In 2024, the Cultural Strategy Institute implemented a number of processes and projects: coordination and development of Lviv’s application for the European Capital of Culture 2030 and analysis of the sphere during the war, the thematic event “Open Funds” on the platform of the Culture Congress and the project UKRAINE! UNMUTED at the European Capitals of Culture 2024, “Czech Dreams” and “FNAF in Lviv”, the festivals “Weathercocks of Lviv” (Fliuhery Lvova) and Jazz Bez, the Summer School and the educational project “Streets of Names”, a series of conversations “Dialogues. People of Culture in War” and the Independence Lecture, among others.

We are summarizing our work in all these areas, mentioning names, numbers, dates in more detail. So, the text is below, and here is a video (in Ukrainian) of the 2024 reporting event of the СSI, which took place on December 17.

The СSI team that supported the processes and implemented the projects during 2024. These are Marta Bilska, Iryna Shutka, Vasyl Tkachuk, Lida Savchenko-Duda, Lavrin Shymin, Yuliia Khomchyn, Solomiya Tkach, Yaryna Korotkevych, Sophia Lenartovych, and Nazar Bakovych. And out of the photo, Oksana Babenko, Yaryna Melnyk, Orest Kravchyk, Roman Lytvyn, and Olga Struzhynska. Photo: Vitaliy Hrabar.

ANALYTICS AND RESEARCH

The strategic goals of this area are: to coordinate the forming of a strategic vision for the development of culture in the Lviv community (updating the Lviv Culture  Development Strategy); to disseminate the practice of strategizing among cultural institutions and other communities; to fill the analytical base of the CSI and to monitor the cultural sector. In the context of these priorities for 2024, relevant research and specialized meetings were conducted.

Discussion “Challenges and opportunities for the development of culture in the Lviv agglomeration in the context of war”

In 2024, the CSI continued the topic of positioning culture in the communities of the Lviv agglomeration, which was launched the previous year, and on January 17, 2024, held a meeting with community representatives. Talked about the vision of culture in the agglomeration’s local communities, challenges for the sector in the context of war, opportunities for its development and the emergence of new focuses (charity, volunteering to support Ukrainian defenders), the relationship of culture to other sectors, such as the economy or tourism, identity formation or the development of social capital. Community representatives — heads of specialized authorities and local cultural institutions — joined the discussion: Hanna Kuzbyt (Horodok community), Svitlana Pytko (Obroshyn community), Kateryna Kremin (Novoyarychiv community), Olha Pastushenko (Sokilnytsia community), Roman Loza (Zhovtanets community), Khrystyna Shandro (Pidberiztsi community), and Mariana Ivashchyshyn (Zymna Voda community).

Iryna Havryliuk (Lviv Regional Military (State) Administration), Oksana Rudenko, Roman Kizyma (Lviv City Council), Myroslav Koshelyuk (Council of Europe Program “Strengthening Good Democratic Governance and Resilience in Ukraine”), and others also joined the discussion. Solomiya Tkach, CSI analyst, presented the results of the study “Strategic management in culture: Lviv Agglomeration” (2023), namely the vision of culture in communities, which is fixed in their development strategies. The conversation was moderated by Oksana Dashchakivska.

“The Impact of War on the Development of Culture in the Lviv City Territorial Community”

To mark the second anniversary of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we analyzed what and how the culture of Lviv has changed since February 2022. The focus is on cultural institutions funded from the city budget: changes in activities, human resources, interaction with audiences, etc.; ways in which the sector is adapting, transforming, and contributing to the sustainability of Lviv’s СTC (City Territory Community). This work allowed us to draw conclusions about the rapid organization of the community’s cultural environment during the war; the interpretation of culture as a “tool” for emotional experience of war, self-expression, support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and unity of people. Find out what was the main challenge and what was the key area of activity and understanding of the need for more support at the state level in the analytical review “The Impact of War on the Development of Culture in the Lviv City Territorial Community”.

Cultural needs of Lviv community residents: results of a survey and expert interviews

Throughout the year, data was collected and analyzed to update the strategic priorities for the development of the cultural sector and improve the community’s cultural policy — to update the Lviv City Community’s Culture Development Strategy. Thus, in July-October, an online survey of Lviv community residents was conducted to determine their cultural needs and demands, attendance and inclusiveness of cultural institutions, the state and problems of the sector, policies for its development, etc. In August, a discussion about the survey and its relevance took place at the Parajanov Festival (Suputnyk cultural and art centre). A total of 435 people from 20 local settlements (3 cities, 2 towns, and 15 villages) were surveyed.

