A festive celebration of friendship and tolerance in the gymnasium of III "Dimitar Talev" Elementary School in Blagoevgrad marked the beginning of the initiatives organized by the Municipality of Blagoevgrad dedicated to the International Roma Day.

The event, which took place on April 4 (Tuesday), was attended by children from the Center for Personal and Creative Development of Children of Blagoevgrad (CLTRDB) and from the Center for Family-type Accommodation for Children without Disabilities.

Among the guests of the celebration were Silvia Domozetska, director of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Directorate of the Municipality of Blagoevgrad, who greeted the children and congratulated them on their achievements, as well as Bogdana Kostadinova - director of the Center for Children's Education and Culture, and the director of the III Primary School "Dimitar Talev" Mikhail Spasov.

With a rich palette of Indian, Bulgarian and Roma songs, the children from FTA "Pirinche", Studio "Public Appearances" and FG "Biseri" showed diverse talents. The presenters David and Kremena, Deyan Gogov and Sergey Dimitrov took part in the festive program.

The attention of their peers in the audience was grabbed by Latinka and the magician Daniel with their performances.

A large part of the girls and boys made their debut on stage and proved that with extracurricular activities an efficient model of education of ethnic tolerance and friendship is created.

The initiative is carried out under the project "Integrated measures for the inclusion and empowerment of Roma in the municipality of Blagoevgrad" in implementation of Grant Agreement No. Д03-14/11.04.2022, number from ISUN BGLD-3.002-0015-C01, financed under Program "Local development, poverty reduction and improved inclusion of vulnerable groups" 2014-2021 through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014-2021.

The celebration of the holiday continues with a concert-performance on April 6 (Thursday) at 11:00 a.m. in the courtyard of DG No. 11 "Zdravets". During the event, the symbols of the Roma community will be presented - flag, anthem, etc. An award ceremony is also planned for outstanding children from vulnerable groups with achievements in the fields of education, science, arts and sports.

On April 7 (Friday) at 11:00 a.m. in hall No. 5, in the building of the Municipality of Blagoevgrad, a round table will be held on the topic: "Traditions, culture and customs of the Roma community".

International Roma Day has been celebrated annually on April 8 by the United Nations and the European Union since 1992.