{"id":4810,"date":"2026-01-06T13:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isc.lviv.ua\/?p=4810"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:35:43","slug":"yakym-buv-nash-2025-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isc.lviv.ua\/en\/yakym-buv-nash-2025-j\/","title":{"rendered":"What our 2025 was like"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In planning for 2025, our team has set three priorities: finalizing and adopting a new Cultural Development Strategy of Lviv Community, submitting Lviv’s application for the European Union’s European Capital of Culture 2030 (ECoC 2030) competition, and holding the IV Culture Congress. All of this \u2014 and even more ) \u2014 was put into effect. Not all our efforts \u2014 as with ECoC \u2014 produced the desired result, but we see this as a new opportunity.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have already summed up the events of the year verbally at the <\/u>Culture Congress<\/a>, but now we are also doing so in writing: here we are going to set forth everything in a chronological retrospective. Thus, these events include the aforementioned priority areas together with closely related research and analytical work, activities for exchanging experiences, socially oriented campaigns, as well as artistic projects, implemented, in particular, thanks to the ongoing cooperation with Czech and Polish partners.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are writing about this year with the knowledge that it did happen and that we are able to work thanks to those who are defending us. May the memory of those we have lost live on. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone we interacted with in 2025 and we are hopeful that we will be able to start new collaborations in 2026.<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVchynok\u201d: the smallest act can change the world<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 18, an inscription by renowned Brno-based artist Timo appeared on the Stryiskyi bus station building in Lviv. The author depicted the word \u201caction\u201d<\/a> (vchynok in Ukrainian) against a white background on the end wall facing Stryiska Street. This symbolises the courage and resilience of Ukrainians in times of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project was dedicated to the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and represented a continuation of the cooperation between Ukraine and the Czech Republic in the cultural sphere. The idea is that even the smallest action can change the world around us. The bus station was chosen as a place that has gained special significance after the full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Vitaliy Hrabar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Kl\u00e1ra Hlavat\u00e1<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsequently, the word \u201caction\u201d in the Czech language \u2014 \u201cskutek\u201d<\/a> \u2014 also appeared in Brno. Timo painted the inscription on one of the few remaining walls of the former Borromeo Monastery in the Udoln\u00ed Street. The building was destroyed at the end of the Second World War. Eighty-one years later, the consequences of the bombing are still visible, reminding us of the long process of healing the \u201cwounds\u201d of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project was implemented as part of a bilateral cooperation agreement between Lviv and Brno. It was supported by the city of Brno, the South Moravian Region, the Partnership Fund, and the V\u011btrn\u00e9 ml\u00fdny publishing house. CSI is a partner representing the city of Lviv.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFilling\u201d \u2014 for the third time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, the \u201cFilling\u201d campaign took place for the third time. The slogan, \u201cDonate blood \u2014 fill yourself with culture,\u201d reminds us of the campaign’s two main goals: encouraging blood donation and supporting the culture of blood donation, as well as promoting cultural institutions, projects, and activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the initiative, donors at the Lviv Regional Blood Service Center and the City Blood Center were offered the opportunity to choose and attend a cultural event, such as an exhibition, concert, or performance. More than 40 cultural institutions in Lviv and the Lviv region provided tickets and invitations. During the campaign, which ran from April 10 to May 10, a total of 2,500 flyers (invitations, tickets) offering access to theaters, galleries, art centers, music halls, and museums were distributed to blood donors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Mariia Masiuk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the initiative had its ambassadors! They are veterans and servicemen: Andriy Zholob, Vasyl Halamay, Valentyn Serhiychuk, and Taras Tseliukh, of blessed memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CSI organized this blood donation marathon in cooperation with the Lviv City Council, the Lviv Regional Military Administration, the Lviv Regional Blood Service Center and its Board of Trustees, the City Blood Center (First Medical Union of Lviv), and cultural institutions in the city and region.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living Library: How civilians and veterans can communicate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CSI was a partner in the MuMeet project (Culture section), which is being implemented by the City Museum. CSI representatives joined the project, focusing particularly on proper communication between people with and without military experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 1, the City Museum hosted a Living Library session with Russian-Ukrainian war veterans who served as \u201cliving books.