Themes by tag: culture

On February 21, an interactive presentation of the photo project entitled “Stronger than the Elements” will take place in Kyiv. The event will include a presentation of an art calendar featuring servicewomen (including those released from captivity), veterans, doctors, volunteers and more.

Twelve Ukrainian women who took part in “Stronger than the Elements” photo project are depicted as various natural phenomena. In addition to the four main elements — water, fire, earth, and air — the women personify lava, downpour, avalanche, thunder, lightning, wind, and other formidable natural phenomena.

For example, some of the participants of the photo project include: “Lava” — Valeria “Nava” Subotina, defender of Mariupol, writer; “Lightning” — Dzvenyslava Sira, medical curator of the “Azov” Patronage Service, soldier of the 12th Special Forces Brigade “Azov” of the National Guard of Ukraine; “Hurricane” — Natalia Nahorna, military correspondent of TSN, 1+1 TV channel and others.

The initiative to bring these women together for a joint project belongs to Anna Murashenko, Founder of the YOUkraine Charitable Foundation.

The women who took part in the photo project, volunteers, soldiers and representatives of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War will take part in the event.

Funds from the sale of the charity calendar will be spent to purchase drones for the 72nd Mechanized Brigade named after the Black Zaporozhians.

The event requires accreditation.

• culture
• military
• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

14-year-old Matvii Hlazunov fled the war twice. When russia first attacked Ukraine in 2014 his family had to flee from Avdiivka, Donetsk region to Izium, Kharkiv region. And with the start of the full-scale invasion his family moved again, this time to Odesa.

The boy reflects on his experiences in his animated films. He makes each character and designs each stage himself. Then he captures all the movements on camera and edits the animated footage. In 2021, his film “Melissa” won the Grand Prix at the Children Kinofest International Festival. The following year, Matvii won the festival’s “Best animated film” prize for his film “Black February.” The teenager already has an idea for his next movie and is preparing to start writing the script soon. In the future, the teenager dreams of becoming a director.

For reference: Ukrainian troops withdrew from Avdiivka on February 17, 2024. The defense of the city lasted for 10 years. Now it is completely destroyed as a result of russian shelling.

• children
• culture
• Odesa

ARTHELPS is a non-profit organization based in Germany. As part of its RESTRUMENTS campaign, musical instruments were made out of used Russian weapons during a kid’s workshop held in Kyiv (September 2023). These include turning repurposed weaponry scrap into a violin and a cello, as well as a guitar with a body fashioned from a fuel canister used to refuel Russian tanks. In December 2023, a music video was released for a composition by violinist Yurii Revych, staging children playing the built instruments.

ARTHELPS has also launched a fundraising campaign for a new Creative Hub in Ukraine. Anyone can buy posters featuring musical instruments.

Journalists can have an opportunity to talk to the founders of the organization (in German or English) and the project’s communication manager, as well as see the instruments made within the project (offline in Germany or online).

For reference: ARTHELPS is a non-profit organization of creative people dedicated to helping those in need through art. The team has worked in Germany and Afghanistan, India, Iraq, South Africa, Syria, and Brazil, among others. In 2016, they worked on a project with children in eastern Ukraine.

• culture
• weapon

The MiNiMISTO project, which combines LEGO modeling with the history of the native area, was founded by Alexander Yermolayev, a designer from Mykolaiv, in early 2020. At first it was an ordinary hobby, which gradually evolved into a full-fledged Internet project.

At the very beginning of the full-scale war (March 2022), Alexander decided to use LEGO models to talk about the buildings destroyed or damaged by the russians throughout Ukraine. At that time, Mykolaiv (a city in the South of Ukraine) was suffering from a chaotic enemy shelling, and it building LEGO live took too long in such conditions. Therefore, Alexander started working with a special digital designer software (the same LEGO blocks, only virtually). According to Alexander, this made it possible to promptly reproduce destroyed buildings, as well as involve other creators in the project. Currently, there are three creators in the MiNiMISTO team. The project website, among other things, features the Mariupol Drama Theater as well as Bakhmut and Kramatorsk railway stations.

Journalists are welcome to learn more about the Internet project, as well as talk to the founder.

• culture
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Mykolaiv

On January 22, the exhibition “Dali: I Will Take My Life Back” will open in Kyin. It is dedicated to the memory of the poet and soldier Maksym “Dali” Kryvtsov.

The exhibition will feature 24 photographs by Maksym Kryvtsov with his poems. The official opening will be timed to the poet’s birthday (January 22). During the event, everyone will be able to listen to poetry from Kryvtsov’s collection “Poems from the Gun Slits,” which will be read by Maksym’s friends and relatives.

All works, as well as postcards with illustrations by Ukrainian artists, will be available for purchase. The proceeds from the sales will be donated to preserve the memory of Maksym Kryvtsov.

