The fourth debate festival "Būtent!" took place in Biršton: thousands of Lithuanians solved issues relevant to the state

The festival has a respectful and friendly atmosphere

According to Arno Marcinkaus, despite the fact that the festival did not take place for two years in a row due to a forced break, people did not forget it and came longing for events of this unusual format in Lithuania.

"During the festival, you felt that people missed mutual connection - lively and open conversations. The attendees appreciated the fact that the discussions covered not only topics relevant to society, but also issues that have not been able to reach a consensus for some time. Among them - civil union, education, policies carried out by the government, - says A. Marcinkus. - Although the coronavirus pandemic has been one of the most important topics for the past couple of years, there was not a single discussion on this topic at the festival. I think that this is an already exhausted topic, after a very difficult period, people want to explore other important issues as well."

He notes that despite differences of opinion during some debates, a respectful and friendly atmosphere prevailed at the debate festival "Būtent!", which corresponds to one of the main values of the festival - to foster a high debate culture based on openness to diversity of opinions, constructive criticism, active involvement and respect for one's opinion expressing and listening to another's opinion.

"It's nice to see when people are able to maintain a cultural conversation and understand each other even when they disagree on one or another issue. It was the hotly debated topics that attracted the most attention at the event. A difference of opinion is one of the essential things that happens during a really interesting, engaging discussion. The debates, whose speakers - people known to the public - appeared in unexpected roles, attracted a lot of attention from the audience, as well as the debates on value issues", recalls A. Marcinkus.

More than 80 discussions in two days

According to A. Marcinkaus, 9 spaces with more than 80 discussions and 300 speakers awaited those gathered at this year's discussion festival "Būtent!". The theme profile of this year's festival included topics such as the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, the future of energy, digitization, the metaverse, creative freedom, art and gender equality, emotional health at work and many others.

Experts from various fields participated in the discussions, including neuroscientist Dr. Urtė Neniškytė, head of the Lithuanian Human Rights Center Jūratė Juškaitė, children's writer Tomas Dirgėla, opinion maker Paulius Mikolaitis, journalist Edmundas Jakilaitis, poet, prose writer, psychologist and philosopher Liutauras Degėsys, priest Julius Sasnauskas, Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, economist Nerijus Stepfather, chef Gian Luca Demarco and many others.

The festival also welcomed guests from abroad - Stefan Lindström, Ambassador for Digitization and Technology of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Martin Ärnlöv, Secretary General of the Swedish Red Cross, Morgan Olofsson, Communications Manager of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), and Liisa Talonpoik, Ambassador for Bilateral Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and others.

According to A. Marcinkaus, during the preparation of the festival, from the very first steps of the realization of the idea, it was aimed to meet the expectations of every possible visitor, therefore the program has created a space not only for intellectual conversations, but also for the little ones.

"By organizing this festival, every year we take care not only of individual, but also of the whole family quality recreation, so that people can come together with their loved ones. The attendees at this year's festival not only participated in intellectual discussions, but also actively participated in the interactive activities that took place at the event, while the children spent time in the educational activities and the pets in the space specially designed for them," he says.