Culture of Solidarity

With many local partners in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia and Moldova, MitOst coordinates collaborative efforts of civil society organisations that are directly supporting on-the-ground actions to secure people, provide protection, facilitate evacuations, and connect to temporary accommodation. Mitost is bridging communications, directing financial support, assessing needs through partners in the field and connects networks to offers of support.

In the face of the Russian invasion on Ukraine and a rising tide of disinformation, the Gazeta Wyborza Foundation partnered with a group of international outlets to set up a fund for Independent Ukrainian Media and support journalists and publishers working in the war zone. Collected funds are directed towards the journalistic equipment, financial support for media organizations in Ukraine and the relocation of journalists to safety.

VCRC / Kyiv Biennial is acting on multiple cultural, media and information fronts. Along with helping people who stayed in Ukraine and providing immediate financial support for their basic needs, the Research Center is actively involved in documenting Russian war crimes against Ukraine and supporting the evacuation of museum collections and artworks. On a wider European scale, VCRc launched multiple public platforms and events that give visibility to the war urgencies within the East Europe Biennial Alliance.

Over the years, the Borderland Foundation has been committed to programs weaving the Ukrainian arts community and Ukrainian culture into broader world conversations: through guest fellowships, workshops, an annual summer school, art, and music.  During this war they have expanded their role to invite and host Ukrainians fleeing the war, not only in our own region, but with the help of partners, throughout Poland.

UkraineFacts is a global database initiated by Maldita that aims to fight against disinformation triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a collaborative effort, over 70 fact-checking organizations from 75 countries are gathering all disinformation debunks identified and published in their areas. Through this initiative, digital media users can quickly detect fake news using the consultation tool that allows them to identify content and verify its authenticity. Moreover, the platform allows journalists, scientists and academics to study the disinformation phenomenon around the crisis and make informed decisions across all sectors.

Kateryna Radchenko, Ukrainian curator and director of Odesa Photo Days Festival works directly with photographers at the frontlines. Currently, Kateryna is collecting and curating photos from the war zone in order to produce international publications, exhibitions, events and create opportunities for people around the world to experience these visual stories and narratives first hand. Throughout the heated days of war, Kateryna and her team work as an aid for international media outlets in Odesa and Lviv, supporting photographers who are stuck, in danger or go to the frontlines as independent artists.

MASSIA is a place for individuals and groups from any field – artists, practitioners, scientists, activists, researchers, who seek to determine their own conditions of work. Located in the rural area near the coast, in close collaboration with the local community, the residency team decided to welcome refugees fleeing the war and provide a place of rest. With the financial support, engagement and help of local villagers, residency welcomes all artists from Ukraine but also political artists, practitioners, journalists who might need to leave Russia in fear of persecution.

Women’s Foundation eFKa  a residency and safe space for three female visual artists, writers and researchers for up to six months. The residency, located in a peaceful natural resort near Cracow will be a place of rest, however, with connections to vibrant Cracow galleries and Women’s Center, artists will have an opportunity for expression, work and integration into local communities.

Romanian Art Galleries Association – AGACOR is mobilizing residencies, galleries and alternative art spaces across Easten Europe to create a network of hosts for Ukrainian artists who need support more than ever. Artists from across the fields are invited to stay in the residencies for up to three month. They are given a place to work, monthly financial support and spaces for exhibitions, performances and their projects implementation along with the access to the network of multiple cultural spaces.

DE STRUCTURA is an active educational and creative project that will gather 150 young aspiring professionals in the fields of visual and performing arts. They will join the project from different countries of the European continent to communicate with experts and their peers in order to implement 20 cross-border projects and discover the institutional politics of art. In response to the war in Ukraine, Destructura will enable free participation for Ukrainian and Russian youngsters. The topics of  peace and solidarity will play a central role in the agenda of the programme.

‘Dear,’ is a postal publishing art project founded at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative publishes a letter per month by poets, artists and authors worldwide. These letters are sent by posts to readers around the globe. In response to the crisis in Ukraine, ‘Dear,’ will produce a series of letters with all subscription benefits going to an artist relief fund in Ukraine. The team will work with four poets & artists who will compose a letter each and reflect in their own way, upon the destruction that is taking place in Ukraine. These letters will be printed and  distributed.

