Audiovisual storytelling lab PATYS (“by yourselves” in English) is an intensive practical training program for Lithuanian youth. Over the course of two months, lab participants learn from experienced TV and film professionals from all over the world how to develop and produce docu-series. At the end of the lab, all participants get a chance to pitch their original docu-series to a panel of programers from the Lithuanian National Television. Authors of the best pitches and pilot episodes are provided with an opportunity to co-produce their original docu-series with the Lithuanian public service broadcaster.

Audiovisual storytelling lab PATYS is partially funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.

The Ethnic Kitchen Consulting organises intensive workshops at which content creators from all over Europe can learn to write and pitch original unscripted TV formats.

In 2024, these workshops took place under the roof of Lithuanian National Television and were led by an award-winning producer, Head of Content and Storytelling at Media Ranch, Philip Kalin-Hajdu. Ten content creators from Italy, Serbia, Croatia, and Lithuania were selected to participate at the TV formats incubator in Lithuania. They were all given an opportunity to pitch the formats that they developed over the course of the workshops to a jury that consisted of decision makers from the Lithuanian public service broadcaster and Media Ranch.

The jury picked four projects from Lithuania and Croatia with whose authors they would like to start collaborating on bringing their TV formats to life.

• You will learn to understand dynamics of intercultural teams
• You will strengthen your motivation to get actively involved with intercultural teams
• You will learn how to choose appropriate verbal and non-verbal behavior in intercultural settings
• You will learn to spot and overcome challenges that arise while working with intercultural teams

Your consultant will be Aiste Ptakauske, an award-winning educator and innovator of international caliber. She is a recipient of an Augustinas Gricius Prize for the Best Fiction Debut in Lithuania, a Fulbright Graduate Student Grant, an Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All award from the Women Economic Forum, the Vilnius University Rector’s Prize for Internationalisation of Studies by means of Designing and Successfully Launching the MBA Entrepreneurship Program, etc. Aiste Ptakauske is constantly invited to lecture and teach at world-class universities such as Vilnius University in Lithuania, California Institute of the Arts in the USA, Rotterdam Business School in the Netherlands, BIMTECH in India, etc. In 2019, Aiste Ptakauske was the Lithuanian coordinator for the Virtual Business Professional, an international project that involved over 650 students from 14 universities in 9 countries who worked together in virtual teams to develop high-quality business reports on online reputation management for Starbucks, Google, and Amazon. Aiste Ptakauske’s students contributed to the success of 5 out of 9 winning teams of the project.

Read Aiste Ptakauske’s A Survival Guide for Foreigners in Lithuania.

In March 2017, The Ethnic Kitchen invited 12 theatre makers from all over the world to Lithuania to run workshops for high-school students and cultural workers of Rokiskis, a small town in the North East of the country with the population of 15,000 people. The main goal of these workshops was to empower youth and cultural workers of Rokiskis to create positive change and innovation in their communities.

Read more about the Theatre for Community Empowerment project in The Baltic Times.

Decoding the Disciplines is a student-centred approach to teaching and learning that addresses a need for faculty all around the globe to change their focus from teaching their students ABOUT their subject to teaching them HOW to become more expert in the ways of thinking and practicing their discipline, which is necessary for successful integration into the contemporary labor market and society. The methodology was designed by a group of scholars at Indiana University (Bloomington, USA) with the aim to develop educators’ metacognitive skills and encourage them to reflect on their practices, uncover the ways in which they gather knowledge, and teach these ways to their students.

In their attempts to spread this methodology in Europe, The Ethnic Kitchen designed and implemented a three-year international educational innovation project under the Erasmus+ Program, Decoding the Disciplines in European Institutions of Higher Education: Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching and Learning. Implementing this project, The Ethnic Kitchen partnered with VIVES University of Applied Sciences in Belgium, National University of Ireland, Galway in Ireland, Roma Tre University in Italy, and Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania. Results of the project are available in an open source e-journal that was published by the Italian publisher Franco Angeli.

