“Take Part / Bring Change” is a youth exchange program that explores modern ways of civic engagement in European cities with a particular focus on tools of community action.

The program focuses on the grassroots activism in the urban context that responds to the global political challenges as well as to the local practical concerns. The grassroots under scrutiny employ various methods to participate in the decision-making processes in the cities such as art, education, inclusive planning and placemaking but all of them are united by one common idea of the possibility to change the environment by small-scale efforts.

The program included the study visits in Berlin, Frankfurt (Oder), Kyiv, and Chervonograd where participants had a chance to look at the successful cases of bottom-up urban initiatives.

The program took place in June–July 2017.

• Blog about the study visits made by the participants
• Videos made by the participants

The project is realized by Cultural Geographies NGO (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Citizens of Europe e.V. (Berlin, Germany). The project is implemented within “MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters” program with the support of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ) and Jugend für Europa – German National Agency of Erasmus+ Youth in Action.

With “(un)real job” zine we aim to develop the discussion of the precarious state of cultural workers (artists, curators, researchers) in Ukraine.

We invited professionals to reflect on their experiences and share their personal stories. The zine combines formats of documentary literature and visual arts. There are also theoretical pieces on art as labor.

Open call for authors of the zine (closed)

The project is implemented by “Variable name” art-group, Cultural geographies NGO and 665Library with the financial support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

An independent initiative “Kinography. Geography of Ukrainian Cinemas of the Soviet Period” explores and maps the past and present of the Ukrainian cinema network. We focus on the process of large-scale development of cinemas in Ukraine during the 1940-80s (“cinemafication”) and modern policies of managing the cinemas inherited from this era.

Kinography’s website is an open archive and a resource for criticism and exchange of experiences. Its key components are a map of Ukrainian cinemas, as well as articles and research pieces by the project team and friendly initiatives.

With this project we seek to understand:

• the effects of “cinemafication”, its role in the development of the film industry, art and architecture in Ukraine;
• significance of cinemas in Ukrainian cities;
• and most importantly – the future of cinemas as cultural institutions in Ukraine.

Website of the project: kinography.org

The project is supported by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

Recordings of the events organized during the project (in Ukrainian)

Discussion about activism and archiving

Presentation of the project “Kinography. Geography of Ukrainian Cinemas of the Soviet Period”

The School of Creative Protest – is an international educational program, in both online and offline formats, which focuses on art as a tool for accessing the rights, autonomy, and participation of teenagers as full-fledged citizens and decision-makers in post-socialist and post-imperial cities. The program offers a series of workshops (in both digital and physical space), during which participants will learn and practice various participatory art formats while working in international collaborative groups with participants from Ukraine, Georgia and Germany.

Each team will come up with the final product of their collaboration – cultural product in the chosen form (video, text, photo collection, map, audio recording, intervention in public space with installations, performances, exhibitions etc.) – which will be presented digitally or/and offline, depending on the quarantine regulations in each country.

The project starts on August 9 and closes on November 8. The program consists of online international meetings and workshops, and offline local collaboration. No international travel is required.

The School of Creative Protest is organized by: Cultural geographies NGO (Kyiv-Odesa, Ukraine), Kulturschafft e.V. (Berlin, Germany), Untitled Gallery (Tbilisi, Georgia).

Event on Facebook

The project is implemented within “MEET UP! Youth for Partnership” program with the support of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ).