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This assistance became possible thanks to the fundraising campaign "Saviors of culture in Ukraine". ICOM Germany raised funds to provide non-bureaucratic assistance to Ukrainian museum workers and support their living expenses. We are grateful to our expert colleagues who provided recommendations for the list of scholarship holders: Iryna Nikiforova, coordinator of the Ukraine Art Aid Center, head of the "Ukraine Art Aid Center - Kyiv" NGO and Igor Tymets, head of the Municipal Institution of the Lviv Regional Council "Museum of History and Local Lore", "Western Ukrainian Society of Museums" NGO. Among the criteria that had to be taken into account: - museum workers who continue to work in the frontline areas; - internally displaced museum workers who work and resume the museum activities or are working with the topic of cultural heritage in general; - leaders of the museum community - museum workers that host internally displaced museum or their collections. These can be both museum directors and representatives of other positions. The final list is completed by the NGO "New Museum". Congratulations to our colleagues, one of whom chose to remain anonymous: - Vasyl Ilchyshyn, Director, Kremenets-Pochayiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve - Igor Rusol, Deputy director, Kherson Regional Art Museum named after O.O. Shovkunenko - Yevheniy Kalashnyk, Director (dismissed for the period of military service), Bilyky Museum of Local Lore - Olha Bilas, Director, Lviv Regional Council's Historical and Ethnographic Museum “Boikivshchyna” - Anatoliy Matsipura, Director, National Reserve “Castles of Ternopil” - - Iryna Palamariuk, chief curator of funds, National Historical and Cultural Reserve “Hetman's Capital” - Yaroslava Tkachuk, Director General, National Museum of Folk Art of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia named after Y. Kobrynsky - Shvets Nataliia, Director, Krasnohrad Museum of Local Lore named after P.D. Martynovych of the Krasnohrad City Council. We thank all those involved for their help in implementing the support and all those who continue to work on preserving the cultural heritage of Ukraine.

214 colleagues from 8 museums and 5 regions (Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Odesa, Chernihiv) received one-time non-refundable financial assistance to strengthen their professional activities. Thank you for your work and contribution to the preservation of Ukraine's cultural heritage. The project is made possible with support from ALIPH and the European Union

In 2022 Museum Crisis Center started to support the colleagues from the museums in the form of non-refundable financial assistance. More than 1796 guardians of the heritage received the assistance in a total sum of 5 557 073 UAH. This activity was supported both be Ukrainian and international foundations, organizations and private persons, as well as initiatives from all over the world, which we are extremely grateful for. These were the one-time payments in the amount of 1000 — 4000 UAH, We know that these sums were small, but very timely where it was most needed. These were especially useful for our colleagues in and after the occupations, as often museum workers encountered the issues with salary payment. Unfortunately, today this trend is deteriorating. At the same time, we wanted to implement the way to support the colleagues in a long-term perspective. Thus, with the help of the International Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones ALIPH Foundation in 2024 we are conducting the scholarships for the museum leaders to support the routine professional activities of colleagues who have already done a lot and are willing to work further. The scholar is given an assistance in a way of monthly payment of 200 EUR (the taxes are covered by the project) during 5 months. As part of the support, 15 people will be honored with €1,000 each. Together with our colleagues, we managed to form the list of the scholars. Thank you for the recommendations: Mykhailo Zakopets, director of the Shevchenkivskiy Hai Museum; Irina Nikiforova, coordinator of the Art Aid Ukraine and head of the NGO Art Aid Ukraine-Kyiv; Ihor Poshyvaylo and Olha Salo, the leadership of the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity and the Headquarters for the Rescue of Cultural Heritage; Alisa Gott, art-critic, curator of the NGO “Urban Re-Public”. Criteria for selecting candidates that were important for us to consider: museums-museum workers who continue to work under fire; displaced museums-museum workers who work and continue the activities of their museum or are engaged in the preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage in general; leaders of the museum community - museums that host displaced museums or heritage from displaced museums; museum directors and representatives of other positions. So far, 15 colleagues have already received the first tranche of support and continue to work on museum development and heritage preservation. Welcome the colleagues: Angelina Rozhkova, director of Pokrovsk Historical Museum; Dmytro Cheban, tour organizer of Artsyz Historical and Local Lore Museum of Artsyz City Council; Mykola Lukin, senior researcher, Odesa National Arts Museum; Mykhailo Pidhainyi, Head of the Natural Sciences Department, Kherson Region Museum of Local Lore; Vira Yarova, main custodian of the funds of Kharkiv Arts Museum, Kharkiv Region; Olena Myrgorodska, director of Balkivskyi Historical and Local History Museum of Malobilozerska Village Council, Vasylivka District, Zaporizhzhia Region; Valeria Nasedkina, curator, Odesa National Arts Museum; Nadia Drobot, director of Beryslav Historical Museum of Beryslav City Council Yevheniia Kaluhina, director of Slavic Museum of Local Lore Olena Fidria, director of Donetsk Regional Art Museum Nina Denysiuk, director of Museum of the History of Katerynivka Village, Veselynivka District, Mykolaiv Region. And four colleagues who asked not to be named. For 5 months they will receive a scholarship to strengthen their professional activities. We thank you and wish you success in your work of preserving Ukrainian culture and history.

