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Advisor - Central and Eastern Europe
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t.stepanovic [at] dutchculture.nl
Caption
This documentary shares the stories of regional museum workers in Ukraine, filmed during their visitor programme to the Netherlands in 2024, at the invitation of DutchCulture.
In the face of immense challenges since Russia's full-scale invasion, they have redefined their roles, demonstrating the impact of international solidarity. The film highlights how strength and resilience have become the cornerstones of the identity Ukrainians strive to protect. Along the way, we get a glimpse into the passionate, sincere — and at times humorous — conversations between Ukrainian and Dutch museum professionals, as the group visits museums across the Netherlands, from Enschede to Den Bosch.
A film by Cem Altınöz, commissioned by DutchCulture.
In the face of immense challenges since Russia's full-scale invasion, they have redefined their roles, demonstrating the impact of international solidarity. The film highlights how strength and resilience have become the cornerstones of the identity Ukrainians strive to protect. Along the way, we get a glimpse into the passionate, sincere — and at times humorous — conversations between Ukrainian and Dutch museum professionals, as the group visits museums across the Netherlands, from Enschede to Den Bosch.
A film by Cem Altınöz, commissioned by DutchCulture.
Ukrainian Museums Near the Front Line: The Changing Role of Regional Museums in Wartime
What do you do as a museum director or curator when your country, people, and workplace are attacked? How do you not only protect yourself, your loved ones, and your colleagues when the bombs fall, but also safeguard your collections? How can you support your local community during such a crisis? And finally, how do you share the stories of war, oppression, and attempts to destroy your (regional) identity?
Last June, DutchCulture invited five Ukrainian museum professionals from flagship museums in Ukraine's war-torn regions for a visitors programme on these themes.
Why? Because Ukraine's regions are large, and the museums representing local heritage and identity, especially those close to war zones, now play a more important role than ever.
They now also serve as community and safety centres: they help civilians, provide shelter and mental support, organise workshops, make camouflage nets for the army, create programmes for veterans and children, collect war testimonies and artefacts, digitalise collections and curate pop-up exhibitions in the basement of their besieged buildings.
Documentary
Our guests - Kateryna Chuyeva, Valeria Lavrenko, Kostiantyn Dubin, Yuliia Kravchuk and Olga Rubliova - visited museums in the Netherlands, exchanged experiences with their Dutch colleagues, and shared their stories during round table meetings and a public event in Utrecht.
We asked young filmmaker Cem Altınöz to create a documentary about the programme. In this deeply moving film, they share their personal, heartfelt, and powerful experiences. Altınöz: "In the comfort of our lives that we take for granted, we sometimes see work as an obligation, overlooking how it can actually make things meaningful. While the spotlight on the people of Ukraine seems to fade, their existential war grows tougher every day. Making this documentary wasn’t just informative; it was also a transformative experience for me on many levels. I can only hope it has a similar effect on the viewer."
Caption
This documentary shares the stories of regional museum workers in Ukraine, filmed during their visitor programme to the Netherlands in 2024, at the invitation of DutchCulture.
In the face of immense challenges since Russia's full-scale invasion, they have redefined their roles, demonstrating the impact of international solidarity. The film highlights how strength and resilience have become the cornerstones of the identity Ukrainians strive to protect. Along the way, we get a glimpse into the passionate, sincere — and at times humorous — conversations between Ukrainian and Dutch museum professionals, as the group visits museums across the Netherlands, from Enschede to Den Bosch.
A film by Cem Altınöz, commissioned by DutchCulture.
In the face of immense challenges since Russia's full-scale invasion, they have redefined their roles, demonstrating the impact of international solidarity. The film highlights how strength and resilience have become the cornerstones of the identity Ukrainians strive to protect. Along the way, we get a glimpse into the passionate, sincere — and at times humorous — conversations between Ukrainian and Dutch museum professionals, as the group visits museums across the Netherlands, from Enschede to Den Bosch.
A film by Cem Altınöz, commissioned by DutchCulture.
Many thanks to:
Valeria Lavrenko (Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum, Dnipro)
Olha Rubliova (Odesa Regional History Museum, Odesa)
Kostiantyn Dubin (M. F. Sumtsov Kharkiv Historical Museum, Kharkiv)
Yuliia Kravchuk (Vinnytsia Regional Museum of History and Nature, Vinnytsia)
Kateryna Chuyeva (museum expert and former Ukrainian vice-minister of culture from 2021-2023).
Rijksmuseum Twenthe
Museum de Fundatie
Allard Pierson
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
Het Noordbrabants Museum
Teylers Museum
Amsterdam Museum
Rijksmuseum
ICOM – ICMEMOHRI The International Committee of Memorial and Human Rights Museums
De Museumfabriek
Cultural Emergency Response
Arnoud Odding, researcher, independent strategic advisor for museums
