The person who is always with the festival. This is how the director of the "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" Alexander Sidorenko described the leading photojournalist (for the Vitebsk region) of the republican news agency BelTA Alexander Khitrov, presenting him with the "Golden Pen" – a commemorative prize from the Directorate of the International Festival of Arts for the best media coverage of the events of the previous – XXIII festival.

An unusual exhibition "The World of Optical Illusions" has opened in the exhibition hall of the Museum of History and Culture of Novopolotsk. The exhibition will feature famous illusion paintings by the Japanese artist Akiyoshi Kitaoka and other foreign authors, 3D graphics, tammareques, a magic cube, and a magic table.

On January 30, deputies of the Braslav District Council of Deputies approved the appointment of Vladimir Dranevsky as the chairman of the local district executive committee. The chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Nikolai Shersnev, his deputy Oleg Matskevich, and the head of the main department of organizational and personnel work of the regional executive committee Vladimir Severin arrived to introduce the new head to the people's representatives and the district's active members.