In July-October, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with cultural figures to study their vision of the current state of the sector and the prospects for its development. Work in this area will continue in 2025.

The focuses of the analytics for 2025 include the presentation and discussion of the results of the survey of cultural actors and residents of the Lviv community; presentation of the institutional Strategy of the CSI; evaluation of the implementation of the Lviv Culture Development Strategy 2025 and the strategizing and presentation of a new Strategy for Culture; conducting an annual survey of the cultural needs of community members, etc.

EDUCATION FOR CULTURE

ISC Summer School 

In 2024, two editions of the CSI Summer School took place. Attention was focused on such issues as: functions of the city cultural department and interaction with it; communication in culture, cultural criticism, work with the media; fundraising and development, implementation of cultural policies; local (experience of relocation and adaptation) and global (Ukraine and the EU); copyright and artificial intelligence; institutional strategizing and personal psychological stability.

Among the speakers: Oleksiy Taraban, Arina Kravchenko, Sophia Lenartovych, Otar Dovzhenko, Olena Spesyvtseva, Kateryna Kravchuk, Alina Bocharnykova, Yuliia Khomchyn, Oksana Dashchakivska, Ksenia Kleinos, Evelia Bilska, and representatives of the team of the TVORY! (Create!)  network. In the summer, on July 5-7, the school brought together about 35 students from Lviv and the region, as well as from Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and people originally from Donetsk and Crimea. 

The autumn stage of the School took place on October 24-26 and was attended by more than 30 representatives of art educational institutions and other cultural professionals from Lviv and Zaporizhzhia. The majority of the speakers listed above were joined by the artist Mykhailo Skop and musicians Marta Kuziy and Iryna Vakulina. There were also visits to the new information center — Clementii Sheptytskyi Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life in Lviv and communication with the head of the institution Mykhailo Zakopets, to the Lviv Organ Hall and a meeting with the manager Taras Demko.

The СSІ Summer School is an educational intensive program for those who have some experience in the field of culture but want to improve their knowledge and skills, understand the trends and peculiarities of the field, and expand their professional network. The project is implemented with the support of Lviv City Council.

Workshop of the Сultural Practitioners

Within the framework of the Workshop of Cultural Practitioners 2024 “Calendar: Cultural Histories”, the Institute hosted a meeting and professional conversation with representatives of the field — cultural authorities and institutions — from different regions of Ukraine: Olena Prylutska from Rivne region, Pavlo Nebroiev from Zaporizhzhia, Liudmyla Kropyvianska from Dnipro region, and Marharyta Bondarenko from Cherkasy region. Yuliia Khomchyn, head of the CSS, spoke about the priorities and directions of the Institute’s activities, the Lviv Culture Development Strategy and its monitoring, the Institute’s processes and projects, such as the Culture Congress and the Ukrainian Cross-Section project, and cooperation with the cities of the EСoС.

As a reminder, the WCP is an educational program of the UCU Department of Cultural Studies in cooperation with the CSI. The project is implemented with the support of the ЗMIN Foundation and within the framework of the British Council’s Supporting the Creative Economy program.

PROFESSIONAL PLATFORMS

Open Funds on the platform of the Congress of CultureOn May 17, the discussion day “Open Funds” on the platform of the Culture Congress brought together more than 110 specialists at the Lviv Museum of Ethnography and Folk Crafts of the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. These are museum workers, archivists, gallery owners, curators, art historians, researchers, and those who work with cultural artifacts from different cities: Lviv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sambir, Lutsk, and Odesa.

The discussion program was curated by Iryna Podolyak, co-founder of the Coalition of Cultural Actors, Director of Development at NGL.media, and Bohdan Shumylovych, researcher at the Lviv Center for Urban History, Associate Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies at UCU. 

