FESTIVAL
PHOTOGRAPHS.
educational-mentorship program 2026
call for applications
PhotoArtDoc - is an opportunity to create and present to the audience projects about Belarusians and Belarus, about the life of Belarusians in the country and beyond its borders, about the personal and collective experience they live. It is an opportunity to see colleagues and their creativity, to develop and move forward in photography at the intersection of documentary and art.
In 2026, the basic structure of the project, including the educational and mentoring parts and the competition part, will be retained. The educational block of the festival will consist of two parts. All open call participants whose applications meet the stated parameters will become participants of the first educational part - a series of online meetings with mentors and invited experts of the festival in the field of photography. As a result of this part, each participant will develop a concept for his/her own photo project and present it to the mentors. Based on these presentations, the mentors will select the participants of the group mentoring program. Three groups will be formed, which, under the guidance of mentors, will immerse themselves in an intensive process of learning and creating photo projects over the course of four months.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
PART 1
Educational stage
All authors whose submissions pass the technical selection process become participants of the educational stage. It includes a series of several mandatory online classes with mentors and invited experts of the festival in the field of documentary and art photography.
During this phase, participants work on the idea of their own photo project, develop its concept and prepare a presentation for the mentors.
PART 2
Mentoring phase (group work)
Based on the results of the presentations, mentors select participants to continue in the mentoring program. The number of places is limited, so not all participants of the educational stage move on to the next level.
The authors who have made it to the second stage will be assigned to three mentoring groups and will work with the mentors for four months to develop and realize their photo projects. It will be an intense creative process. Throughout the period, participants in the mentoring phase will have a series of general online meetings, individual work with mentors, as well as lectures and artist talks.
Both stages will take place in an online format.
The number of seats in the education block is unlimited.
The number of places in the mentor groups is limited.
Participation in all parts of the program is free!
Acceptance of applications to the educational program: until January 10, 2026
Who can apply for PhotoArtDoc educational program?
The project is open to all Belarusian authors, The main criterion is the desire to develop in the field of documentary and project photography. The main criterion is the desire to develop in the field of documentary and project photography.
The age of participants is 18+.
OPEN CALL
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
Applications: until January 10, 2026
How do I apply?
To apply, please complete the candidate/career questionnaire. Please note that you need to prepare
- motivation letter - up to 1000 characters
- Portfolio - up to 30 photos (single photos or 2 photo projects / photo stories).
Technical parameters for the portfolio:
file size - no more than 1 Mb, jpeg format,
Word\PDF for text
file name - surname_#.jpeg, in Latin alphabet.
for photo projects - short annotation text, up to 1000 characters
MENTORS OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
SIARHEI
HUDZILIN
Belarusian photographer,
lives in Lithuania.
Studied Media and Communication at the European Humanities University (Lithuania).
He has been involved in photography and journalism since 2005. In 2011 he won the Belarus Press Photo contest.
Works in journalism, advertising, documentary and art projects. Cooperates with various media outlets:
The New York Times, Gazeta Wyborcza, Nasha Niva, Russian Reporter Magazine Online, National Geographic magazine, 11 FREUNDE, Lenta.ru, RBC, The Village, Nasha Niva, IMENA. Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden), Stern Online (Germany), National Geographic (USA), ELLE-Russia, Meduza, Forbes (Russia, Latvia), The Village (Belarus).
KATERINA
KOUZMITCHEVA
Belarusian photographer,
lives in Poland.
She works at the intersection of the genres of documentary and art photography.
Her practice focuses on issues of identity, power, memory, gender and the invisible boundaries that shape individual and collective experience.
She holds a Master's and Doctorate in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław and is an alumna of the Fotografika Academy of Documentary and Fine Art Photography. Katerina is a Gaude Polonia Fellow, winner of international photography competitions including TIFA and BIFA, and a member of the international photojournalism collective Women Photograph.
Her work has been exhibited and published in various publications such as: British Journal of Photography, Bird in Flight, Monovisions and Dodho.
TATSIANA
TKACHEVA
Belarusian photographer,
lives in Germany.
In her practice she uses photography and documentary film as research tools, addressing themes of personal histories, memory, everyday life and traumatic experiences. Her work explores silent forms of resistance and the reconstruction of identity on a personal and collective level.
Studied Cultural Studies at the Belarusian University of Culture and Arts, graduate of the Academy of Documentary and Art Photography Fotografika, completed the International Class of Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at Hochschule Hannover.
Actively teaches, cooperates with international and Belarusian media.
She is a winner of World Press Photo 2020 and «Photographer of the Year» of the Belarusian Festival of Photography 2018.
During the course, students will study and explore the possibilities of various mediums and create a coherent visual statement on various topics. They will study the tactics of promoting their projects. They will go through all the stages of working on a personal project: from the idea and search for a visual solution to the presentation of the work at a portfolio review and subsequent publication, participation in an exhibition, etc.
Documentary photography
in the media, project
and multi-genre photography
Siarhei Hudzilin's group
Photo Project,
visual storytelling
and multimedia
Katerina Kouzmitcheva's group
Documentary
and post documentary photography, stages of work
on a personal project
Tsatiana Tkacheva's group
Important! When filling out the application form, you can select your preferred study group. However, we cannot guarantee that you will be assigned to this group.