For reference: A machine gunner, poet and photographer, Maksym “Dali” Kryvtsov died on the front line on January 7 at the age of 33. On January 11, Ukrainians paid tribute to Maksym in Kyiv, and the soldier was buried in his native Rivne on January 12.

Maksym Kryvtsov participated in the Revolution of Dignity in 2013–2014, and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces as a volunteer in 2014. When the kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kryvtsov volunteered to fight again. 

• culture
• dead
• military
• Kyiv

As a civilian, Olha Rukavishnikova is a violinist. She started music education at the age of four and in the eighth grade, she took up conducting and performed in particular at the Mykolaiv Regional Philharmonic and the Kyiv Conservatory Great Hall. On February 24, 2022, at 8 a.m., Olha was standing ready at the local military registration and enlistment offices. She was issued a firearm by the evening of that day and used it for the first time against the enemy the next day. Now Olha is fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, her main weapon is a hand-held RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher, but she also works with a sniper rifle, an automatic easel grenade launcher, a machine gun, and a mortar.

During one of her combat missions, Olha sustained a blast injury to her cervical vertebrae. This exposure to an explosion also resulted in eye loss. Despite this, she refused to be discharged from military service. Now she is performing active military duty at the front line area again.

The servicewoman is ready to talk to the media online by prior arrangement.

• culture
• military
• women

A press conference of Suspilne Public Broadcasting Company and the finalists of the National Selection representatives for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will be held at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform on January 11. 

During the event, eleven songs of the finalists will be presented, as well as the draw for performances running order for the final of the National Selection. The event will be moderated by the permanent commentator and host of the National Selection for Eurovision Timur Miroshnychenko.

For reference: The final of the National Selection aired as a live concert on TV will take place on February 3. As in previous years, the winner of the selection and the Ukraine representative for Eurovision 2024 will be determined in a split by jury and viewers. The jury of the final will be selected by Ukrainians via online voting.

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest, featuring 37 countries’ representatives will be hosted by the Swedish city of Malmö in May 2024. The semifinals, one of which will include a representative from Ukraine, will take place on May 7 and 9. The Grand Final of Eurovision 2024 will be held at the Malmö Arena on Saturday, May 11.

• culture
• Kyiv

The Family Art Retreat Project will be held in Lviv from January 6 to 12. Its development process was influenced by the input of experienced professionals from Ukraine and the UK in order to allow children and adults to try their hand at different types of creativity and generate healing through art. 

The project involved 20 IDP children aged 9 to 16 and their families. Participation is free of charge.

The project includes using improv techniques for children, such as acting, music therapy, and dance and movement therapy. Training sessions, self-help lectures, and the use of art practices to support children are available for adults. The program will also include open lectures on psychotherapy and music therapy.

Among the project’s presenters is Nigel Osborne, a British composer, art therapist, and specialist in music and art therapies that positively benefit children traumatized by military conflicts.

For reference: The project is delivered by the “ART DOT” NGO (Kharkiv, Ukraine) in partnership with the Street Culture NGO with the financial support of the Razom Foundation and the “Culture Helps” program, which is implemented by Insha Osvita in cooperation with zusa with the EU support.

• casualties
• children
• culture
• psychological support
• Lviv

Olena Zinova is an entrepreneur from Kherson. For more than 20 years, the woman has run her own shop and sold embroidered Ukrainian shirts, towels, jewelry and souvenirs with Petrykivka painting. When the enemy occupied Olena’s hometown in 2022, she had to carefully hide all things with Ukrainian symbols and close the store, because the russians were looking for and destroying everything that was even remotely connected to Ukraine. Olena had lived under the occupation for three months, when she finally decided to leave and take a collection of embroidered shirts and the Ukrainian flag with her. Together with her family, the woman managed to pass through 33 russian roadblocks, even though each one could be the last, Olena says.

The entrepreneur’s family settled in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, where she immediately began to rebuild her business. Olena made another shop from scratch, had renovations done there and bought equipment to replace what she had had to leave in Kherson. Nowadays, clothes from Olena’s shop aren’t worn only in Kryvyi Rih, as she also receives orders from abroad. The woman dreams that soon she will be able to return to her hometown and once again please customers with Ukrainian embroidered shirts.

For reference: on November 11, 2022, the Defense Forces of Ukraine liberated Kherson from the occupiers. Since then russia has been constantly shelling the city and killing Kherson civilians. 

• culture
• occupation
• reconstruction
• women
• Dnipro

On January 13-14, Kyiv will host a new masterclass session as part of the project “Thousands of Love Stories. Paintings of Wives of Real Heroes.” At the event, women who lost their husbands during the war will paint pictures.

The charity project was started by the artist Oleg Yurov in January of last year. Since then, over 200 women took part in art workshops, during which they created paintings in memory of the men who had died defending Ukraine. In particular, women made pictures of their dreams, objects or sensations associated with their deceased loved ones. An exhibition of paintings by those who took part in the charity project has recently been held in Kyiv.

• culture
• dead
• military
• women
• Kyiv