Videos of the 5 discussions are available on the CSI YouTube channel:

  • Discussion “Museum collections — a transition between realities”. Participants: Yuliya Vaganova (Khanenko Museum), Anton Liagusha (Master’s program “Memory Studies and Public History”, Kyiv School of Economics), Anatolii Khromov (State Archival Service of Ukraine). Moderator: Iryna Podolyak. 
  • Discussion “Can culture be open when the funds are closed?”. Participants: Tetiana Vuyeva (art historian, Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv), Kostiantyn Doroshenko (critic, curator, publicist), Kyrylo Lipatov (historian, researcher, curator), Kateryna Lytvyn (Department of Culture and Tourism of Chernihiv City Council). Moderator: Bohdan Shumylovych. 
  • Discussion “Open funds and relocated collections”. Participants: Olha Balashova (NGO “Museum of Contemporary Art”), Ostap Manuliak (composer, researcher, curator), Taras Nazaruk (researcher of social media archives at the Center for Urban History), Mykola Shcherbyna (Museum of Computer Technologies at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv). Moderator: Bohdan Shumylovych.
  • Discussion “Invisible funds of technical culture”. Participants: Olena Haleta (literary scholar, cultural critic), Bohdan Shumylovych (Center for Urban History, Department of Cultural Studies at UCU), Oles Makhanets (historian, archivist), Kateryna Iakovlenko (website “Suspilne Kultura”, researcher of contemporary Ukrainian art). Moderator: Taras Nazaruk (Center for Urban History).
  • Talk “Can a person become a ‘fund’? Everything can become a fund”. Participants: Anna Kaliuzhna (journalist, war correspondent), Alevtina Kakhidze (artist, performer, curator, educator), Svitlana Osipchuk (War Childhood Museum). Moderator: Anastasiya Platonova (critic, journalist, editor). 

And here is the final video of the meeting (in Ukrainian).

The event was a thematic continuation of the events of the 2023 Culture Congress UKRAINE! UNMUTED and was supported by the International Renaissance Foundation and the Lviv City Council.  

ART INITIATIVES AND PROJECTS

Weathercocks of Lviv (Fliuhery Lvova)

In 2024, the cult festival for Lviv, which has a long history (since 2003), took place after a pause and was a little different, appropriate to the time and condition in which we live. 

There was different music, events of different nature and for different audiences, including children who have been living in Lviv since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. There was a new location (due to security measures) — not the courtyard of the city hall, as it was before, but the Markiyan Ivashchyshyn’s backyard, which is symbolic because the project was once founded by the Dzyga art association headed by Markiyan Ivashchyshyn.

The festival began on May 11 with the traditional Waking Up with Mertvy Piven (Dead Rooster) band. On that day and the next day, May 12, Ukrainian poetry was performed by the bands “Pyrih & Batih” and “Try Kroky v nich” (Three Steps into the Night), and punk rock by the band “Beton”. Researcher Bohdana Tkachuk gave a lecture on the phenomenon of festivals during the war, and the program director of the Weathercocks presented Lviv as the European Youth Capital of Europe 2025. For children and their parents, the First Theater performed the play “Dzheregelia. VesnianOchky”.

The festival had a charitable component: entrance to musical performances was a voluntary contribution to support the military. In total, they managed to raise 101,500 UAH for the needs of the 103rd separate territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

“Weathercocks 2024” was organized by the CSІ and the NGO “Virmenska 35” with the support of the Lviv City Council, Kredobank and Lviv Croissants company.

XXIV Jazz Bez

On December 1-10, XXIV Jazz Bez united 7 cities around music: Lviv, Drohobych, Ternopil, Rivne and Kyiv, and in Poland — Przemysl and Krakow. In Lviv, under the leitmotif of “Back to Basics,” the music of the free was performed in various spaces of the city.

On December 1, pianist and composer Mariia Yaremak, accompanied by the Liberté string quartet, presented the Ukrainian Fantasy program at the Solomiya Krushelnytska Museum. The event was made possible thanks to cooperation with the charitable foundation “Zavzhdy UA”, whose team raised funds for the needs of the 109th separate guards battalion of the 10th separate mechanized brigade “Edelweiss” during the event.

On December 6, an international quartet performed at the Dzyga Art Center, including vocalist Agata Skrzypek, author of most of the compositions presented, Dima Gorelik, drummer Haim Peskoff, and multi-instrumentalist Inbar Elnatan. The next day, on December 7, the New Brain Trio performed interpretations of Mykola Leontovych works in Dzyga. They were Oleh Pashkovsky (keys); Pavlo Haidaienko (bass); Ivan Korniienko (drums).

The festival culminated in a gala concert on December 8 at the Lviv Philharmonic, featuring star musicians from Ukraine and abroad. In the first part, singer, pianist, and composer Marinita (Ukraine) and multi-instrumentalists Shahar and Inbar Elnatan  (re)discovered the beauty of the cultures of different peoples: Ukrainians, Jews, Crimean Tatars, Azerbaijanis, and Roma. The second block was a performance by a quartet consisting of such musicians as saxophonist and singer Bendik Hofseth (Norway), pianist and composer Piotr Wyleżoł (Poland), musician and composer Ihor Zakus and drummer Borys Yaroslav (Ukraine). Thanks to the multimedia hub “Tvoye Misto” (Your City), we have a recording of the Jazz Bez concert on December 8.

