Materials from briefing 1/4/2022
24/02/2022. Transformation of the Municipal Art Center into a place for round-the-clock rest of refugees from the first day of the war. Providing psychological assistance.
During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Municipal Art Center first reformatted its work on a shelter for internally displaced persons. In two weeks of work, we received more than 400 migrants for rest and psychological assistance. Gestalt psychologists and Art Center’s team were on duty at the Center around the clock. Volunteers brought food and hygiene items to the guests, and we helped IDPs with information, settlements, and relocations whenever possible.
Another activity that our volunteer-drivers helped with was transportation of evacuees from the station during curfew. The night with the largest number of evacuation trains on March 6, 2022 was significant: more than 1,000 calls were received from the needy, more than 200 trips were made from the station by volunteer cars, and almost 700 people were transported.
10/03/2022. We have turned two gallery rooms and a media library into a space for cooperation between IDPs and Lviv residents. The project was named ‘Spivpratsya” (which means ‘Collaboration”).We help get back to work and restore the lecture halls.
This project provides a workspace for creative and social workers. The space is open to everyone – both temporarily displaced persons and Lviv residents: artists, psychologists, musicians, journalists, philologists, photographers, designers, philosophers, etc. We encourage the cooperation of colleagues from different fields to create and implement joint projects in the future.
“Over the past few weeks, the Municipal Art Center has become a place of security, rest and psychological assistance for IDPs and Lviv residents. We are launching a new project to get people back to work, because the economy must work and culture must develop. First of all, in order to win the war, ”said Liana Mytsko, director of the Center.
We call on institutions and coworkings to join the initiative and provide space for those who remain in Ukraine – to develop the economy, culture and strong rear of the country.
25/03/22. Exhibition project “Shelter”. We partially return to the exhibition activity
On March 25, the Lviv Municipal Art Center resumed exhibition activities. Along with the space for joint work of migrants and Lviv residents of creative and social spheres “Spivratsya” (“Cooperation”), we are launching an exhibition project for artists from Ukraine “Uktrittya” (“Shelter”).
The exhibition project for Ukrainian artists “Shelter” is designed to show the reactionary art that emerged during Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The objects are located in the rooms that the Municipal Art Center really uses as the safest places in space during air alarms. Let me quote some of authors of the Project:
KINDER ALBUM (Lviv)
“My paintings are a shelter for me. When I draw, I immerse myself in them in a safe environment. Monotonous work gives me a sense of security, because it brings me back to peacetime. ”
VLADA RALKO (Kyiv, temporarily lives in Lviv)
“Drawing is still the only language that came back to me after the first days of the new invasion (because we have been at war for eight years). I will not choose words for things in the new light that burns the eyes. I speak in this way at the moment. There are no titles for the series yet”.
Another activity of the Municipal Art Center this month:
- We help to spread art-posters supporting Ukraine through an open call for artists and cooperation with the international community. These posters are distributed in Ukraine, as well as in Amsterdam, Paris, Wroclaw, Spain and so on.
- We invite everyone to visit the joint film events organized by the Dovzhenko National Center at the Municipal Art Center. We show the best Ukrainian films of all time.
- We talk about cultural initiatives that were forced to find themselves in Lviv, and we hold educational lectures for adults and children. Details on the website lvivart.center, all records of events we have on YouTube.
- We make regular therapeutic walks from the Center onwards.
- We are collecting books for Ukrainian children who ended up in Poland due to the war.
- As of today, we are announcing the start of a bicycle rental project for guests of the city who found themselves here due to the war and want to move around the city without a car.
Our site — www.lvivart.center.
Youtube — https://www.youtube.com/c/lvivartcenter.