Ukraine is about to hold its biggest-ever cultural event in Vienna, Days of Ukrainian Culture, on Nov. 20-29.
The festival, dubbed Ukrainische Kulturtage in Wien, is organized by Center for Ukrainian Initiatives, a Vienna-based non-profit. Its activist and Ukraine’s cultural press attaché in Vienna Oleksandra Saienko says that culture is the way to break the ice between two nations.
Diplomatic relations between Austria and Ukraine face some challenges when it comes to Russia. Although Austria officially shares the European Union’s critical stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, the country was reluctant to impose sanctions against Russia, with which it does a lot of business.
The festival will take place in prestigious places like Konzerthaus and Museumsquartiere – the largest cultural area in Vienna, where various museums are located. The money mostly came from the Vienna magistrate and Raiffeisen Bank. Artists have graciously agreed to perform at the event for free.
The festival’s program covers four areas – literature, drama, music and fine art. Visitors will be treated to a contemporary art exhibition organized by the Yermilov Center in Kharkiv, instrumental concerts and an opera performance, literary readings by Ukrainian writers Kateryna Babkina and Sergiy Zhadan, and music play “Hamlet.Babylon” directed by Dmitry Kostyuminsky.
A screenshot from “Hamlet.Babylon” music play directed by Dmitry Kostyuminsky. The play will be shown during Ukrainische Kulturtage in Wien festival in Vienna.
Saienko says Ukraine is still terra incognita for Austrians and the event will provide Austrians with a much-needed glimpse of Ukrainian culture.
“People in Austria didn’t know about Ukraine before (the EuroMaidan Revolution). Then they heard Russian propaganda about a “civil war,” “violations against Russian-speaking people” and “economic default” – only negative things,” Saienko says.
The Ukrainian embassy in Vienna failed to conduct a successful information campaign during the EuroMaidan, she said, because it didn’t have an ambassador for 10 months after the former one resigned. The new Ukrainian ambassador, Oleksander Scherba, wasn’t appointed till the end of 2014.
So Saienko teamed up with activists from the Ukrainian diaspora, who held various political protests, and became their PR manager. The group, later registered as Center for Ukrainian Initiatives, was getting attention because Vienna is a small city where protests are unusual, according to Saienko.
At one point during the EuroMaidan protest, Saienko made photo albums with pictures of the revolution to illustrate the events in Kyiv and gave them out to journalists and ordinary citizens of Vienna. She says pictures got people emotionally engaged and helped change their attitude towards Ukraine, which was often distorted by Russian propaganda.
Later the activists shifted from politics to cultural events.
Days of Ukrainian Culture festival’s banner.
Saienko has been living in Vienna since 2013. She used to work as a deputy CEO and a director of the HR and PR departments at Ukraine’s Agrotrade Group. In July, she became a cultural press-attaché in Ukrainian Embassy in Vienna, even though she had never intended to be a diplomat.
Saienko’s appointment was part of Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry’s effort to engage activists in diplomacy.
Saienko says she’s discovered that Vienna’s citizens are more perceptive to information about Ukraine when it is delivered through the cultural approach.
Since people in Vienna have high interest in culture and art, especially in the classical styles, the upcoming art festival is an easy way to reach mutual understanding between Ukrainians and Austrians, Saienko says.
Kyiv Post writer Anna Yakutenko can be reached at [email protected].
