On Friday, the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (UKIM) made a significant decision to establish the “Goran Stefanovski” foundation, commemorating the birthday of the esteemed Macedonian playwright on April 27.

This foundation stems from an initiative by the Faculty of Dramatic Arts-Skopje (FDA), where Stefanovski once taught drama before relocating to the United Kingdom. Alongside representatives from the academic realm and Stefanovski’s family, the organizational framework will include the Skopje Drama Theater, which showcased most of his acclaimed plays, according to an FDA press release.

The foundation’s primary aim is to safeguard and nurture the legacy of Goran Stefanovski, our eminent contemporary playwright, as a perpetual cultural treasure. Its objectives include publishing both his published and unpublished works in various formats, enhancing global accessibility to his oeuvre across all languages, fostering a culture of theater attendance and appreciation among younger generations, and supporting Macedonian dramatic arts holistically.

Furthermore, the foundation will offer scholarships to talented students pursuing dramatic arts education, while also endorsing and amplifying the endeavors of amateur students and young individuals involved in film and theater. It will actively promote informal education in playwriting through debates, workshops, seminars, artistic and scholarly conferences, alongside engaging in humanitarian initiatives through performance-based and audiovisual projects to aid vulnerable communities, as outlined in the press release.

Goran Stefanovski, who passed away five years ago in Canterbury, England, at the age of 66, left an indelible mark on Macedonian literature and arts. His notable works include plays such as “Wild Flesh,” “Flying on the Spot,” “Yané Zadrogaz,” “The False Bottom,” “Tattooed Souls,” and “The Demon of Debar Maalo,” among others. He co-created the beloved children’s TV series “The Crazy Alphabet” and contributed to several movie scripts.

Stefanovski’s academic journey traversed the Faculty of Philology, where he specialized in Literature Studies, and culminated in a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) in Belgrade, with a dissertation on “Stage Directions as the Foundation of the Theater of Samuel Beckett.” He subsequently served at the Drama Department of TV Skopje and later as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Philology in Skopje. In 1986, he established the playwriting department at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje, where he served as a full professor until 1998.

Throughout his illustrious career, Goran Stefanovski received numerous accolades, including the Stale Popov, 11th October, Vojdan Chernodrinski, and Sterija awards, and held membership in the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU).