Browsing: Culture/Arts

KYIV – A documentary film made up of personal cell phone video captured by Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the war against Russia-backed forces will premiere in Ukraine on August 24.

LVIV – In the world of jazz, there are a number of summer festivals that stand out as the most prestigious venues for emerging artists as well as established superstars. For decades, Montreux in Switzerland; Newport, R.I.; and Monterey, Calif., have been recognized as meccas that attract the finest jazz talents from around the world. But unbeknownst to much of the Ukrainian diaspora, Lviv has established itself as an elite stop for jazz aficionados and performers alike.

NEW YORK – Artist Susan Hwang released a music video on June 30 based on Ukrainian writer’s Serhiy Zhadan’s poem “Psalm to Aviation 58.” The video release event took place in New York City’s East Village with Yara Arts Group as the sponsor of the event.

NEW YORK – The production of Yara Arts Group’s “Virtual Forest Song” directed by Virlana Tkacz is not the first time she tackled an adaptation of Lesia Ukrainka’s classic play. It is, however, different from the previous productions of “Forest Song” by Yara Arts Group in that it took place on Zoom. This format is especially appropriate for the show. It emphasizes the connection between nature, humans and technology.

On March 14, the Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA) in New York presented a midday concert titled Dream in Spring. With in-person attendance limited to only 25 people, this Music at The Institute (MATI) event was also professionally produced by OurConcertsLive for home streaming. The concert consisted of a major work by Robert Schumann, a seldom heard gem by Serhiy Prokofiev, and miniatures by Virko Baley.

Atlantis, an award-winning film from Ukraine (Valentyn Vasyanovych: director, screenwriter and cameraman) is a dispassionate, penetrating, slow-moving, artistically and cinematically stunning meditation on war and its aftermath set in war-torn Donbas.

BERKELEY, Calif. – At its annual convention in early November, the American Musicological Society awarded the prestigious Lewis Lockwood Award to Dr. Maria Sonevytsky for her book “Wild Music: Sound and Sovereignty in Ukraine,” published in October 2019 by Wesleyan University Press as part of its Music/Culture series.

The Lockwood Award “honors each year a musicological book of exceptional merit published during the previous year in any language and in any country by a scholar in the early stages of his or her career who is a member of the AMS or a citizen or permanent resident of Canada or the United States.” Dr. Sonevytsky is currently an assistant professor of music (ethnomusicology) at the University of California, Berkeley.

CHICAGO – Ukraine’s country-messaging and country-branding is an important factor in the current environment of disinformation. One of the most effective methods to promote a nation’s positive reputation is through cultural diplomacy. Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs established, respectively, the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and the Ukrainian Institute to increase this type of soft power that influences a country’s reputation.

Mark Andryczyk, Ph.D., manages the Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, teaches courses on Ukrainian literature and translates Ukrainian books into English. He recently complied and edited an anthology of Ukrainian literature in translation, “The White Chalk of Days: The Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series Anthology.” Being highly involved in presenting Ukrainian literature to the world, he shares his observations on this process, its achievement and perspectives.

TORONTO – The Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch (UMC OB) and the Native Canadian Center of Toronto (NCCT) present the opening of their first collaboration celebrating Ukrainian and Indigenous cultures and the relationships each shares with beadwork.

“The Spirit of Beads: Sharing Our Stories” showcases beautiful beadwork in Ukrainian and Indigenous artifacts to highlight the cultural importance of beadwork in many distinct communities that continue to thrive today. Inspired by the two-row wampum belt, the exhibition highlights each artifact in a parallel pathway to maintain cultural integrity, while offering a mutually respectful study of the differences and similarities in beadwork techniques and motifs.

KYIV – Ukrainian cuisine isn’t only about boiled stuffed dumplings (varenyky), cabbage rolls (holubtsi) and beet soup (borshch).

And Kyiv-based celebrity chef Yevhen Klopotenko wants people to know that.

Through his cooking and social campaigns, Mr. Klopotenko, 33, is on a mission to revive centuries-old Ukrainian recipes, modernize them and show Ukrainians their rich heritage through food.

TORONTO – Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE), a Canadian charitable non-profit organization, and Ukraine’s NGO “Publishers Forum” (Lviv) announced that “Eternal Calendar” (Vichnyi kalendar) by Vasyl Makhno, published by Ukraine’s Old Lion Publishing House in 2019 is the first winner of Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize.

Mr. Makhno was named the winner during the opening ceremony of the 27th Lviv International BookForum on September 16. His book is a panoramic narrative about the lives of Ukrainians, Poles, Jews and Armenians from the 17th century to the present day.