A new update from Ukraine is that ICOM, in cooperation with ICOM National Committee of Ukraine, is preparing an Emergency Red List of Cultural Objects at Risk for Ukraine. ICOM and its National Committees have been very active with declarations, supporting Ukraine and strongly condemn Russian aggression after the 24th of February 2022.
But many culture workers and museums all over the world decided to practically help to their colleges in Ukraine. Very often the support for Ukrainian culture was collected and transferred through ICOM National Committees, mostly, from UK, France, Switzerland, Finland and Hungary. The Polish Support Center for Culture in Ukraine, created within the structure of National Institute of Cultural Heritage, became a hub for such kind of help. It was established in the first days of the conflict to coordinate not only domestic, but also foreign initiatives. The Polish Support Center cooperates closely with the Ministry of Culture, the Information Policy of Ukraine, and the Heritage Emergency Response Initiative, which was created by the museum workers at the beginning of March 2022.
Due to security restrictions the logistics and details of the help are confidential. But according to the Center’s report, during one month it received about 100 new requests and 35 various institutions – museums, archives, libraries – received aid. “So far, we have sent over 126 pallets of aid to over 100 cultural institutions in Ukraine” reported Dr. Żaneta Gwardzińska-Chowaniec from the National Institute of Cultural Heritage. This was mostly fire-fighting equipment and materials necessary to protect the collections that were delivered. Notably, Lviv Museum of the History of Religion, Museum of Kyiv History, ‘Ancient Zvenyhorod’, Olbia Museum, Archaeological Museums in Kyiv and Cherkasy received this aid.
Symbolically, one of the biggest aid projects for Ukrainian cultural institutions from ICOM members was transferred on International Museum Day on 18 May with a lorry of wooden crates and packing materials for Ukrainian museums, galleries and heritage sites.
ICOM National Committees of the countries neighbouring Ukraine have been, and continue to be, very active. For example, ICOM Poland organized a great scholarship program for Ukrainian museum workers #HelpUkraine – ICOM Poland Relief Fund. “We have already provided 20 three-month grants; another 7 are waiting in the queue, and we are trying to get more funds for the program” said Dr. Piotr Rypson, Chair of ICOM Poland.
ICOM National Committee representatives have spoken out about the destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage in numerous international forums. During the forthcoming ICOM General Conference in Prague they will also take part, side by side with Ukrainian colleges, in one of the central panel discussion Heritage Protection Responses in Ukraine.
On the 1st of March 2022 the board of ICOM Poland demanded to suspend Russia from membership rights in ICOM. Within a week, a dozen ICOM National Committees and international museum associations have reacted to this initiative. Not all of them definitly agreed with such a position but condemned Russian aggression and mostly spoke in favour of temporary suspension of ICOM Russia.
We are very grateful for all you support and we are sure that, also due to your help, our masterpieces, monuments, museums etc. are safer than they were at the beginning of the war. And, perhaps, even more importantly, thanks for ICOM’s help so that Ukrainian museum workers feel less isolated and more as integral members of ICOM and world culture society.
This report was written by Viktor Sobiianskyi, a Ukrainian culture manager and theatre curator. He is a graduate of the Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of Theater, Cinema and Television and project manager of the Polish Institute in Kyiv. His work includes The Workshops of Polish Choreographs, Directors and Playwrights, The Festival of Young Ukrainian Directors and international workshops, supported by British Council, Czech Center and Austrian Forum.
ICOM UK has commissioned Viktor Sobiianskyi, a Ukrainian cultural manager, to write a series of reports on how the current armed conflict has impacted Ukrainian museums, theatres and creative life.
The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author.
;
