GLAM/Newsletter/April 2025/Contents/Macedonia report
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Wikimedia MKD's new GLAM collaborations and activities
Wikimedia MKD is constantly expanding its network of partnerships and collaborations. The organization aims to establish contact and establish cooperation with a large number of institutions and organizational units that have the will and potential to help create free content and make access to information free for the entire Macedonian reading and educational-scientific public.
The latest formalized cooperation comes with the Museum of Macedonia. On 02.04.2025, Wikimedia MKD and the Museum of Macedonia signed a Memorandum for collaboration. This memorandum confirms the efforts of the two organizations to cooperate together, and more specifically the Museum of Macedonia with its potential to help Wikimedia MKD in achieving its set goals - free access to free content and knowledge. Through cultural, scientific, historical, museum and socio-political materials, the Museum of Macedonia will provide significant assistance and support for achieving the goals of the organization.
The Director of the Museum of Macedonia, Mr. Borce Topukovski, and the Executive Director of Wikimedia MKD, Ms. Snezana Štrkovska, signed this important document for Wikimedia MKD at the premises of the Museum of Macedonia, which significantly increases the potential for Wikimedia MKD's activities.
Also, this year, “Crafts and Folk Costumes” is the central theme of the GLAM programme of Wikimedia МKD. Besides decrease the content gap, the programme aims to document, textually and visually, the crafts and traditions that are in danger of being forgotten.
On April 15, 2025, Wiki Club Veles, under the mentorship of Professor Lili Arsova, organized an educational workshop at the “Kovač Goce” blacksmith shop, located in the Prevalec neighborhood in Veles. The Wikipedians had the opportunity to meet Goce Grujov – the last active blacksmith in Veles, who inherited the craft from his father Aco Grujov, the initiator of this family tradition in 1970. During the workshop, the young Wikipedians got a closer look at the techniques of forging, the types of tools used – from nails and different types of hammers to tools specially made for shaping metal. Grujov demonstrated the entire process – from heating to shaping, which the participants enjoyed.
The next day, on April 16, the second workshop was held, this time in Vane’s pottery workshop in the Kojnik neighborhood of Veles. There, the students had the opportunity to follow the entire process of making pottery products – from processing the clay, shaping it on a pottery wheel, to the final firing in a kiln that reaches temperatures of up to 900°C. Every tool, every movement and every detail was explained with enthusiasm. At the end of this adventure, the potter Vane presented the students with a unique, handmade product – a symbolic gift that will remind them of the experience and knowledge they have gained.
With these activities, Wikimedia MKD not only strengthens the skills of young Wikipedians and stimulates their interest in cultural heritage, but also actively contributes to its preservation through free and accessible content on Wikipedia. The documentation and promotion of the crafts represent an investment in the collective memory of a society.
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