Experts of the international ArtMasters Open competitions have been announced

The names of the directors and artists with whom the finalists of the international ArtMasters Open team competitions will work have become known. The event will take place in September in Yekaterinburg as part of the International Youth Festival.

"The ArtMasters Open competition format provides an opportunity for young professionals to work together with recognized master directors, artists and experts, and share their experience in the real production process. It is this interaction of generations and cultures that creates new industry standards and allows us to discover the names of future industry leaders," said Borislav Volodin, Director of ANO ArtMasters.

100 young specialists in the field of creative industries from all over the world qualified for the final of the competition. They will form international teams on two tracks — "Cinema" and "Music".

Alexey Kupriyanov, an experienced cinematographer, cinematographer and director who has shot about 1,000 music videos and commercials for leading Russian and international brands, including Sber, Ozon, Mercedes, Beats and World of Tanks, became the main director of the Cinema direction. He also participated in the creation of feature films and music videos for Russian pop stars — Basta, Zivert and Dima Bilan. The mentors will be Russian directors, recognized authors whose films have already been recognized on international platforms. Under their leadership, the finalist teams will create videos on the theme "The Art of being human", dedicated to culture as a universal language in the era of technological change and artificial intelligence.

The Music finalists will create music videos for famous Russian artists, including Margo, Hollyflame, Leon Kemstach and others. Sergey Gray, a music video maker, producer and director, and founder of Sergey Grey Production, became the main director of the Music direction. He is the regular director of Marie Crymbreri, the author of music videos for Artur Pirozhkov's hits, which have collected more than 500 million views. Over the past 10 years, he has shot more than 300 music videos and 150 concert performances, worked with Polina Gagarina, Zivert, Olga Buzova, the Vintage band and others. He created a documentary and a music video for famous foreign performers. For two years, he has been a mentor of ArtMasters national teams in the field of Music.

"The International Youth Festival unites talented young people from all over the world, creating conditions for the birth of new ideas, professional connections and long-term international projects. ArtMasters Open will be one of the key events of the Festival program, where young professionals will be able not only to learn from the experience of recognized masters, but also to create real creative products with them as part of international teams. This format allows you to overcome cultural and linguistic boundaries, find like-minded people and take the first step towards future joint projects. I am sure that for many participants the ArtMasters Open will be the starting point in their professional careers and will open up new opportunities for international cooperation," said Dmitry Ivanov, Director General of the Directorate of the World Youth Festival.

Participation in the ArtMasters Open was available to professionals between the ages of 18 and 35. One of the prerequisites is knowledge of English. In addition to foreigners, applications could be submitted by finalists of the National Open Championship of Creative Competencies "ArtMasters", including in the category "Juniors", or Team competitions "ArtMasters Regions". Participants could choose one of 15 competencies in the fields of "Cinema" and "Music".

Such areas as "Graphic designer", "Media Composer", "Motion designer", "Cinematographer and TV operator", "Industrial engineer", "Director of editing", "Makeup artist" were available to foreign participants. The finalists of the ArtMasters projects were selected from the competencies of "Sound Engineer", "Clipmaker", "Producer", "Stylist", "Screenwriter", "Design Artist", "Make-up artist", "Costume Designer".

ArtMasters is a leading Russian platform that unites creative industry professionals: from fashion and design to digital art and performance. Since 2020, the ecosystem has been supporting talents through educational programs, grants, and collaborations. The ArtMasters National Open Championship is the main competition for creative industry professionals in Russia, including in the field of backstage and digital art. The main theme of the VII season of the competition is "The power of Unity. The art that unites." The project forms a pool of highly qualified experts and contributes to the expansion of the creative cluster, which corresponds to the priorities of state policy in the field of development of creative industries and human capital.

The competition is an important part of the ArtMasters ecosystem, which unites creative industry professionals. Participants gain access to a large-scale opportunity platform that supports talents through educational programs, grants, and collaborations. All ArtMasters projects are open to new participants and specialists from Russia and other countries. The ecosystem was created to unlock the creative potential of everyone with the support of business, government and experts in the field of creative industries.

The project is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. Over the past six years, 130,000 people have participated in the Championship. More than 1,700 people became finalists of the project, and 489 people received cash prizes.