, the International Organization for Migration of Ukraine provided non-food aid to displaced persons living on the campus of the Polytechnic, and the leader Mykhailo Bratakh of the Research and Development at UkrGasVydobuvannya held a motivational meeting with the students of the Polytechnic.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
