A Big Talk about Spiritual Values at the World Public Assembly

The round table "Traditions as a Resource for the Future" will bring together experts from a dozen countries at the World Public Assembly.
21.07.2025
One of the key thematic areas of the World Public Assembly is "Spiritual and Cultural Unity and Service to Values." There will be several venues, one of them is the International round table "Traditions as a Resource of the Future." It is dedicated to the preservation of local cultural heritage through the transmission of cultural symbols and codes of territories.

Leaders of territorial development, representatives of non-governmental organizations, masters of folk-art crafts and decorative and applied arts, leaders and activists of urban and rural communities from nine countries of the world will come together.

The main message of the dialogue about "living cities" is how to organize the interaction of socially active citizens and representatives of creative professions aimed at the development of the territory? The dialogue will include discussions about the revitalization of locations through the rise of folk arts and crafts, about partnerships between local communities, about the system of exchange of experience and best practices in the preservation and development of cultural heritage.

The list of experts includes heads of territories and representatives of craft, research, and cultural organizations. The participation have been already confirmed by: Anar Izden, Chairman of the Association of legal entities "Alliance of Non-Governmental Organizations of the Kyzylorda region" (Kazakhstan), Asif Shaikh, an Indian embroiderer and textile expert, the founder of the Craft Design Society (CDS) (India), Carolina Gaspar, Director of the Mexico-Russia Cultural Center (Mexico), representatives of the International World Council of Crafts (UAE), Sergey Lisin, Head of the Vacha Municipal District Nizhny Novgorod Region (Russia), Elmira Samokhina, Head of the Representative Office of the World Peoples in the Sverdlovsk Region (Russia). Experts from Portugal, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan are expected. Also, the world-famous film director Emir Kusturica, the founder of the micro-city of Kustendorf (Serbia), has already received an invitation to participate in the round table.

Representatives of creative communities will have the opportunity to present their creativity, products and projects. One of them, the International Creative Action "Belt of Peace", will be a model for sharing experiences.

In July 2024, the World Peoples Assembly, the Center for Social Technologies "Dealing with Meaning" and the administration of the Vacha Municipal District of the Nizhny Novgorod Region launched the International Action "Belt of Peace", which presents cultural symbols of a particular territory and helps to understand their meanings and expand worldview.
The "Belt of Peace" is a symbolic belt consisting of links made by craftsmen in the original technique of a particular region, reflecting its cultural codes and traditions. Currently, more than 50 fragments of the Belt, as well as information about the authors of these craft fragments, about their meanings inherent in each, have been already presented by different regions of Russia.

Also, during the round table, participants will get acquainted with the technology of trust-based communication, which, like the "Belt of Peace", helps reach agreements based on common values.
«Defining the cultural code of a particular region and identifying its constituent elements is an important part of the territorial development process. Understanding cultural codes, and through them, one's values, gives a person, especially a young one, a point of support, a sense of belonging to history and traditions, a sense of love for the motherland. The earth becomes an inexhaustible source of inspiration for creative realization and mastery development», - this is the main philosophy of the dialogue outlined by the moderators of the round table Galina Tsyshchuk, Head of the Happy City Territorial Development Program at the Center for Social Technologies "Dealing with Meaning" and the Academy of Modern Education, expert at the School of Mayors of Living Cities, value moderator, and Elena Didenko, project marketer at the Center for Social Technologies "Dealing with Meaning", Head of the educational program and club "Heritage Leaders", Head of the Producer Center for the Development of territories, value moderator.