LONDON – Ukrainian culture got a boost after the EuroMaidan Revolution, the popular uprising that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014, including the creation of a Ukrainian Cultural Foundation in Kyiv. Its expert, along with one from British Council Ukraine, came to London to discuss how culture helps Ukrainians to cope with the country’s instability, at an event in London’s Chatham House on April.10.
Ukrainian Cultural Foundation established by the Ministry of Culture in 2017 and attracted a lot of attention because of the generousness of the funding the organization received from the government and secondly because of the President’s wife Maryna Poroshenko willing to chair the supervisory board.
The organization’s budget in 2018 totaled $7.7 million and dramatically increased to $26.5 million in 2019.
First Lady Maryna Poroshenko got the position at the largest grant-making state-owned organization, dedicated to supporting cultural and art projects. However, despite society’s fear that she would make the organization biased and put it under the president’s patronage, that did not happen, said Oleksandra Yakubenko, international cooperation department’s head at the Ukrainian Cultural Fund.
“Even though the head of our supervisory board is Maryna Poroshenko, all the decisions are made by our executive director [Yuliia Fediv]. There is still a list of questions which the supervisory board decides on, such as financing projects with the budgets exceeding the amount of 150 minimum salaries,” explained Yakubenko. “Maryna Poroshenko chairs the board but every decision is made by a quorum,” she said.
The number of applications for funding has almost tripled since last year after the organization provided 298 projects with sponsorship. While in 2018 there was the only one overall program the project offered, now it has six options, including opportunities to produce innovative cultural products, organize training or debuts, do research, hold an event, shoot a film or create a piece of inclusive art. The latter program was developed in a partnership with the British Council in Ukraine, the United Kingdom’s international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities, that opened its office in Kyiv 27 years ago.
“There is a growing interest in disability and Ukraine addressing disability. I am prompted by the fact that we now have disabled veterans who are very visible within society coming out of the conflict. So the level of discourse has grown around that,” said Simon Williams, head of British Council in Ukraine.
The demand for more cultural expression appeared in society due to the tragic events in Ukraine’s history, Yakubenko believes. According to her, the EuroMaidan Revolution, in which 100 demonstrators were killed, shifted Ukrainian culture.
“Ukrainians strive for ethical and cultural identification. Today people more freely express their pride in Ukrainian culture, arts and heritage,” she said. “Given the war, given the challenges and economic difficulties there is now a sense of Ukrainian identity, which is above ethnicity or language or beliefs or race or region,” agreed Williams. “Ironically, that is one of the results of the conflict and challenges that Ukrainians have come through but they are now more cohesive than ever.”
After the war started, the British Council focused on helping to keep education and cultural reforms on track in the war zone.
“So they are not derailed in the areas where conflict is going on,” said Williams.
The organization works with displaced universities that due to the war were forced to move out from their home cities in the Donbas region and relocate across the country.
“We are working with them to help re-establish themselves,” said Williams. “It is about building resilience to stress and some of that is about developing these media literacy skills within young people. But it is also working with English teachers. The teachers are really important figures of stability and respect within young people’s lives, but they themselves are in positions of great stress if you are talking about conflict communities.”
However, Williams said the organization has some challenges in delivering their help and support in the war-torn areas due to the British Foreign Commonwealth Office travel policy, which advises against travel to government-controlled areas of the Donbas. They do it remotely, but the bigger challenge is to help those in occupied territory.
“We have no mandate, and we cannot go there, but we know that there are young people there who need education opportunities in the same way. So how can we reach those?”
Supporting the creation of art is one of the most important focuses of the organization Williams runs: “This is a great example of that work. It is called SWAP and it is a residency program where Ukrainian artists take residence in the UK institutions. We do it in partnership with Liverpool Biennale.”
Anna Kakhiani, 27, from Kyiv, was among three artists from Ukraine who won the competition and went to Britain seeking inspiration for her project: “It was useful to look at people’s attitude to culture in another country. It was clear that their basic needs are satisfied and this issue does not even arise. So people do not think on whether they need culture, they just consume it by definition.”
British artists also traveled to Ukraine to explore local culture. At the program’s end, both British and Ukrainian artists presented their work in Odesa during an exhibition lasting from Feb. 22 to March 31.
“I did one project on the topic of the language barrier, which I actually faced myself when I came to Britain. That was a bit of self-irony. Another one was on the human being as a physical body and as a social unit. That was a performance – the word ‘fragile’ was tattooed on my back without using ink,” said Kakhiani.