Whether you represent a creative enterprise, a non-governmental or non-for-profit organisation, a performance venue or work in creative industries as a freelancer, this course will help you build strong, authentic, and sustainable relationships with media and your audiences through digital communication channels and platforms.

You will learn to design your communication strategy, craft an efficient press release, and create authentic and engaging content for social media.

Click here to watch the lectures!

• You will understand how experience economy shapes expectations of your customers and consumers
• You will learn to explore the needs and expectations of your customers and consumers
• Your will learn to see your services from the point of view of your customers and consumers
• You will learn to improve your services in creative and original ways that will help you both satisfy your customers’ needs and expectations and get a competitive advantage in the market

Your consultant will be Aiste Ptakauske, an award-winning educator and innovator of international caliber. She is a recipient of an Augustinas Gricius Prize for the Best Fiction Debut in Lithuania, a Fulbright Graduate Student Grant, an Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All award from the Women Economic Forum, the Vilnius University Rector’s Prize for Internationalisation of Studies by means of Designing and Successfully Launching the MBA Entrepreneurship Program, etc. Aiste Ptakauske is constantly invited to lecture and teach at world-class universities such as Vilnius University in Lithuania, California Institute of the Arts in the USA, Rotterdam Business School in the Netherlands, BIMTECH in India, etc. Ethnic Kitchen, Aiste Ptakauske’s documentary about immigrant women in post-Soviet independent Lithuania, is included into curricula of several universities in Europe and beyond.

• You will learn to tell an emotionally touching story about your activities, products, services, organisation or yourself
• You will master professional content creators’ storytelling techniques

Your consultant will be Aiste Ptakauske, an award-winning educator and innovator of international caliber. She is a recipient of an Augustinas Gricius Prize for the Best Fiction Debut in Lithuania, a Fulbright Graduate Student Grant, an Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All award from the Women Economic Forum, the Vilnius University Rector’s Prize for Internationalisation of Studies by means of Designing and Successfully Launching the MBA Entrepreneurship Program, etc. Aiste Ptakauske is constantly invited to lecture and teach at world-class universities such as Vilnius University in Lithuania, California Institute of the Arts in the USA, Rotterdam Business School in the Netherlands, BIMTECH in India etc. Ethnic Kitchen, Aiste Ptakauske’s documentary about immigrant women in post-Soviet independent Lithuania, is included into curricula of several universities in Europe and beyond.

Read Aiste Ptakauske’s War, Motherhood, and other kinds of Magic: Series Mania Digital Forum 2020, Chief Virtue of The Virtues, and Mrs. America: A Battle of Losers

• You will understand how working in groups helps gain new knowledge and learn new skills
• You will understand dynamics of teamwork
• You will learn to assess teamwork
• You will learn to monitor and lead teamwork
• You will learn to foresee and manage challenges associated with teamwork

Your consultant will be Aiste Ptakauske, an award-winning educator and innovator of international caliber. She is a recipient of an Augustinas Gricius Prize for the Best Fiction Debut in Lithuania, a Fulbright Graduate Student Grant, an Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All award from the Women Economic Forum, the Vilnius University Rector’s Prize for Internationalisation of Studies by means of Designing and Successfully Launching the MBA Entrepreneurship Program, etc. Aiste Ptakauske is constantly invited to lecture and teach at world-class universities such as Vilnius University in Lithuania, California Institute of the Arts in the USA, Rotterdam Business School in the Netherlands, BIMTECH in India, etc. In 2019, Aiste Ptakauske was the Lithuanian coordinator for the Virtual Business Professional, an international project that involved over 650 students from 14 universities in 9 countries who worked together in virtual teams to develop high-quality business reports on online reputation management for Starbucks, Google, and Amazon. Aiste Ptakauske’s students contributed to the success of 5 out of 9 winning teams of the project.