‘Voices of Ukraine’ is a digital web-based platform presenting multilingual readings of Ukrainian poetry and drama by artists and performers affected by the Russian invasion. Volta International Festival in London will commission, design and build a new digital space that will feature 30 filmed readings of Ukrainian poetry and drama by Ukrainian artists. The texts will be read in Ukrainian with English subtitles, and will be published on the platform in their original language with translation alongside. Biographies of each writer and performer will be highlighted. They will include a short written statement by the artist about their experiences before and after the invasion, and their personal connection to the piece.

Réunion des Musées Métropolitains Rouen Normandie will host a weekly forum to promote and keep Ukrainian culture and heritage alive. Interactive lectures on arts, history and heritage of Ukraine will be held weekly in Rouen Museum of Fine Artsand occasionally repeated at the The Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art in Paris. Each event will be recorded and made available online, creating an audiovisual collection accessible to all French-speaking audiences and offering access to some of the most precious contributions of Ukraine to humanity.

Nordic Drama Corner will translate and coordinate the performance opportunities for Ukrainian plays in Finland. Focusing on pieces written recently that express the power of solidarity, the plays will be translated into Finnish,  Swedish or Sami language and will be performed in both professional and amateur theaters across Finland. Such an initiative will secure financial opportunities for Ukrainian artists fleeing war (copyright and translation fees) but also will allow their artistic expression to continue and build understanding of Ukrainian culture and current events abroad.

In partnership with many public and private actors in the Piedmont area, the National Cinema Museum Association of Turin will organize film screenings in different places to investigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine with in-depth interventions aimed at proposing policies of peace and welcoming of refugees. The screenings are free of charge  with the possibility of donating to the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Turin and Piedmont.

Gen, știri is a news channel created by young professional curators, targeting Romania-speaking youth. The news channel specializes in communication through social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. The team analyzes, explains and depicts events in a more informal and engaging manner that is easy to grasp and connect to for the youngsters. With the development of the Russian war against Ukraine, the project expanded and became a primary platform for youth from Romania and Moldova to find information and check facts during the time of crisis. Coordinated from Romania working with Moldovan and Ukrainian correspondents, the project will to collect and cover the news through real stories from Ukrainian teenagers. Its primary goal is to debunk disinformation and promote fact checking amongst the young generation in Romania and Moldova.

To deal with the consequences of the Russian invasion and threats the war poses on the Ukrainian art community – (MOCA) Museum of Contemporary Art NGO, in partnership with Zaborona, The Naked Room and Mystetskyi Arsenal established the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund. All activities of the fund aim to ensure the continuity and development of the Ukrainian cultural process during the war.  Through one-time financial aid and/or long-term stipends for cultural workers, the consortium of partners covers both, basic needs of cultural workers who remained in Ukraine or fled abroad but also ensures voice and visibility of Ukrainian culture internally and across borders. 

Goyki 3 Art Inkubator is a cultural institution run by the Sopot local government in Poland. Its goal is to conduct activities aimed at creating and disseminating culture, promoting cultural education and supporting creative communities. Art Inkubator is involved in building a network of domestic and foreign stakeholders, organising art residencies and creative work programs. As a response to the Russian war against Ukraine, the art incubator team will host 2 artists and their families who have fled the war for a period of two months. Besides providing a space to work, language classes and access to the network, the team will run an online mentoring programme for Ukrainian artists to help them integrate in Poland and become valuable players in the field of culture; open opportunities for artistic community projects in order to provide a possibility for artistic expression and connection to the local community in Sopot.

Dwutygodnik is a public and freely available Polish cultural magazine. As a response to the unfolding war, the magazin launched a ‘Ukrainian Section’ aiming, on the one hand, to provide financial support to Ukrainian authors and artists, and on the other hand, to draw attention to and show the complexity of contemporary Ukrainian culture, which is currently threatened by the agressort. By offering their pages to Ukrainian authors who create vivid reports on the culture of the times of war, map the people and phenomenons scattered in the chaos of war, and at the same time introduce the Polish reader to the unknown issues of Ukrainian art.

