Entry to the east

This fall, Berdiansk has been receiving mail from Munich, was discussed at a jazz festival in Vilnius, its photos have been looked at in Minsk, and Lviv musicians repair fiddlesticks and send them to a Berdiansk music school. Each week there are concerts, exhibits, drama shows, and public talks with the participation of artists from various cities of Ukraine, Turkey, Belarus, and Germany. All this is the result of the activities of the culture project ENTRY to the EAST, launched by the Kyiv-based agency ArtPole together with the Berdiansk Art Museum. The project is part of the Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative (UCBI) and will last until mid-November.

The first half of the project, held in August, was focused on the study of the region’s traditional art. According to the organizers, the research into it will last throughout the entire project, because the Azov region boast of unbelievable ethnic diversity, including Bulgarians and Germans, Greeks and Roma, Karaites and Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. The masterminds of the project ENTRY to the EAST hope that, besides the slated events, new ideas will spring up in Berdiansk. The town has already seen the premiere of Uliana Horbachevska and cello player Volodymyr Bedzvin’s project Steppe, the opening of the project “:::stezhka:::” (“path”), Donbas Apricots (a musical and poetic dialog of Liubov Yakymchuk and Marko Tokar), the presentation of an interactive website “rozdIlovI” (“punctuation”), and Myroslav Vaida’s public talk “The art of performance.”

“Berdiansk, an island amid the steppe, on the sea shore, is a very special town with its original coloring and atmosphere,” says Uliana Horbachevska, a singer, actress, and researcher of authentic Ukrainian songs. “I was pleasantly surprised by the public, curious and attentive despite the fact that the presented music was new for their ears. People are playing the crucial role now. Those who work at the art museum are open and want positive changes for the town. ArtPole is instrumental in this. Without their passionate attitude and creativity there would have been no entry to the east. I believe it is ultra-important now to create opportunities for communication between the east and the west exactly via art and educational projects. The more live contact and exchange, the sooner mutual stereotypes and prejudice will disappear. Each correct move in each other’s direction is priceless.”

The Day interviewed Myroslava HANIUSHKINA, coordinator of the project at ArtPole agency, to hear why it is important to create cultural platforms in smaller towns and what experience these towns can share with the entire nation.

Why right now, and why Berdiansk, of all places?

“Probably because working here is the most interesting now: important processes are taking place in the south and east of Ukraine, both on national and individual level. Truth be said, sometimes it is not that easy. Berdiansk, traditionally a seaside resort, lies in proximity to the warfare zone, so it needs cultural contacts to dissipate the general atmosphere, create mutual understanding and promote self-determination. It is no coincidence that ArtPole: ENTRY to the EAST was supported in the framework of the USAID project Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative. Besides, it is again becoming important for displaced persons, and the Azov region has for centuries been home for Bulgarians and Germans, Greeks and Roma, Karaites, Russians, Poles, and Ukrainians. The coexistence of various traditions and different philosophies gives rise to most unexpected moments which show conventional things in a new light.”

Why is it important today to speak about smaller and less media-spoiled cities (unlike Lviv, Kyiv, or Kharkiv)?

“Discovering new things for yourself is exciting. And Ukraine has a lot of incredible stuff outside big cities and beaten tourist tracks. When the project ArtPole: ENTRY to the EAST was just conceived, many of our friends and colleagues would come up with the question, ‘What sort of place is that Berdiansk of yours?’ Only a handful would have some vague childhood memories of a holiday by the sea. Now it is much better-known: the history of the port town with a bunch of foreign consulates, the ethnic diversity of the Azov region, the sea and the steppe winds. Some have visited it multiple times now.”

What experiences were changed between the audience and the artists?

“Given the events that have already taken place, they are good experiences. The community around the Brodsky Art Museum in Berdiansk (that is the principal venue for our events) makes a new discovery each time, and people keep coming. The artists, on their part, enjoy the attention and openness of the local public.”

Can such art actions disprove the stereotypes about the south, and consolidate the people?

“Art speaks about important things using the language of images. Now, sometimes it is the only possibility to speak, because many are not prepared to literal questions and answers. Yes, art actions can consolidate, or, to put it better, inspire mutual interest. ArtPole: ENTRY to the EAST unites artists from various regions of Ukraine and even from abroad (like our close neighbors, Belarusians, and more distant ones, Germans). Direct communication is the best means to disprove stereotypes.”