For the third year in a row, Jazz Bez Kids, an interactive music class, was held, with children from Lviv, including those from the Mriya Educational and Rehabilitation Center, joining in. Conductor and educator Iryna Vakulina, together with her colleagues from the Tempo music development center, prepared a program of Christmas music games.

Visitors to the XXIV Jazz Bez concerts could contribute to the collection of funds for the ongoing repair of drones for the comrades of the jazz musician and soldier Andriy Cohan, who serve in the 81st separate airmobile brigade.

Jazz Bez 2024 was organized by the ISC and the NGO “Virmenska 35” with the support of the Polish Institute in Kyiv, the Consulate General of Poland in Lviv and the Lviv City Council. Exclusive partner: KredoBank.

Days of performance art in Lviv — FNAF in Lviv

On June 18-22, Lviv hosted the “Days of Performance Art. School of Performance” took place in Lviv. The festival’s program is based on the experience of the Czech project FNAF (Festival of Naked Forms), which celebrates a decade: it was founded in Prague in 2015 by Lenka Klodova to explore the body, corporeality, and various forms of expression through visual sign. 

The main theme of Days 2024 was “Anxiety in the Body”. The event included performances and meetings with performers, workshops, and an exhibition. The curators of the project in Lviv were Lenka Klodova from the Czech Republic and Yaryna Shumska from Ukraine; the coordinators were Lida Savchenko-Duda and Vlodko Kaufman.

Over the course of five days, performances were created by experienced and young artists from the Czech Republic — Antonín Brinda, Sarah Wollasch, Matías Dynka, Michal Durda, Lenka Klodova, Adam Michalek, Karolina Raimund, and Ukraine — Andriy Helytovych, Natalia Lisova, Illia Turyhin, Khrystyna Silivon, Olga Chyhryk, and Yuriy Shtaida.

On June 19-21, the Lviv National Academy of Arts hosted the School of Performance. Seven students joined the workshops of Lenka Klodova, Antonin Brynda, and Adam Michalek and presented performances: Maryna Levchenko, Tetiana Bilous, Victoria Maksymova, Maria Vyshedska, Sophia Lenartovych, Anastasia Kharachko, DOMinika DOMal.

Meanwhile, the Dzyga Gallery exhibited a traveling exhibition of documentary clothing “Created by Nudity”, curated by Lenka Klodova and Karolina Raymund. 

“FNAF Traveling” (dedicated to the 10th anniversary of FNAF) was made possible thanks to the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture and the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology. Organizers and partners in Lviv: the Department of Contemporary Art Practices of the Lviv National Academy of Arts, CSI, Dzyga, Slovo i Holos theater center (Word & Voice).

Czech dreams. A week of Czech-Ukrainian partnership

On September 17-22, the Czech Dreams festival brought together the cities of Brno and Lviv to present the areas in which the Czech Republic provides expertise and support to Ukraine (healthcare and rehabilitation, education, culture, business, sustainable development) and to create a space for cooperation in these difficult times.

A Czech delegation of more than 70 people came to Lviv: representatives of ministries, diplomacy, culture, and musicians, as Dreams is part of the large-scale Year of Music in the Czech Republic.

The practical components of the program include networking, projects to support veterans, etc. For example, the CSI hosted a roundtable on education, heritage, and international cooperation between universities, and a meeting of the cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and the Brno Tourist Information Center on cooperation.

There were 16 musical performances by Czech and Ukrainian artists, as well as performances for soldiers undergoing rehabilitation at the Unbroken and Superhumans centers. There were also 4 art projects (exhibitions, an art laboratory, and a photo installation), 10 film screenings, the presentation of the Rehabilitation Garden project in the city’s Nursery, and the transfer of a wind farm to the Lviv region. 

Czech Dreams in Lviv were held under the auspices of the Commissioner for Reconstruction of Ukraine in the Czech Republic Tomáš Kopeční, with the support of the Government of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and the Lviv City Council. Coordinating partners in Lviv: CSI, Lviv — UNESCO City of Literature office, artistic council “Dialog”. The events took place at the CSI, the Khotkevych Palace, Dim Zvuku (House of Sound), Jam Factory Art Center, the Dzyga, and the Lviv Opera.  

INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND CULTURAL DIPLOMACY 

UKRAINE! UNMUTED at the European Capitals of Culture 2024 Bad Ischl and Tartu 

On November 7-8, the project UKRAINE! UNMUTED at the European Capitals of Culture 2024 Bad Ischl and Tartu or “Ukrainian Days. UKRAINE! UNMUTED”.

The event was opened by the mayors of Lviv and Tartu, Andriy Sadovyi and Urmas Klaas (who signed a partnership agreement between the two cities that day), as well as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Estonia Maksym Kononenko. Yuliia Khomchyn (CSI), Kuldar Leis and Erni Kask (Tartu 2024) also made the speeches.

Most of the events of the two-day program took place in the space of the Tartu 2024 office. The Estonian city had the honorary title of European Capital of Culture 2024 and throughout the year implemented a program of cultural events united by the common theme “The Art of Survival”.

The first day of UKRAINE! UNMUTED was a discussion day. There were 3 conversations with representatives of the cultural sphere of Ukraine, Estonia, and other European countries. The focus was on the experiences and challenges of and cultural actors and institutions in times of turbulence, such as war, underfunding, etc.

The discussion program, curated and moderated by Oksana Forostyna, is available (as a complete stream) on the CSI Facebook page, on the pages of the partners of the International Renaissance Foundation, Tartu 2024, UkraineWorld, and each of the conversations separately on the CSI  YouTube channel and Salzkammergut 2024 (in English): 

The next day, the web platform of the Ukrainian Cross-Section project, a triennial of contemporary art, was presented. Project manager Lida Savchenko-Duda talked about the history of the project and described the digital platform, which contains information about its 5 editions since 2010, topics and participants, etc. She also talked about the project’s connection with cities that have been — or will be — European Capitals of Culture. Krzysztof Mai (Wroclaw 2016), Monika Inčerite (Kaunas 2022), Maria Artemiuk-Kozinska (Lublin 2029; the project has already been in this Polish city in 2013, 2016, and 2023) joined the discussion online. Another component is the presentation of the collection of essays “UKRAINE! UNMUTED”, which is now available in English and Estonian. The publication was presented by the authors of the essays, Olena Apchel (online) and Yurko Vovkohon, and the translators into Estonian, Anna Vershik and Margus Lattik (Olena Apchel’s text was translated by Ilona Martson). The book was edited and compiled by Oksana Forostyna.

The experimental dance performance “Maze Without a Minotaur” is another special event within UKRAINE! UNMUTED (November 7, Klubi Gutenberg / Aparaaditehas). The dancer and choreographer Maria Bakalo invited everyone to follow an imaginary route through movement, dance, and participation, filled with stories and artifacts of the very real life of ukrainians during the war. There were also various «stops»: a demonstration of Russian missile fragments, photos from the family archive, weaving a camouflage net, etc.

Read more in Yulia Manukyan’s text “Tartu 2024 hosts Ukraine! Unmuted” for LB.ua media.

The Tartu activities of the EСoC 2024 continued the theme of UKRAINE! UNMUTED, launched in Kaunas ECoC 2022 (Lithuania), and the tradition of the representation of the Ukrainian voice in the European Capitals of Culture.

UKRAINE! UNMUTED was a part of the Tartu ECoC 2024 and Bad Ischl / Salzkammergut ECoC 2024 programs. The project was implemented by the NGO “Virmenska 35” and the CSI with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative “European Renaissance of Ukraine”, as well as the Ukrainian Institute. The project represents the position of the organizers and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or the International Renaissance Foundation. Media partners: Delfi, UkraineWorld.

Lublin ECoC 2029

The Polish city of Lublin, with which Lviv and CSI, in particular, have a sustainable cooperation, won the largest EU competition in the field of culture — European Capital of Culture 2029. Therefore, in 2029, Lublin will implement a program under the theme RE:UNION, and joint projects with Lviv will be part of it. 

Lviv will present the cultural and artistic interdisciplinary program “Stitches”, which will be curated by the CSI. This component — and the broader long history and vision of ties between Lviv and Lublin — was presented in the final of the competition by СSI’s head Yuliia Khomchyn together with the Polish team.

The RE:UNION theme means a special meeting, dialogue, and a new look at Europe, and includes other common projects with Ukrainian theater and music institutions, GogolFest, and an educational initiative. 

Lviv’s application for the European Capital of Culture 2030

Lviv became the first Ukrainian city to participate in the European Capital of Culture competition. The preparation of the application, the theme of which is “Responsibility to Be”, at the first stage of the competition was a rich participatory process that lasted from spring to October 2024. In December, it became known that Lviv had made it to the final of the ECoC 2030 competition.

Several hundred specialists, primarily from Lviv, were involved in the development of the application at the first stage: philosophers and historians, representatives of the museum, theater, music, literature and contemporary art sectors, creative industries and business, architecture and urbanism, analytics and education in culture, media, etc. There were also representatives from other cities of Ukraine and those who are currently living abroad but are connected to Lviv. The grant manager is Yaryna Melnyk.

The CSI organized and supervised this work and was responsible for writing the application, as it is the institution that coordinates the process of implementing and monitoring the Lviv Cultural Development Strategy, one of the goals of which is to apply for the ECoC competition.

The preparation and submission of the city of Lviv’s application for the ECoC 2030 was recognized as one of the “Cultural Events of 2024” in Lviv (on the occasion of the Day of Cultural Workers). The award was given to the CSI, but it belongs to everyone who was involved in the development of the application, as well as to those who work in culture, with culture, for culture on a daily basis.

Lviv’s path to the title of the European Capital of Culture and the work on the application are described in the article by Andriana Stakhiv for Espresso.ua “It’s a dream we’ve been living with since 2010,” — Yuliia Khomchyn about Lviv application for the title of European Capital of Culture 2030.

COMMUNICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE EXCHANGE

The CSI’s communication is a comprehensive process and is primarily aimed at promoting the development and strengthening of cultural actors, cultural professional communities and cultural institutions. It includes both communication with partners, responding to requests, and public communication of the CSI’s processes and projects, informing cultural stakeholders about various opportunities and important processes in the field for the city or country (such as ensuring the transparency and legitimacy of the competition for the new Ukrainian Cultural Foundation  Supervisory Board in late 2023 — January 2024, at the call of the initiative group of cultural activists and the Institute of Legislative Ideas).

Dialogues. People of Сulture in War

This is a special media project of the CSI, a series of interviews with cultural figures about the war and culture, creativity, volunteering, heritage, and the representation of Ukrainian culture in the world.

Over the course of the year, 12 conversations with cultural actors were held in iconic or important places in Lviv. Our interviewees: Stepan Burban, Oles Dzyndra, Sofia Kozlova, Serhiy Fedorchuk, Halyna Kruk, Tetiana Pylypets, Andriy Saliuk, Vasyl Rozhko, Yurko Vovkohon, Iolanta Pryshlyak, Andriy Lesiv and Romana Romanyshyn / Agrafka Art Studio, Oleksiy Kravchuk.

All the texts of the project “Dialogues. People of Culture in War” are collected here.

The project was implemented jointly with the Local History media.

Regular topics of the CSI

  • “New on the Map” and “New on the Web” are sections in which we record the emergence of new cultural institutions / initiatives / spaces in Lviv, as well as new web resources and media projects about culture in Ukraine. 
  • “Opportunities for Culture”, “Vacancies in Culture” – a selection of current grant programs, competence development programs, and vacancies in culture and related fields. 
  • #CSIpartnership: a project of the City Museum MuMeet (public and participatory program “Culture” is valid until March 2025; CSI provides, in addition to information support, expertise, as described below); informing about opportunities for people of culture, important events for the city, charity events. 

STRENGTHENING THE CAPACITY OF THE SECTOR AND CIVIL SOCIETY 

The Filling (Napovnennia)

This is a socially responsible campaign aimed at promoting blood donation and developing a culture of donation. The idea is to draw attention to the need for blood for wounded defenders and people who are seriously ill, to popularize blood donation and artistic institutions in Lviv and the region. As part of the initiative, blood donors are offered free admission to performances, exhibitions, concerts, and excursions. The slogan of the campaign is “Donate blood — be filled with culture!”.

“The Filling” lasted from March 14, the Day of the Ukrainian Volunteer, to April 14 and brought together more than 30 cultural institutions in Lviv and Lviv region. Launched in 2023, this year’s campaign was scaled up to cover cultural institutions in the region up to include, for example, the Drohobych Saltworks and the Tustan and Nahuievychi reserves, and the regional blood service center.

The campaign was organized by the CSI, Lviv City Council, Lviv Regional Military (State) Administration, Board of Trustees of the Regional Blood Service Center, Lviv Regional Blood Service Center, Lviv City Blood Bank No. 1, and cultural institutions of Lviv and the region. 

Lecture and excursion to the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes

On the occasion of the Day of Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred (February 20) and the anniversary of the tragic events during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, the CSI held two events. 

/ Tour of the Heroes of Maidan Street with a guide, historian Orest Lylio

This was an opportunity to focus on the incident of recent history — the events of 2014, as the street is named after those who died during the Revolution of Dignity ten years ago (107 participants of the Revolution of Dignity, as well as Maidan activists who died in the spring of 2014 with the beginning of Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine).

The route ran from the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy to the former tram depot, which features a portrait and poems by Bohdan Solchanyk, a historian and public figure who was killed on the Maidan on February 20, 2014. The tour was attended by 50 participants on February 20.

/ Lecture “From February to February: The Memory of Maidan in Wartime” by historian, teacher, and soldier Mykhailo Martynenko

The focus was on the state of memory of the Revolution of Dignity. It was an attempt to answer the following questions: how the Maidan affected civil society, further events in Ukraine and its perception abroad; how russia built one of the pillars of Ukrainian-phobic propaganda with fakes about the Revolution of Dignity – and how to counteract it; how personal and collective traumas affect memory and how to tell the events of the Maidan to new generations. The event on February 21 at the CSI was attended by about 20 students. Here you can read the text version (in Ukrainian) of the lecture “From February to February: The Memory of Maidan in Wartime”.

Streets of Names

A series of city tours and lectures focusing on renamed and newly created spaces in Lviv and the figures they are named after.

On April 27-28, 4 informative meetings took place in the urban spaces named after Myroslav Skoryk, Markiyan Ivashchyshyn, Sofia Yablonska, and Yuriy Ruf (Dadak). The tours were led by guides Olha Vovkodavets, Oleksandra Hanuliak, Halyna Vyliika, and Denys Bulavin. Ostap Manuliak, Vlodko Kaufman, Olena Haleta, Taras Repytskyi, and Natalia Pipa shared lectures or personal memories of these remarkable people.

The project aroused considerable interest, and in total, about 200 people attended all the meetings. These are Lviv residents, including residents of the streets in question, as well as those who moved to Lviv during russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. 

“Streets of Names” is an initiative of the CSI, which we implemented jointly with the Lviv Tourism Office with the support of the Lviv City Council.

Independence Lecture 

In 2024, Vitaly Portnykov, a publicist, writer, and journalist, delivered the Independence Lecture entitled “Independence, War, and the Future.” The speaker discussed how the war is changing Ukrainian identity and society, what conclusions should be drawn from the military danger and the likely continuation of the threat in the future, what are the options for the development of the state and how to build a global Ukraine. 

On August 25, the event gathered about 150 listeners at the Heavenly Hundred Memorial. As of the end of the year, the broadcast on Facebook by Tvoye Misto and CSI had about 84 thousand views. A recording of the Independence Lecture 2024 is available here (in Ukrainian), a TV version is available on Espresso, and a traditional text version of the speech is available on Zaxid.Net. 

This was the fourth Independence Lecture. This format was launched by the CSI in 2021 to commemorate the restoration of Ukraine’s independence on August 24. Previous lecturers: Taras Lyuty, Halyna Kruk, Yurko Vovkohon.

The ISC is implementing this initiative jointly with the ЗМІN Foundation with the support of the Lviv City Council.

“memory acts on its own”

This is an installation dedicated to the memory of Yevhen Hulevych, a philosopher, editor, and cultural critic who died in the battle near Bakhmut on December 31, 2022. The project was exhibited from April 12 to 16 at the Dzyga Art Center.

The author of the installation is Yurko Vovkohon, a cultural manager, author and director of art projects and happenings; in 2014-2015 he fought as a member of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, and from March 1, 2022, to August 3, 2023, he served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The project was implemented with the support of CSI, Dim 42 and Dzyga Art Center.

EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCE, PARTICIPATION IN EVENTS AND MEETINGS AT THE CSI

Winter

Meeting with military veterans undergoing rehabilitation at UNBROKEN Ukraine. The library of the UNBROKEN center was replenished with copies of the collection of essays UKRAINE! UNMUTED and other books (UNBROKEN, January 3).

Participation of the team in the awarding of the UNESCO City of Literature Prize in Lviv. Our collection of essays UKRAINE! UNMUTED (compiled by Oksana Forostyna) was shortlisted in the special nomination for a reflection on war (UCU, January 10).

Presentation of CSI activities for cultural managers and creative entrepreneurs from Kryvyi Rih (CSI, January 15). CSI was represented by Marta Bilska and Iryna Shutka.

Lecture-training “Art therapy: how it really works” by Evelia Bilska, neuropsychologist at UNBROKEN Ukraine (February 2).Public discussion “Culture in Education: Reform Priorities” on the CSI platform by a number of specialized NGOs (CSI, February 9).

Discussion “Culture in Change: Lviv’s Experience 2022-2023” with representatives of municipal cultural institutions (CSI, February 15).  CSI was represented by Yuliia Khomchyn.

Conversation-report “Culture in Detail: Results of Lviv 2023” with the participation of heads of municipal cultural institutions (CSI, February 22). Yuliia Khomchyn on behalf of CSI.

Discussion about culture as a factor of understanding and security within the framework of the Polish-Ukrainian cross-border conference “Bridge of Cultures” (Lviv, February 24). Yuliia Khomchyn took part in the event. 

Spring Workshop dedicated to supporting the cultural and creative industriessector of Ukraine by the Cultural Relations Platform and Lanka with the support of the EU (Brussels, March 7-8). Iryna Shutka participated on behalf of the CSI. Workshop results are available here (in Ukrainian).

Lecture-training “Art therapy: how does it really work?” by Evelia Bilska, neuropsychologist at the UNBROKEN Center (CSI, March 29). 

Presentation of a guide to improving the accessibility of information for visually impaired people “News is accessible to everyone” by the Lviv Municipal Library (CSI, April 30).  

Lecture “Jazz is the music of freedom” at the Drohobych Barvinsky Music College (Drohobych, April 30, International Jazz Day). The speaker was Marta Bilska.

Public discussion “Does Ukraine need a Ministry of Culture?” on the platform of the CSI by the Center for Social Innovation, People’s Action Lviv, and Virmenska 35 (CSI, May 14). Yuliia Khomchyn joined the discussion.

Round table “Wartime Imperative: Lift Up Hearts” by the Institute of Leadership and Management of UCU, project “On the Cloud” (UCU, May 23). The Institute was represented by Sofia Lenartovych. 

Summer

Moderated conversation about Lviv — the European Capital of Youth 2025 by representatives of the music industry and MoloDvizh spaces, the TVORY! network (Dzyga, June 21). Organized by Marta Bilska. 

Meeting with Christopher Bailey, Head of the WHO’s Art and Health Unit, as part of the Art Therapy Force project (CSI, June 24).

Meeting with the participants of the 2024 Workshop of Cultural Practitioners “Calendar: Cultural Stories” (CSI, July 11). The speaker was Yuliia Khomchyn.

Event “Musicians and their work during the war: moderated presentation of the survey results” by Marta Kuziy and their interpretation by the CSI (CSI, July 12).A meeting with cultural figures from 10 European countries organized by Internews Ukraine (July 17). Yuliia Khomchyn, Sofia Lenartovych and Yaryna Shumska participated.

Presentation of the CSI activities for representatives of civil society organizations from Ukraine within the framework of the Summer School program of the Institute of Leadership and Management of UCU, project “On the Cloud” (CSI, July 25). The conversation was moderated by Yuliia Khomchyn.

Meeting and discussion in Levandivka (Lviv district) about the CSI survey “Cultural Needs of Lviv City Territorial Community Residents” as part of the Parajanov Festival (Suputnyk cultural and art centre, August 21). Solomiya Tkach and Marta Bilska participated. 

Autumn

Meeting with 4th year sociology students of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv as part of the discipline “Sociology of Culture” (CSI, October 28). The speakers were Yuliia Khomchyn and Solomiya Tkach.

A working meeting on the participatory program of the MuMeet project of the City Museum (City Museum, October 29). Expertise from Yuliia Khomchyn.Discussion “SOL in Cultural Education: Opportunities and Challenges” [SOL — socially oriented learning] as part of the 5th Month of Service-Learning (UCU, November 4). Yuliia Khomchyn joined the conversation.

A discussion about the management of the city’s cultural sphere and the peculiarities of its research and monitoring in the group of the MuMeet participatory program (City Museum, November 27). Solomiya Tkach joined the discussion from СSI.

_____

The year has been intense. And it’s worth repeating once again: all this was made possible thanks to the joint efforts of the sector’s representatives, everyone who contributed their thoughts, ideas, time, creativity, inspiration, hope, and a look to the future (which is especially important now) to the above-mentioned projects and processes. And, of course, thanks to Ukrainian defenders. Thank you!

Translated by Yana Kryzhanivska, participant of the First Career Step program

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