During the first wave of the pandemic, one of Shareradio journalists and educators, together with his 10-year-old daughter created a programme for children aiming to help keep their relationships with schoolmates and teachers alive. The broadcast started to collect greetings, wishes, songs, poems sent by children, teachers, and parents. The broadcast, which originated from the class group, involved hundreds of children from different schools, helping them to overcome a difficult and unprecedented moment, also by processing and sharing their own experience on the radio together. In a similar way a group of journalists and children intends to support Ukrainian refugees arriving in Milan. It offers a programme that will build together a weekly transmission allowing  children distributed in different territories to share the experiences and together elaborate on their own strategies of mutual support.

A construction of an on-going archive of mourning acts corresponding to Ukraine’s traditional culture of lament will be created by the faculty members of the Athens Academy of Fine Arts. In these desolate times, an extraordinary force of help has been assumed in order to support and protect Ukrainian citizens fleeing from the terrors of war. Within this flow of refuge the female population remains the most vulnerable while, at the same time, forms the agent of a distinct culture which needs to be preserved in order to maintain community bonds in exile. A series of recordings with Ukrainian women migrants and refugees performing lament and story-telling will form the core of this archive which will be launched on an interactive online platform. The archive will be enriched by interviews with scholars in feminist theory, critical theory and ethnology, which will re-visit the tradition of lament in relation to Ukraine’s history and traditions as well as within a wider geographical spectrum. Individual recordings will be broadcasted as a podcast diffused by the social media aiming at the widest possible audience. The collection of broadcasts will then form the contents of a different audio book.

CASES is a social media platform for creative industries and Creative Practice, as a part of CASES, is an educational programme created by the joint efforts of the creative community in Ukraine. While offering quality content focusing on art and culture as well as qualitative creative educational processes during peaceful times, the start-up team had to re-group in response to the Russian invasion. The CASES platform was turned into a creative front that informs people about opportunities for volunteering, employment and mutual support programs while Creative Practice opened access to its  online courses on graphic design, web design, UX/UI and made them available to Ukrainians free of charge. Aiming to spread awareness but also to create opportunities for Ukrainians who stayed in the country and moved abroad to quickly find work in such a trending and attractive branch of the IT industry. More than 2,000 students have registered for the courses in the last week already.

CryptoArt Ukraine is a community of artists that came together to help Ukrainian creatives understand and use the crypto ecosystems and NFTs for the development of their careers as well as to promote Ukrainian cryptoart scene, with representatives from its different genres, globally. Many artists are now using their skills to fundraising with the NFTs for Ukrainian volunteering initiatives currently active and responding to the unfolding war. To strengthen the community further and ensure the sustainability of the cryptoart stage, Art optimists will focus on providing financial, psychological, organizational, technical and marketing support to Ukrainian crypto-artists. They will also create an educational course on the basics of NFTs and their promotion in the international cryptoart scene.

Music Eport Ukraine NGO is active in promoting and supporting Ukrainian artists in the international music scene, complementing the European values and freedom of expression of our talents. In response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, Music Export launched a program for the independent artists  in Ukraine, aiming to connect them with European peers both online and offline, assist their integration in the new country, create more monetization opportunities  for their works, and find jobs in the industry they already know. The team will assist Ukrainian artists who are able to leave Ukraine in finding opportunities to play at the concerts; create playlists of Ukrainian music and pitching them in the international media and radios, ensuring the rise of streaming; talk to international media and promote Ukrainian local artists as well as create a database of job opportunities in the music industry across the globe.

TEMA is an independent, European online magazine for pop journalism and photography that addresses a young, engaged readership and aims to bring about cultural change and transformation for a sustainable and collective future in Europe. Shocked by the recent events in Ukraine, the magazine provides a platform to voices that are deeply affected by the terrible war, telling their stories, and helping Europeans to get a more nuanced perspective on the recent events. By asking both Russian and Ukrainian citizens to share their stories on the events, they try to overcome national bubbles and strengthen mutual understanding and support, giving each side a human face and story. This project aims to cover not only what is often lacking in the current news reporting: the personal experience; trying to prevent hate on both sides, that might be built up as a consequence of this war.

