The fifth All-Russian Sign Language Festival "Don't be Silent", which brought together participants from different regions of the country, ended with a gala concert at the North Caucasus Federal University (NCFU).

The gala concert, which took place at the Yuri Gagarin Regional Center for the Development of Creativity for Children and Youth, concluded the "Don't be Silent" festival, organized by the NCFU RMC in conjunction with the "Vice Versa" gesture Theater. The program included 26 numbers – songs and poems in Russian sign language, dance performances. Participants from Stavropol, Pyatigorsk, Mineralnye Vody, Mikhailovsk, Perm and Kalach-on-Don performed. A video clip of the winner of the remote voting, Alexander Tolmashov, was also shown at the concert. The second place was taken by Alina Dolmadova, the third by Anna Bessonova. The winners were students of a boarding school for hearing-impaired children from the Republic of Khakassia.

The audience saw performances by artists from different settlements of the Stavropol Territory, the Volgograd Region and the Perm Territory.

The project itself, dedicated to helping people with hearing disabilities realize their creative potential and foster acceptance of hearing–impaired and hard-of-hearing people in society, is the initiative of NCFU student Julianna Luchina. The festival is being held for the fifth time thanks to the grant support of the Stavropol administration following the results of the city competition of youth socially significant initiatives with the support of the Pobeda Youth Center.

The festival was attended by individual performers and groups of any age, both with and without hearing disabilities, and the application campaign ran from June 15 to September 15.

The participants competed for the victory in several categories: sign singing – solo male, female, duo-trio, ensembles, artistic word, as well as original genre and theatrical miniatures in sign language. The experts of the organizing committee evaluated the novelty of the repertoire, the skill and directorial decision, the precision of gesture and the culture of sign language, costume and stage culture.