This year 308 works from 18 countries - Belarus, Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, Turkey and the Ukraine - entered the exposition. Traditionally the works are displayed in the exhibition halls of the art gallery “University of Culture” and the Republican Ecology and Biology Center.

More than 100 specialists in the sphere of culture and art education from Belarus, Hungary, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Czech Republic took part in the 4^th International Conference for Artists-Teachers “Modern Art Education of Children and Youth”, that was held on 6-8 February in the National Centre of Arts for Children and Youth.

As the result of the Contest 314 works entered the exposition of the 8^th International Exhibition “In My Homeland”. These works were awarded Degree Diplomas and Exhibition Diplomas. Overall 15 459 works from 31 countries were received for the Contest.

In the Central library named after I.Kholodeev in the art gallery “Z’yava” were presented 49 works of 26 artists from Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine. The exhibition is the result of a yearlong international project “Dialogue of centuries: 1812-2012”.

Worldwide kids love animals and enjoy drawing them, both their home pets and wild animals. A large number of wonderful drawings of horses and elephants, birds and fish and of course cats and dogs have accumulated in the collection of the International Art and Graphics Contest for Children and Youth “In My Homeland”.