Ukraine/ 8.4 Amateur arts, cultural associations and civil initiatives  

8.4.2 Cultural houses and community cultural clubs

The preservation of the network of cultural clubs and centres inherited from Soviet times has been a priority of the Ministry of Culture over the last years. In the rural communities these clubs and centres remain the main centre of cultural life and the platform for the development of amateur arts. For example, there are 976 clubs in the Poltava region with a population of 1.7 million. These clubs run 5 250 amateur circles, groups and associations, with 63 434 persons attending. In general, there are 104 068 various groups and circles, in clubs and houses of culture, with more than 900 000 participants. In Kirovograd region with a population of 1.05 million, there are 582 clubs, which run 2809 amateur groups.  Lack of financing and the transformation from state run institutions into community property led to a significant decrease in the number of clubs and cultural centres (see Table 28).

Table 28:   Number of cultural clubs in Ukraine, in thousands, 1992-2011

Source:     State Statistics Committee, 2011.

In 2001, the Ministry of Culture adopted a programme to support regional cultural initiatives to prevent the number of cultural clubs from further decreasing. The main problems of these institutions are maintenance and personnel: only about 5% of all clubs and cultural centres in the rural areas are provided with modern technology, and only 60% of staff are cultural specialists, 6% of whom have higher education. 30-40% of existing cultural clubs require repair or renewal; in some regions (Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Odessa, Poltava, Donetsk, Kherson) this number is above 50%. In most regions, many cultural clubs are not heated in winter.

Recent and important policy measures include:

• the cultural and art action "Arts of a Single Village" (2002);
• All-Ukrainian Review of Folk Art (2002);
• participation of amateur collectives of Ukraine in CIOFF (International Council on Organising Folkloric Festivals); and AITA / IATA (International Association of Theatres Amateur) activities; and
• Order of the Minister of Culture "Provision on a Club Establishment" (2007). It should strengthen the status and competence of cultural club establishment, especially in rural areas.

In 2005, President Verkhovna Rada adopted the Resolution on Banning the Closure of Social and Cultural Institutions in Rural Areas, with the aim to stabilise the situation; however, there is no financial mechanism to support this aim. In pursuit of the Presidential Edict on State Support of Training Specialists for Rural Areas of 19 March 2005, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine established an annual quota of places in educational establishments for rural youth within the limits of the state order.

New multi-functional cultural institutions were formed during 2003-2005 in many regions, like cultural centres, folk and craft centres, club-museums, club-libraries, etc.

The Ukrainian World Music Festival "Kraina Mriy" is the international musical folklore celebration which is held every year since 2004 in Kyiv during a few days on the celebration of Ivana Kupala (Bathed Ivan) – a traditional Ukrainian saint of the summer solstice, at the end of June – beginning of July. The main aim of the festival is a revival of traditional Ukrainian culture, support for modern musical ethnic styles, and exposing Ukrainian spectators to culture of different peoples. The initiator, founder and artistic director of the festival is Oleg Skrypka, leader of the legendary Ukrainian rock band Vopli Vodopliassova (http://www.vopli.com.ua). The title song written by the band ("Kraina Mriy" – "Land of Dreams") gave the name to the festival.

In 2011, more than 40 events were organised with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine to develop amateur art, and to protect and popularise cultural traditions. Among these events are: Ethno-Festival "Harvest 2011 – Wedding" (Kyiv), Folk festival "Summer of Guelder Rose on Dnieper" (Komsomolsk, Poltava region), festival of young singers "Young Halychyna" (Novoyarivsk, Lviv region), Circus Festival for children and youth groups "Pontus Arena – 2011" (Sevastopol), "Singing Shore" (Berehove village, Crimea), Literature and art festival "Springs of Lesia" (Novograd-Volynsky, Zhytomyr region), "Towels of Krolevets" (Krolevets, Sumy region), etc.

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