\u201d The “readers” were managers and organizers of cultural events, as well as employees of theaters, museums, and art centers. Iryna Shutka, the CSI communications manager, was among them. The six participants of the Living Library \u2014 Andriy Pentsak, Yuriy Kozlovskyi, Illia Dmytryshyn, Iryna Vasechko, Andriy Belenets, and Stanislav Dekhtyar \u2014 discussed with the attendees how to communicate with veterans sincerely and respectfully without using clich\u00e9s. They also discussed inclusion, life with disabilities, art as therapy, barriers, and ways of achieving mutual understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source: City Museum’s facebook page.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting led to the creation of a series of videos and a Guide.<\/em> Searching for algorithms for communicating with military personnel and veterans: How we should\u2014and should not\u2014communicate.<\/em> All of these materials can be found on the City Museum website<\/a>. They reveal the cross-cutting priorities of the Lviv Culture Development Strategy 2035: human-centeredness, participation, and barrier-free approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MuMeet project is funded by the “Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future” (EVZ) Foundation as part of its support program, “eMistechko: A Space for Everyone.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days of Performance Art: searching for balance<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival \u201cDays of Performance Art in Lviv. School of Performance\u201d lasted from June 10 to 14. This was the second time it was held in cooperation with the Czech Festival of Naked Forms (FNAF), a platform focusing on the body and its expressiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival’s theme was \u201cAdaptation\u201d; it explored life in conditions of war and uncertainty; the search for balance between body and environment, between the lost and the preserved, between pain and hope. Artists from the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, and Ukraine worked with these experiences. They were Lenka Klodov\u00e1, Darina Alster, Martin Zet, Ka\u010da Olivov\u00e1, Karolina Raimund, Anton\u00edn Brinda, Marie Zand\u00e1lkov\u00e1, Tom\u00e1\u0161 \u0160rama, Lucia Bricco, as well as Andriy Helytovych, Nataliia Lisova, Zirka Savka, Anastasiia Prozora, Nataliia Shevchenko, and Petro Ryaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Roksolana Tabaka.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performances took place every evening at the Dzyga Art Center and nearby, in the Istoriya space. The performance school brought together two groups of participants in workshops led by Lenka Klodov\u00e1 and Tom\u00e1\u0161 \u0160rama. Free to attend were lectures and presentations by festival participants, Lenka Klodov\u00e1’s exhibition “The Limits of Human Emotions” at the Dzyga Art Center \u2014 documented by the artist on her own body as she experienced the news of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Festival curators: Yaryna Shumska, Lenka Klodov\u00e1, Vlodko Kaufman. Coordinator: Lida Savchenko-Duda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSI organized the Days in collaboration with the Department of Contemporary Art Practices at the Lviv National Academy of Arts, the Dzyga Art Center, and the Istoriya space, with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno University of Technology, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Arts Promotion Center Finland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

10-year Strategy for Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy for the development of culture in the Lviv community until 2035 was adopted on July 24, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This document is the result of research (surveys of residents, interviews with culture professionals, analysis of relevant materials), expert consultation, and a participatory process with representatives of the cultural sector and other spheres in 2024-2025. Worth mentioning are: large strategic session (March 2025), presentation of the results of research on the cultural needs of community residents<\/a> as part of monitoring the current Strategy (April 17), collection of proposals for the draft of the new Strategy from experts and local residents (May), open presentation of the draft Strategy (May 30), and public hearings regarding the draft document (July 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Vitaliy Hrabar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Strategy 2035 sets out a vision for the sector that takes into account the realities of wartime and the important role of culture in these conditions, while continuing the practice of strategic planning at the local level. Its nature is determined by the context of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and the prospect of post-war recovery and reconstruction of the country, by the need to strengthen national security, social stability, and cultural capabilities, by the existence of the Strategy for Cultural Development in Ukraine until 2030, as well as by the European integration process and Lviv’s participation in the international competition ECoC 2030. Meanwhile, 2025 marked the final year of the Lviv Cultural Development Strategyadopted in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Strategy outlines the vision of Lviv as a \u201cEuropean city of living memory, relevant heritage, and new meanings,\u201d and that of its culture \u2014 as \u201ca force that creates, develops, and transforms the city,\u201d \u201cis forming a space of responsibility, mutual care, solidarity, and connection with a place for everyone.\u201d The stated mission is \u201cto promote the transformation of Lviv through culture \u2014 as a space for knowledge, memory, action, and imagination. To develop culture as a common good that unites the community, heals and restores it, nourishes the city’s identity, and strengthens its resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The document emphasizes the priorities of human-centeredness, participation, barrier-free approach, sustainable development, and technological advancement. It defines six strategic areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n