The International Festival of Disabled Creativity is taking place today in Vitebsk

July 15, Vitebsk / Tatyana Vlasovets - BELTA /. The International Festival of Disabled People's Creativity "Vitebsk-2009" is underway today, BELTA correspondent reports. As Vladimir Potapenko, Chairman of the Board of the public association "Belarusian Association of Disabled People," told reporters, this year the competition, which is being held in festival Vitebsk for the fifth time, has acquired international status: along with Belarusians, representatives of Ukraine and Russia are participating. More than 40 participants, people with certain physical limitations, are showcasing their creative abilities. Winners will be determined in 12 nominations: vocals, pop vocals, jazz performance, author's song, artistic word, and others. "Many participants in our competition have the only opportunity here to declare themselves, to demonstrate their creative abilities to people. There are quite a lot of gifted creative people among disabled people, whom, unfortunately, society does not always notice," noted Vladimir Potapenko. The event is organized by the Belarusian Association of Disabled People, and the sponsor is the Union of Composers of the Republic of Belarus. Lyceum No. 3 of Vitebsk provided some assistance in the organization. The jury chairman of the competition is People's Artist of the USSR and Belarus Igor Luchenok. -0-