Students of the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac, together with their professors, visited the premises of the former Second Technical School in Kragujevac on December 3 and 10, 2025, as part of creative workshops focused on the design of murals and stained glass. These activities are carried out within the project “Šumadija CONNECT,” which envisages the reconstruction of the building and its reactivation for educational and artistic purposes.

The users of the reconstructed and equipped facility will be the art departments of the Secondary School “Knez Aleksandar Karađorđević” and the Faculty of Philology and Arts (FILUM), making the building an important center of art education in the city.

These two workshops mark the beginning of a series of creative and educational workshops under the joint theme “Cultural-historical and industrial heritage of the city of Kragujevac and the municipalities of the Šumadija District,” to be implemented by students and professors from FILUM and the secondary school. Through these activities, students will participate in developing conceptual designs for a mural on the interior wall of the building, as well as for stained glass inspired by the same theme.

The creative workshops will be integrated into the teaching of various fine arts techniques and subjects, through which teachers will monitor and guide the work of both students and pupils. The resulting works are expected to offer contemporary artistic interpretations of the rich cultural and industrial heritage of Kragujevac and the Šumadija region, while also fostering collaboration between secondary and higher education in the arts, as well as cooperation with cultural institutions.

The project “Šumadija CONNECT: Fostering Territorial Development through Valorization of Cultural Heritage and Innovation” is funded by the European Union through the EU PRO Plus Programme and implemented by UNOPS.

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the sustainable development and improved positioning of the Šumadija District as an attractive and prosperous region in Serbia and the European Union, by strengthening the urban identity of the territory through the protection of cultural and historical heritage and its valorization through culture, education, and the green economy, as well as by encouraging innovation and creative industries.