The International Festival of Youth has concluded in Ekaterinburg. The central commercial and exhibition venue of the event was the Art.Molodost International Design & Merch Market – one of the formats of the Tavrida.ART Young Art Festival, which the art cluster organized as part of the IFY – 2026 program. Participants became acquainted with products from 39 regions of Russia and 25 countries around the world. In total, about 20,000 various goods were presented at the market.

The market was organized by Tavrida.ART together with the International Youth Information Agency and with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives.

The Art.Molodost International Design & Merch Market brought together more than 130 brands from 39 regions of Russia. The corners featured original products by designers and local brands, branded merchandise from leading Russian cultural institutions, regional souvenirs, and folk craft items. More than 1,700 unique product names – and in each of them, contemporary design was combined with traditional motifs.

The most popular items were plush Cheburashka toys, shawls with original prints, and track jackets with birch trees from the “Russian Soul” collection by the Art.Molodost brand. Kokoshniks and items with references to the traditional Russian headdress, such as brooches and earrings, drew the interest of guests.

Among the exhibitors at the market were the Art.Molodost brand, participants of the project “Created by Young People” from Rosmolodezh.Enterprise, participants of the project “Creators of Atomic Cities” from ANO Energia Razvitiya (Energy of Development), and projects of the State Corporation Rosatom. Leading museums, theaters, and musical organizations brought their souvenir products to the Festival. Participants could purchase T-shirts, hoodies, shoppers, posters, home decor, notebooks, games, puzzles, paint-by-number kits, creative sets, and other souvenirs from the Russian Museum, the Victory Museum, A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, the Kizhi Museum-Reserve, Gosfilmofond of Russia, the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, the Solovetsky State Historical, Architectural, and Natural Museum-Reserve, the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSPHOTO, the V.I. Dahl Museum of the History of Russian Literature, the Tula State Museum of Weapons, the Sverdlovsk State Academic Theater of Musical Comedy, and the State Museum – Cultural Center “Integration” named after N.A. Ostrovsky.

In the zone of contemporary design and crafts, guests became acquainted with the distinctive products of young designers, artisans, artists, and other authors, including residents of the Tavrida art cluster. In the Regional Identity corner, products from local brands, regional merchandise, and souvenirs from Ryazan, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, and Tomsk Oblasts, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and other regions were displayed. A separate place was allocated to Crimean brands of cosmetics, clothing, and accessories: their products were presented by the Mriya Resort, the Lavender Field creative workshop, the NaProSvet creative workshop, Kefirmaykifer, ISAKANO manufacture, People of the Sea, Crimean Rose, the Saki Mud Trading House, and the Crimean Tourist Center. Along with local manufacturers, major brands also presented their products in the corners, including Soyuzmultfilm, Sovorotka, St. Friday Socks, svechichnaya, Artograph, Cha U Kao, Oasis, Cher-Neva, Zeytz, ARNY PRAHT, the Sugrev Tea House, and others. Branded stands were organized by VK Store and “Made in Moscow.”

On the territory of the market, an exhibition of shawl-paintings “Russians in Fashion” by designer Nina Ruchkina took place, which brought together 55 regions of Russia and presented 69 canvases that captured in their designs artistic crafts and trades, the beauty of nature, masterpieces of art, and state symbols of the regions.

A special venue of the market – the oriental bazaar – became a place where Festival participants sold and exchanged original goods and souvenirs. Thirty sales points were organized with products from more than 25 countries. Here Festival participants could purchase sweet and spicy treats from Mexico, designer bags in the shape of parrots from Pakistan, incense sticks and jewelry made of palo santo wood brought from Peru, traditional souvenirs from Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq, national clothing from Vietnam, Mali, Qatar, Cameroon, Venezuela, Angola, India, and other countries. In addition, they could get mehndi designs from craftswomen from India and Pakistan, try freshly brewed coffee from Ethiopia, and be the first to see a collection by an Algerian designer dedicated to Russian culture.

Another interesting point of the international market was the Merch Museum. The exhibition space presented the history and culture of Russia through the prism of corporate, event, and industry merchandise from landmark projects and major organizations. The exposition brought together more than 50 organizations and over 250 exhibits. For example, the RT television channel displayed its traditional gifts—the toys “Master of the Taiga” and “Bear,” slippers that leave a “Russian Trace” imprint when walking, and a sweater “We’ll Tear for Russia.” The Russian Student Detachments showed a collection of its chevrons and patches from 1959 to the present. The National Drama Theater of Russia (Alexandrinsky Theater) donated to the museum a set of souvenir chairs and armchairs – replicas of furniture from the 1917 play of “Masquerade” (directed by V.E. Meyerhold, designed by A.Ya. Golovin), released for the 100th anniversary of the play in 2017.

At the interactive custom station, organized with the support of the Quokka creative ecosystem and its project “Merchevarnya,” more than 8,000 items with personal design were created during the days of the market: T-shirts, joggers, shoppers, passport covers, pins, charms, and removables. At the custom station, one could also create a personal design for T-shirts using branded thermal prints from the State Corporation Rosatom.

As part of the International Market, the Merch.Conference took place – an event for professionals in the field of creating and selling branded products. More than 30 experts spoke in the program, including foreign participants of the Festival. Lectures and open discussions were dedicated to current trends and key issues of the branded products industry. Thus, together with Darya Mardanova, director of the Quokka creative ecosystem, participants reflected on the use of AI and other technologies in merchandise; Monica Gonzalez-Yavorskaya, head of the merchandise direction at Dzen, spoke about the case “Dzen’s New Year Merch: A Useful Gift Instead of a Souvenir”; and Ekaterina Babkina, leading manager for employer brand development at the Mriya Resort, shared her experience in developing welcome packs for new employees of the Mriya Resort (the five-star Mriya Resort was a partner of the IFY – 2026 cultural program).

An important part of the business program was the ceremony of the Merch.Award – a professional competition for the best solutions in design and merchandise creation. This year it gathered more than 300 applications from illustrators, designers, and design teams, as well as organizations, museums, studios, brands, and foundations. During the solemn award ceremony, in each of the 10 nominations of the Merch.Award, one winner was determined, and in this year’s special nomination “Best International Project,” the jury awarded two authors at once. For the international community of designers and authors, the Art.Molodost International Design & Merch Market became an important professional platform: it brought together different cultural approaches, demonstrated the diversity of creative solutions, and strengthened ties between young specialists from different countries.

The IFY – 2026 was implemented as part of the Youth and Children national project. The operator of the cultural program of the IFY – 2026 was Tavrida.ART.

Overview:

The International Festival of Youth, held as part of the Youth and Children national project, was taking place in Ekaterinburg from September 11 to 17, 2026. The decree establishing the event had been signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 29, 2025. The Festival was being held under the motto "Follow Your Dream."

Participants of the IFY – 2026 included 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries, including 5,000 Russians and 5,000 international citizens. Among them were leading representatives of creative industries and the arts, public administration, science and education, sport, entrepreneurship, media, digitalization and IT, and civic engagement – people who are already shaping the future of their countries and the world. Continuing the successful practice established at the World Youth Festival 2024, those invited included 1,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17 – 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad. The Children's Program was organized by the Movement of the First.

The World Youth Festival took place from March 1 to 7, 2024, in Sirius, in accordance with a decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, aimed at developing international youth cooperation. The WYF-2024 brought together 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries.

In line with instructions from Russia’s President on preserving and building on the legacy of the World Youth Festival, festival events are now held annually across Russia. The World Youth Festival Directorate continues its work to strengthen international youth cooperation and build a community of young people who care about the future of the world.