ART PLEXUS NGO, together with representatives of the theatrical community, psychologists and social teachers from Kyiv, have developed a MEDIA VISION THEATRE. Such a format is based on successful global experience used in the NATO countries to re-socialize combatants. MEDIA VISION THEATRE combines a theatrical performance and a video report format from the scenes of war, which allows viewers to be engaged in the creative process and directly participate in production of audiovisual material. Such a combination will allow them to get valuable material for self-analysis of psycho-emotional state in the form of a digital product. The project format is not tied to a specific location and allows the use of open and closed areas (hospitals, squares, etc.) and will work on a free basis for the end user.

As a QTIBIPOC and Muslim femme led cultural organisation in Berlin, Oyun finds itself not only at the intersection of art and social change but also deeply embedded in the marginalised communities of Berlin. The Oyun team has had experience in hosting various fellows on short- and mid-term residencies since 2020. Previously artists, activists, social entrepreneurs and researchers joined from Syria, Jordan, Cuba, Sudan, Cameroon and Tunisia as artists-in-residence. To support artists fleeing from Ukraine,  but also those, facing structural discremination in their displacement, Berlin-based organisation will offer artistic and cultural residency-like formats for creatives forced into exile due to the war. Especially bipoc or qtibipoc artists such as Afghans who only recently fled to Ukraine. Up to a half-year fellowship along with stipend, psychosocial support, healthcare, legal support and language courses will be provided for culture workers who need to flee for the second time.

Project title: Information Disorder: Understanding & countering propaganda during the war

Based on the premise that practising human rights protection equals to democratic rule of law, Symbiosis works on education, freedom of expression, documentation and analysis, public debate and active civic participation. Their new project, launched in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, focuses on the ongoing war ‘infodemic’ and on countering multiple threads of disinformation, misinformation, propaganda filter bubbles and fake news in Greece promoted through media. Through two three-day interactive workshops and an alternative media website, the project aims to empower Ukrainian refugees, diaspora communities and locals, to critically consume media and information as well as to raise their own voices. The workshops will support participants in developing their understanding regarding the sources of misleading and/or false information, activate critical thinking and media literacy skills in recognising and responding to these phenomena. Encouraged to become community ”antennae”, participants will be able to counter disinformation in their localities and media, produce content and encourage the voice of the displaced.

Project title: Ukrainian Outsider Art Initiative: Art for Life

Jewish-Ukrainian Social Initiative strives to reduce vulnerability and build a safer future to improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable and the least protected – both within and beyond the Jewish community in Ukraine. Through ‘Ukrainian Outsider Art Initiative: Art for Life’ they aim to foster and enhance collaboration between inclusive art groups and professional art-therapists, promote cultural inclusion and inclusive artistic practices. The initiative will provide opportunities of artistic self-expression to people with psycho-social and other disabilities who were both relocated from war-struck and remained in safer Ukrainian cities and towns, specifically: at Kyiv psychiatric hospital and local inclusive art groups in Cherkasy, Odesa and Lviv. The project is designed to encourage the normalization of the participants’ condition by providing professional support, artistic materials and a framework for creative work.

Project title: post-impreza: non-regular media and online archive / starting phase

Inspired by the ‘Impreza Biennale’ – a landmark event of Ivano-Frankivsk that marked the moment of transition of the local art process from modernism to postmodernism, ‘post-impreza’ aims to establish an irregular media and online archive of texts/visuals capturing the current artistic process in Western Ukraine, focusing on the pluralistic perspective of culture and arts in the war times. The project will expose the migration of artists, preservation of art works, changing functions of art spaces, local residencies for IDP artists and topics they are working on. It will result in a media outlet where culture workers can provide uncensored views on the local art processes during the war; creating a nourishing space for artists, cultural journalists and cultural managers to read, reflect and exchange.

Project title: Ukraine in the City of Gardens

Katowice – the City of Gardens is the main cultural institution and artists residence in Katowice responsible for cultural, publishing and educational activity as well as artistic events. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the institution became a reception point for the refugees, but also an active player in securing opportunities for work and artistic expression of cultural professionals fleeing from the war. The initiative aims to encourage interdisciplinary projects and provide opportunities for visual artists, poets and musicians to proceed with their projects in Katowice urban space.  Main goal of the project is to provide artist with safe space and give them opportunity to earn their income via their own artistic activity. The City of Gardens will offer access to the rehearsing space, housing, large network of contacts and professional support of their team members for Ukrainian artists in Katowice.

