Team

Head of the Young Women’s-Young Men’s Christian Association Lithuania, the initiator of the Vilnius Gospel Music Festival

Chief coordinator of the festival

Festival Comunications Coordinator

Festival Technical Coordinator

Festival Registration Coordinator

Art Program Manager,
lecturer, conductor and performer

Festival Volunteer Coordinator

Festival International Relations Coordinator

Head of the Youth Point and UNITED Voices

(main partners of the festival)

Young Women’s-Young Men’s Christian Association Lithuania (YWCA-YMCA Lithuania) is a public youth NGO officially registered at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania on 26 June 1996.  The Association pursues bringing together youth for educative and cultural activities based on Christian values and helps tackling problems of the Lithuanian society.

YWCA-YMCA Lithuania, as well as YWCA-YMCA Lithuania scout division unite teachers, cultural workers, students and pupils who care about problems in the society, youth employment, prevention issues, formal and informal education. The Association organizes various creative camps, festivities for socially disadvantaged children, youth leadership courses, cultural projects for singing youth Ten Sing, gospel music events, educational and recreational scout events, international cultural exchange programs, and others.

The Association has its representation in 5 Lithuanian locations: Vilnius, Traupis (district of Anykščiai), Elektrėnai, Palanga and Leliūnai (district of Utena). These local associations organize events for children and youth and help solving problems of delinquency, addictions, youth employment and socially disadvantaged families.

YWAC-YMCA Lithuania belongs to the World and European YMCA and YWCA structures. There are around 30 enthusiastic trained leaders in the Association who operate on voluntary basis in Lithuania and abroad. YWCA-YMCA Lithuania activities of informal education and prevention (e.g. Ten Sing program) are held in schools. Students organize various cultural activities in Vilnius Conservatory or in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. YWCA-YMCA Lithuania is one of the few NGOs, which work with national minorities, e.g. Russians, Poles, Belarusians, and others). Young people of various Christian denominations and youth from parishes are welcome to join the activities of the Association. Each year around 600 children and youth from all over Lithuania participate in various events and programs of YWCA-YMCA Lithuania.

One of the biggest and most famous events of YWCA-YMCA Lithuania is Vilnius Gospel Music Festival, which is held every year in Vilnius. In 2001, YWCA-YMCA Lithuania invited the organizers of the Stockholm Gospel Festival to come to Vilnius to introduce gospel music to the Lithuanian audience. This was the beginning of a beautiful ongoing friendship with the Swedish musicians. Every two years the representatives from Lithuania participate in the Stockholm Gospel Festival, meanwhile the best performers form Sweden come to the Vilnius Gospel Music Festival.

The main purpose of the event is to introduce the most popular gospel songs and talented gospel music performers to the Lithuanian audience. During the festival all the performers get united in a Joint gospel choir, which consists of around 250 performers. There are also various workshops dedicated to gospel music and lead by teachers from Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and other countries.