All about WorldSkills Kazan 2019: tickets, entertainments, rules and transport

WorldSkills Kazan 2019: what, where, when

Kazan is again the host of a grandiose event in terms of scale. WorldSkills Kazan 2019 competition kicks off exactly in a month, on 22 August and will last for six days. While the countdown to the beginning of the world championship is on, we will tell you how to get to it, how the spectators will be entertained and how much effort and money were spent on the preparation.

Tatarstan got about 4,6 billion rubles from the Russian budget to hold the event. The republic was entrusted with organising the prestigious event in which over 1,300 representatives of 63 countries are participating. We can say that everyone is professionals of their craft. Everyone will be fighting for a chance to win a medal in a chosen competence. The competition will have 56 competences in different spheres of production, whether it is carpentry or floristry, hairdressing, autobody repair or bread baking. To get to the world championship, its participants go through a selection process in national WorldSkills competitions first, that’s to say, the best of the best young professionals will come to Kazan from their countries.

Why is this all organised? To increase the prestige of skills around the world. WorldSkills allows leaders of sectors, governments and educational institutions to exchange the latest methods in vocational education. Employers often catch winners at world championships.

“We are on the finishing line after three years and 11 months of preparation. And though a month has left till the opening of the championship formally, there is in fact much less time. We will start welcoming the first groups of clients on 1 August already,” head of the project WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Emil Gubaydullin told Realnoe Vremya. “The finishing touches are put now — the venues of the competition are actively getting ready. For instance, we will have to build small shops, small restaurants for competitions on the territory of Kazan Expo.”

Free entrance for spectators

How to get to the competition itself? The detailed programme of the championship is available on the tournament’s official website.

To watch a competition, one doesn’t have to pay, Emil Gubaydullin assured Realnoe Vremya’s correspondent. It is enough to register on WorldSkills’s official website and get an e-ticket. It should be printed in advance. If not, this can be done at the entrance to Kazan Expo — this complex will become the main venue of the championship.

Before going to the WC, spectators should get familiar with the rules of behaviour of the competition site — it is conditioned by the event’s specifics, the head of the Directorate for Sports and Social Projects warned. For security reasons, it is prohibited to enter Kazan Expo with not only weapons but also food, beverages, pets. Bicycles and scooters are also prohibited.

How to get?

The head of the project WorldSkills Kazan 2019 stressed that transport became an important aspect of preparation:

“First of all, the parking problem is solved. There will be parking for 500 lots for visitors to park their personal vehicle next to Kazan Expo. One will be able to enter the parking with an e-ticket, which should be printed beforehand. One can enter the parking on the day and at the time indicated in the ticket to the specific competition.”

There is no need to go there with your own car. Aeroexpress will daily go to Kazan Expo and back 4-5 times a day during the championship, the ticket is just 40 rubles. It will also be possible to go by shuttles for free with an e-ticket near the parking of MEGA shopping mall, Leroy Merlin on Orenburgsky Trakt and Dubravnaya metro station. The shuttles will go every hour from 10.00 to 17.00.

Opening and closing ceremonies by Igor Krutoy

According to Gubaydullin, the most spectacular events of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 — the opening and closing ceremonies — will be at Kazan Arena.

“The team we worked with at the Universiade 2014 and the FINA World Championships is organising the ceremony, Igor Krutoy’s team. Aleksey Sechenov is the director of the ceremonies. So we expect the spectacle to be no less bright than what we already saw. The opening ceremony will be dedicated to a professional’s formation, it is a show about people who conquer summits of mastery. And famous professionals will become its leading characters we can’t imagine the 21^st century without and robot Sofia that got citizenship (Editor’s Note: in Saudi Arabia). Singer Yolka, Aleksandr Panayotov, Dana Sokolova rock band, Jukebox trio, Yang Ge, Therr Maitz indie band and others are among the participants.

Famous VR artists will create breath-taking “living” decorations in front of the spectators live according to an episode. According to Emil Gubaydullin, augmented reality technology for which a mobile app was created will become one of the peculiarities of the ceremony. AR scenes will synch with episodes of the show in time and space: what is happening in the app will thoroughly depend on what’s happening on the stage of the stadium.

The tickets to the ceremonies can be purchased on worldskills2019.com from 300 to 1,500 rubles.

Business first, entertainments too

As head of the Directorate for Parks and Squares Marat Zakirov told Realnoe Vremya, “cultural sites” would open in the Gorky-Ometyevo Forest, the Gorky Park and on the embankment of the Kaban Lake deliberately by WorldSkills Kazan 2019. The participants of the championship, guests of the city and everyone will be able to get acquainted with cultural traditions of Russia and the republic there.

The Gorky-Ometyevo Forest will daily have concerts, transmissions from the opening and closing ceremonies, DJ sets, lectures, films and masterclasses from 22 to 27 August. There will also be information about modern-day Tatarstan and young workers of the republic.

Workshops with disciples of the championship, a zone with culinary masterclasses and a food court with the cuisine of different countries will open in the Gorky Park from 23 to 26 August. We will eat like in the best restaurants — with live music, there will be a concert programme.

Kazan musicians will perform, Corner, the Tinchurin and Kamal theatres will show its stagings on the Kaban Lake embankment from 23 to 25 August. Films are planned to be shown in the evening (films shot by Tatarstan directors), there will be free excursions to the embankment.

For extra charge

The business programme at Kazan Expo was dedicated to t WorldSkills in Kazan. 80 member states of WorldSkills movements have applied for it — famous politicians, social activists, scientists and writers. Special Representative of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, astronaut Sergey Krilayov, author of The Black Sawn Nassim Taleb, official WorldSkills International delegate in Russia Yekaterina Loshkaryova will arrive in Kazan.

The business programme will take place from 23 to 25 August. There are going to be discussed economic and technological tendencies, issues of development professional training systems and labour market transformations. Conferences within National Track will take place deliberately for Russian participants from 22 to 25 August.

At the moment the applications for participating in the business programme are accepted from everyone on concessionary terms. The basic package is 27,950 rubles, transport costs and accommodation aren’t included.