Project title: Ukraine invasion: local perspectives

Voxeurope aims to support local independent news media and extend the coverage of the war providing readers and partners with sources and perspectives from Eastern Europe. Voxeurope will select, translate and publish valuable articles from independent local sources from Ukraine and the countries more concerned – Russia, Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Moldova, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Relying on an established network of correspondents in those countries for curating and selecting the articles. Through purchasing articles from local independent news media, the initiative will also support and strengthen freedom of the press in the respective countries. Consistently with the editorial line, the articles will be illustrated exclusively with local cartoonists and illustrators.

Project title: Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival 2022

Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival is a medium-scale audience-focused film festival. It’s the first Scotland-based film event entirely dedicated to the screening of cinema from the Eastern Europe with film strands focusing specifically on human rights, progressive politics, and Ukraine.  Main objective of the festival is to give the stage to diverse and progressive narratives of modern Eastern European cinema, drawing attention to, and educating British audiences about, the many cultures and silenced voices of Eastern Europe. Socially impactful films will be screened, with a plan for future editions to accept submissions from filmmakers who might not be able to release films in their home countries out of fear of persecution and censorship. The initiative will also promote solidarity with the Ukrainian people and support ongoing efforts to reinforce Europe’s sense of identity in these challenging times.

Project title: Artistic Resilience in Times Of…

Artistic Resilience in Times Of… is a two-steps programme aiming to connect Ukrainian and German artists and create opportunities for exchange, new networks and collaborative artistic work. The first step of the project entails a launch of an international digital Art Lab platform for German and Ukrainian artists who deal with art in times of war. The Art Lab will create opportunities for exchange via digital online residencies and offers possibilities for joint artistic work. Additionally, keynote artists from different war zones or with working experiences in repressive systems will be invited to join the Art Lab and contribute to various sessions. The Art Lab is intended to be a model for future-oriented, solidarity-based ways of collaborative working and a practice of collective authorship. Within the second step of the programme, two guest-curators from Ukraine will be invited to Schaubühne Lindenfels, to develop the programming for spring-season 2023.

Project title: The Sunflower Times

The Sunflower Times initiative aims at debunking fake news, disinformation and misconceptions that pervade in the mainstream debate around the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Combining fact-checking work with analytical pieces to counter misinformation, negative stereotypes and propaganda that relativizes and undermines the efforts of Ukrainians to defend themselves against the Russian invasion, Ukrainian, Polish, Belarussian and international artists, curators, journalists and academics will establish an international bulletin, think-tank and editorial collective to work with a large group of writers, designers and artists, to publish content on an online digital media platform hosted on the web pages of the Museum of Modern Art. The bulletin will be published on a weekly basis, accompanied by public talks, debates and discussion panels (also shared online). The initiative is embedded in the context of contemporary art, using artistic media to enhance strategies of public communication and merging various media, academic analysis and journalistic integrity, to reach diverse audiences.

Project title: Old New Gaze

The project envisages the creation of an exhibition ‘Old New Gaze’ aimed at representing the consequences of appropriation of Ukrainian cultural heritage as a result of Russian expansion. The purpose is to expand the study of the Ukrainian and Eastern European cultural heritage through decolonial optics. The project will cover topics such as the deconstruction of art theory and artworks that were appropriated and destroyed during the 20th–21st centuries. The project includes a Ukrainian and Polish team of curators who will develop a theoretical and spatial approach towards the analysis of Ukrainian art and culture under the influence of Russian oppressive rule.  Old New Gaze will give voice to Ukrainian cultural researchers and artists in order to represent the scale and consequences of Russia’s cultural expansion, that had lasted for more than three centuries and the results of which directly affect the perception of Ukrainian culture in the world today.

Project title: Summer Camp Weimar Triangle “Plus” for European Integration & Personal

Summer Camp Weimarer Triangle, sending adolescents from France, Poland, and Germany in mixed teams on a 14-day expedition from West Pomerania (Poland) through unique natural landscapes to Templin (Germany) to provide a unique European experience. In response to the war in Ukraine, young Ukrainian refugees are invited and encouraged to join. Travelling by foot, bike and canoe in multinational teams, the youngsters will master the small and large challenges they encounter on such a journey through the “wilderness”. The participants will experience everyday pan-European life and to strengthen the awareness of what can be achieved when people work together, their sense of responsibility and democracy will  be sharpened. Accompanied by experienced, multilingual outdoor educators, youngsters will discover differences and similarities with their teammates and will get to know each other and their abilities much better. In addition, ecological awareness will be part of this learning journey.

