Reason for the Trip

Since 1999, The Fund has been in contact with the American Embassy in Kiev, capital of Ukraine, in order to determine the need and acceptability of services to cultural institutions in that country that The Fund might provide. This contact has been principally with Robert Post, Public Affairs Officer and Cultural Attaché of the U.S. Embassy and his assistant, Olha Krekoten. To follow through on this, Paul Elicker made an exploratory trip meeting these persons in Odessa in November 1999. He also met and talked to a large number of cultural institution personnel in that city. Subsequent to this, Mr. Post volunteered that he concurred in the idea of holding a seminar and he has agreed to organize it locally and finance it in part.

It is the Embassy’s recommendation that this seminar he conducted in our regular format in early spring of 2001. They recommend that there be two seminars, not in Kiev, where it is there opinion it would run the risk of Governmental dominance, but rather in Odessa and Lviv, which they judge to be more culturally hospitable. Since our personnel were by then scheduled to be in Sofia, Bulgaria for the first week in October 2000, we suggested that Jillian Pole and Paul Elicker stop off in Lviv at Fund expense to become familiar with the cultural scene for which we would be designing a program. They agreed and we were met in Lviv by Olha Krekoten, who had arranged a program for us in advance, for two working days, October 4 and 5.

Background on Lviv

Lviv is a city of 600,000 people located in the extreme west of Ukraine, near the Polish border. Between the two world wars it was part of Poland, but its basic heritage is as the former city of Lemberg, a major city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its architecture and ambiance go back to those days. In the West, and especially in America, it is a most attractive unknown jewel, not yet discovered by tourism, as it inevitably will be in time.

The city is further enhanced by a large university population, and we received the impressions that the city considers itself on a distinctly higher plane than the industrial cities of eastern Ukraine.

Description of our Inspections

Our program time, by design, was made up of visits to the major museums of the city and discussions with the principal officers of these institutions. Listed below, with brief comments on each, are the institutions visited by Mrs. Poole and Mr. Elicker.

Cultural Internet-Site (at Medical College): This was visited in order to talk to Alexander Saban, in charge of his particular specialty, a cultural internet web site (http//art.var.ref) financed by Art for Aids, which was financed in this effort by the Soros Foundation. However, Soros support has terminated and for the present the internet site has no funding to continue. This extensive site which is well along and aims to complete a full registry and display of Western Ukraine’s contemporary artists and, if taxation issues can be resolved, to become a marketing tool for artists. We showed them how to access The Fund’s website (http://www.fundforartsandculture.org). Mr. Saban sees our future presence in Lviv as furthering publicity for his program. They have a videoconferencing facility, which could be a way of broadening the reach of any future Fund activities in the area.

National Art Museum: A well kept up, handsome museum in the center of downtown that originally started as a church museum. The first floor has Ukraine’s largest collection of icons. Principal point of interest is its Restoration Section, separately financed by the Ministry of Science and Industry rather than of the Ministry of Culture. The whole section of perhaps 20 people is working on a multi-year program of restoration of a huge icon screen, which has wider implications for future restoration work. National Government has involvement in project approval, but the work is financed through the oblast. The Restoration Section, and separately the museum, wants help in fund raising and management techniques. Clearly they need visibility and at present do not understand how to get it and asked The Fund for assistance.

National Ethnographic Museum: Financed by National Academy of Science, this museum is a recent merger of ethnography and applied arts. Joint exhibitions are one source of revenue. The main museum is housed in an ornate former bank building on the main square and has several other buildings we did not see, one of which houses an important porcelain collection. The young director, Roman Chmelyk, is articulate and is eager to benefit substantially from Western contact.

The Art Picture Gallery and Historical Museum: The biggest gallery in Ukraine. This institution has become a “museum conglomerate” of 12 buildings consisting of the gallery, several castles and parklands, and with aspirations toward creating a “tourist complex”. It appears to be, now and in the communist past, a favorite repository of government award. One of their principal interests that they have been strongly pursuing without manifest results, is sponsorship, with emphasis on contact with Ukrainian-Americans. The picture collection is largely copies and lesser works of art.

Opera: In the evening we attended the opera, housed in an impressive rococo opera house. The performance was not well attended but not without merit.

National Cemetery: A very extensive and unique institution that has become a “must” for visitors. The director describes it accurately as a place where art (in the form of statues and mausoleums) has taken precedence over a mere burial ground. Director’s interest is in making the place user friendly with cafes and walkways and expanding special interest tours.

Santa Clara Museum: Tiny repository for the elegantly displayed works of Pinsel, a remarkable sculptor in wood from the eighteenth century.

Scientific Library: Second biggest scientific library in Ukraine. Extensive complex of seven buildings. Cataloging system not compatible with Western practice. As has been the case elsewhere with some other libraries, their interests are primarily technical, much of it computer oriented. They do not seem a prime candidate for our services.

American Sabre Institute: A repository and distributor of publisher overruns of technical and children’s books from abroad, worthy but of no particular interest to us.

Conclusion

We concluded our visit with a general meeting of most of the people we had interviewed. The purpose was to hear ideas as to their needs and to ascertain the perceived need and level of desire for our services. Many individual special interests were registered and we were specifically asked to return with a team to undertake a broad scale seminar. The director to the Ethnographic museum offered to spearhead arrangements and lend his facility for meetings. Olha Krekoten agreed to discuss support with the Embassy in Kiev. Spring 2001 is the time period target for this return visit.

November 4, 2000