URF understands the importance of culture during and after the war, – Viktoriia Korsunova

The event was held in Kyiv and brought together representatives of the government, cultural institutions, media, international partners, and the public to develop a unified strategy for returning the de-occupied territories to the ukrainian cultural context.

In particular, the forum noted that 1795 cultural infrastructure institutions have been damaged in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine, and 1952 across the country. In addition, the cultural sector is rapidly losing its human resources: before the war, it employed more than 56,000 people, and today it employs only 18,470.

Representatives of the regions most affected by the actions of the aggressor country made proposals to preserve and restore the cultural sphere of the regions. In particular, they proposed the creation of a state depository to preserve the evacuated museum collections and accelerate the implementation of standards for the provision of cultural services.

The meeting also emphasized that the priority steps of the Ukrainian authorities in the de-occupied territories should be to restore TV and radio signals, fill the information space with ukrainian products, counter disinformation, generate special content for Ukraine’s citizens in the occupied territories, and identify non-standard communication channels.

“Culture is a powerful tool in the fight against the enemy, which has been proven many times throughout human history. At the Ukrainian Reconstruction Fund, we understand the importance of culture both now and in the future, when the time for recovery comes. At the forum, it was important for us to hear the stakeholders’ position in order to understand how the Fund’s actions can strengthen the actions of the authorities and international partners in this area,” said Viktoriia Korsunova, head of the URF Kyiv office.