Project title: The Theatre of a Warfare

The Theater of Warfare project consists of the production and distribution of a short documentary. The film will immerse the audience into a new world, where the main characters that used to be actors, theatre directors, and art managers volunteer to help Ukrainians to settle in the shelter (theatre), organize transfers abroad, collect humanitarian help and medication and reach out to volunteers delivering help around the country. Living their young lives in a theatre collective, they learn to shoot and hide in the bomb shelter under air alarms. In the centre of the narration is the collective of theatrical workers – actors, directors, and art managers – of Lesia Ukrainka Drama Theatre.  Through the film production and screenings, projects aim at bringing big issues into a short powerful story and as a result, trigger a post-colonial conversation about the Russian and Ukrainian relationship in culture.

Project title: Music for Future

Music for Future is an intercultural project for Polish youngsters and Ukrainian teenage refugees based in Poland. Aiming to create a youth orchestra that will take place in Krzyżowa Foundation on 04-11.06.2022. Youngsters will engage in a week-long orchestral workshops that will give them opportunity to integrate and connect through music. In the end of the project, two concerts for the local community will be organised where youngsters will be able to perform. The classical music society will be integrated into the project, in order to show different ways of working with music. Ukrainian and Polish music teachers will have the opportunity to exchange teaching methods and approaches. Moreover, the project will ensure a space where the teenagers can connect, create bonds and grow deeper in understanding and mutual support through shared passion.

Project title: State of Emergence

Ukrainian curator, Lesia Kulchynska in collaboration with Galeria Catinca Tabacaru in Bucharest (Romania) will organize an exhibition of 13 Ukrainian artists, 8 of whom are currently working inside Ukraine. By providing platforms for creative work, disseminating financial support, and organizing multiple residencies in Romania, the exhibition will secure safe space and production possibilities in a time when physical and psychological support is critical to the well being of individual artists and the fabric of the Ukrainian artistic community. The exhibition will highlight the process of emergence amidst Ukraine’s current state of emergency. State of Emergence brings forth visions of how the debris of smashed realities transforms into fragile constellations of freedom and solidarity. While Bucharest, as the first entry point for many Ukrainian artists fleeing the war, serves as an ideal springboard, the exhibition will reach a larger audience digitally on the Gallery’s website and media outlets. State of Emergence is meant to evolve and travel with additional iterations.

Project title: The CinemAid Ukraine Charity Film Marathon

The Ukrainian Film Academy stands for the openness and globalisation of Ukrainian culture. Together with the Ukrainian State Film Agency and the Watch Ukrainian! Association, the Academy organized a series of charitable screenings of Ukrainian films abroad called The CinemAid Ukraine Charity Film Marathon.  Screenings are currently taking place in Poland and are planned in France, UK, Germany and all over the world. All funds received from ticket sales will be used to cover the humanitarian needs of Ukrainian filmmakers.

Project title: Chornobyldorf.  Safe space for Ukrainian artists to prepare international presentation

The project aims at supporting cultural expression of Ukrainians, by providing conditions for them to work and build on past achievements as well as to bring more Ukrainian contemporary art to the international community, to make the voice of Ukraine lasting, strong and diverse. In the framework of the project, the team of Chornobyldorf Archeological opera (20 independent artists who are currently spread in different cities of Ukraine and Europe due to the war), will be able to reunite for rehearsals and prepare for the international presentation of a piece. Additionally, all instruments and scenography will be evacuated from Kyiv. Opera will be presented in the following countries: Netherlands (May), Austria (September), Great Britain (November). Currently, negotiations are held to find additional partners interested in the presentation.

Project title: Hotel Ukraine

Hotel Ukraine is an exhibition dedicated to the horrors of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Curated by Konstantin Akinsha, Ukrainian curator, known for his exhibition about the Maidan in 2014 at the Künstlerhaus in Vienna, the exhibition will include installation, paintings, drawings, video, and photo-based works, created before the war. The initiative aims to support Ukrainian artists, who will receive honoraria for their work as well as visibility in Austria and other destinations of this exhibition. The exhibition will be followed by the public discussions and other events which will help to reach a broader public. Starting in September the show should tour in Europe the following months.