“What is the main outcome of the meeting in Madrid? New meetings for museum workers and practical workshops are in the stage of preparation. They want to conduct the conferences for the regional museums and we give contacts and recommendations. Also, we ground our foreign colleagues in their plans and programs. Together with Olha Honchar, the founder of Gallery 101, Marta Trotsiuk, attended the DECOPE meeting.”

Read the Column - https://life.pravda.com.ua/columns/2023/10/24/257157/

“The idea appeared during our cooperation in the ZIWA Award 2023 and my visits to the conferences and workshops in Slovenia in 2022-2023” - comments Olha Honchar. “While speaking, we understood that we know a little about each other, but we definitely have a lot to learn from each other. That’s how we decided to start with the creation of 7-days-long programs of visits to Slovenia for Ukrainian Museum workers. The first visit in 2023 was realized thanks to the resources of partners in Slovenia and Ukraine. The Slovenes found apartments, funds to cover expenses in Slovenia (transportation, food), and created a program based on the participants' resumes and the topics they work with. My task as a curator was to find participants from Ukraine so that they would send CVs and be ready to pay for their travel to Slovenia and back. So far, there have been 2 visits, with the Territory of Terror Museum and the Shevchenkivskyi Hai Museumin Lviv. We are working to find resources for the residency and increase the number of visits, as well as to find resources for international experts to come to Ukraine and expand the geography of intermuseum exchange. In 2024, museum workers and curators from Lviv, Odesa, and Khmelnytskyi will travel to Slovenia.”

How will we remember this phase of war - war of russia against Ukraine? How will we collect new museum items and which ethical norms should we stick to, as this memory is so close and so painful? What museum expositions, or even museums, will be created? Will these museums be the new, the museums of the future? If yes, then what is this radical change? Will museums have room not only for documentary exhibitions but also for artistic projects? Will we return the stolen, and how? The online course consists of 8 sessions. The course focuses on field research, data collection, archives and museum exhibitions, the experience of exported collections, and working with heritage and traumatic history. The course was adapted to the realities of the unstable electricity supply and network. Participants received lecture recordings on YouTube. The training program on memorial practices will be of interest to municipal museum workers, artists, independent cultural managers, local authorities, private collectors, and anyone interested in museum work.

The list of winners looks like this: Best Slovak Museum, Muzej Leskovac, Serbia. Best Slovak Website of Cultural Heritage - DUBoak Maritime Heritage Interpretation Centre, Malinska, Croatia. The Museum of Emigration from Slovakia to North America received an honorable mention, Kasigarda. Múzeum vysťahovalectva z územia Slovenska do Severnej Ameriky, Pavlovce nad Uhom – Ťahyňa, Slovakia. Five special awards were given to: Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, for sustainability; Umetnička galerija Nadežda Petrović Čačak , Serbia,for attention to the visitors and transparency; Muzeum Říčany, Czech Republic, for creativity; Muzej Velenje , Slovenia, for leadership and team effectiveness; іKrško Cultural Centre, department Grad Rajhenburg , Slovenia, for storytelling. All seven of the museums that had applied for the award M. F. Sumtsov Kharkiv Historical Museum Odesa Fine Arts Museum Kmytiv Fine Arts Museum named after Bykhanchyk Dmytro Yavornytskyi National Historical Museum Khmelnytskyi Regional Museum of Art Дім Франка - Franko House Shevchenkivskyi Hai Park Museum Have received an honorary award “The Heroes of Slavik Cultural Heritage”

The Fifth Kyiv Biennial is an international event, held in the period from October 2023 until 2024 in Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Uzhhorod, Vienna, Warsaw, Lublin, and Berlin. It was conceived as a pan-European event with scattered exhibitions and public programs in many cities of Ukraine and the European Union, carried out in cooperation with the most important institutions related to contemporary art. During the conference, the Museum workers from Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Sloviansk, Starobilsk, Okhtyrka, and Khmelmitskyi presented their activity in conditions of active war. The purpose of the meeting is to share knowledge and experience of functioning during the war and to discuss with the Polish museological community what form international museology can take after the Russian genocide in Ukraine. How war has changed the perception of modern museology as well as the need to document current events, and how it has affected the functioning of Polish museums.