Monday, 20th January 2025

In February 2022, the world was devasted to hear of the Russian invasion of Ukraine resulting in a war that is still ongoing after nearly three years, resulting in thousands of people being displaced, and tens of thousands more have been killed or injured. This devastating conflict has left the history of Ukraine permanently damaged, including the arts and cultural sector.

The Russian military has purposely targeted hundreds of museums, galleries, archives, and places of worship in what is believed to be attempts to diminish Ukraine’s much-loved heritage. With a wealth of experience specialising in cultural protection, our Managing Director, Andy Davis wanted to see first-hand the extent of the damage to these venues and discover what we as an organisation could do to help protect and preserve as much cultural heritage as possible for future generations.

In June 2023, Andy travelled to Kyiv and met with some inspirational people dedicating their time and efforts to the cultural heritage sector in Ukraine. Ihor Poshyvailo, Director at the National Museum of Revolution of Dignity and Co-Founder of the Agency for Cultural Resilience (ACURE) met with Andy to visit some of the cultural sites that the war has directly impacted. Andy said, “It was brilliant to meet with museum workers about their concerns for the future, while at the same time being exposed to a small sample of what the future can hold when its illegal conflict is over.'”

Andy also had the opportunity to meet with Milena Chorna the Head of the Ukrainian Museum Association, and previously as the Deputy Director at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. Meeting with Milena allowed Andy to meet with the restoration team at the museum to understand the processes they are taking to protect their collections. It came to light that they were struggling to find the supplies to fully restore the collection. Svitlana Stryelnikova is the Director of the National Research Restoration Centre of Ukraine (NRCCU) and discussed with Andy how they provide support to cultural venues on behalf of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture.

After seeing the damage to such a beautiful country and as the Chair of The International Arts and Antiquities Security Forum (IAASF), Andy shared his thoughts with the IAASF committee on hosting fundraising activities during the IAASF 2023 conference being held at Redworth Hall Hotel in County Durham, England. To obtain as many funds as possible, the committee contacted artists from across the UK and internationally to see if they were happy to donate any of their artworks to our worthy cause. We were so grateful to receive work from TV Personality and expert auctioneer, David Harper who donated one of his very own paintings and urban street artist Christian Guemy (also known as C215) who donated one of his original artworks and has also been painted onto buildings as a symbol of solidarity with Ukraine. All items acquired were auctioned online and other items were showcased to the IAASF Gala Dinner guests by The Yorkshire Auctioneer, Angus Ashworth. We also held a raffle with other donated prizes including prints of professional wildlife photography and an overnight stay at Redworth Hall Hotel.

After one of IAASF’s most successful events, we were delighted to have received enough funds to provide the Ukrainian restoration teams with the necessary materials, electronic equipment and protective tools to ensure their cultural heritage and arts can be restored and protected for future generations. After a long process in trying to send the items to Ukraine via the best possible route, we were delighted to receive photos of the recipients in Ukraine with our donations. The photos came to us just before Christmas break ending our year on a heartwarming high.

The IAASF Committee would like to thank Vasyl Pasternak from the OBMIN Foundation for assisting the smooth journey of the items from Poland into Ukraine. Thank you also to Milena, Svitlana, and Ihor for their hard work overseas protecting Ukraine's culture, arts, and history and for taking the time to welcome Andy during his visit. We hope the items we were able to provide were beneficial and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

This experience working with cultural professionals in Ukraine has been eye-opening on so many levels and reinforces why the cultural community are so driven to protect what matters to them, even when faced with such devastating and uncertain times.