Project title: “Antology24” texts for theatre about russian invasion written after 24.02

To make contemporary Ukrainian art, particularly drama, visible in its global context, a team of professionals from the performing art sector will gather near 24 drama texts in “Anthology24”. A digital book of texts for the Ukrainian theatre sector will be created and translated into English, French, German, Polish and Czech languages in order to engage European partners. Such a project will help to open the European art market for Ukrainian playwrights. “Antology24” also will help artists to get royalties from theatres that will want to make contracts with artists. Stage readings of the texts will be open for everyone.

Project title: SOFA- School of Film Advancement

“SOFA – School of Film Advancement” is a training programme that supports the development of national film industries in Eastern Europe. In response to the war in Ukraine, SOFA will host a five-day long digital workshop for Ukrainian film professionals in exile, allowing them to network with professional networks across Europe. The workshop will offer an overview of possibilities for cultural managers to establish themselves in a new context and will provide methods and strategies for continuing their work. The programme is specifically designed for cultural operators in film communication, promotion or in the field of conception of specific film-related projects, i.e., cultural managers working in the film sector as film curators, festival organizers, etc.

Project title: Ukraine Solidarity and Invocation for Peace in Varna Summer IMF

Varna Summer Festival is a long-standing international forum of music art. Building on years of experience and using its strong position and wide influence in media, within the frames of the festival, two concerts aiming to promote solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to the powerful voice of music for peace will be organised. Leading musicians from 16 countries in collaboration with Varna State Opera Symphony Orchestra will present a variety of music masterpieces. The mission of these concerts will be to speak for peace and understanding between different nations and religions. Beside the wide reach of the audience, the aim is also to achieve a strong artistic collaboration among musicians from different countries and express their support to Ukraine music society, ensuring a strong sense of togetherness, mutual understanding and acquaintance.

Project title: Documenting villages affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine

The initiative aims to document how Russia’s war affected villages: occupied, liberated or located in the areas where fighting is ongoing. While the media maintains active focus on the effects of war on more populated urban areas in Ukraine, life in smaller communities is not properly covered, even though the urgency is higher than before. Active since 2021, “Old khata project” was capturing rural lifestyle, a unique for Europe combination of traditional culture and modernity, architecture across more than 30 Ukrainian villages. In response to the current events, the team will refocus and start documenting how these communities have changed or had to adapt to the current circumstances and are living through the war, resisting and reviving. Telling the true stories of those places behind the headlines, with a particular focus on cultural change and personal experience of people who live in villages affected by the war. The project will reflect the true faces of the people who live there, true stories of what they have experienced and living through now.

Project title: Connections 2.0

A program celebrating contemporary Ukrainian artists within Ephemera Festival in Warsaw (June 2022) and Unsound Festival in Krakow (October 2022) in partnership with Dnipro based Construction Festival. The program will feature solo presentations as well as collaborations with their counterparts from the EU, including performances, workshops for youth, DJ sets and discussions, aimed at Ukrainian audiences. The project’s aim is to offer a safer space for a rapidly growing Ukrainian minority in Poland, and connect them with the EU’s cultural community.

Project title: Ukraine meets Calabria

Ukraine meets Calabria is a film training programme conceived, planned and executed by La Guarimba in Southern Italy, and is part of the Kino Guarimba Film Residency V edition. Within this program, 10 young emerging directors from Ukraine will be given the opportunity to participate in the film residency free of cost. Within the frames of the programme, Ukrainian participants will shoot their short films while engaging with the other participants and the locals, sharing their stories and  offering first hand perspective of the situation in their home country.

Project title: Every Story Matters

The project will collect an online-library of essays by Ukrainians in the fight for freedom, illustrate and share them with English-speaking audiences. Stories about strength, dignity, support, humane values. Dialogues with intellectuals and cultural actors worldwide will give analysis to the stories in anthropological, sociological, cultural, and philosophical terms. The project gives voice to the deep transformation process for Western Culture taking place in Ukraine now, prevents desinformation, updated democracy and contributes to integral thinking.