Fellows of Vidnova Fellowship Ukraine
The Vidnova Fellowship Ukraine is a programme to support people who went abroad with the start of the full-scale invasion and decided to return to Ukraine to be at home and resume their activities here.
This year, we support 50 fellowship holders. Filmmakers, activists, entrepreneurs, journalists, designers, psychologists, artists, and others are helping people who have been forced to move to safer regions because of the war. They are dealing with environmental issues, curating exhibitions, making documentaries, writing books, and developing IT products. It’s time to get to know them!
Shaza Musa is a Syrian-Ukrainian cultural activist, designer, illustrator, and art project coordinator. Her goal is to research the patterns and design of the Poltava region and to publish the research in a digital publication.
Yana Tymoshenko plans to gather a group of Ukrainian museum workers to collaborate with Czech colleagues and conduct masterclasses for artists, cultural workers, and activists from the Dnipro region on grant writing.
Julia Koval is an activist and volunteer. She plans to organise a shelter for people who have been forced to move to safer regions because of the war and a warehouse for humanitarian aid to be sent to eastern Ukraine.
Oksana Sygareva is a film producer and director. Since 2020, she has been making a documentary about a children’s circus studio in Kharkiv. She plans to finish the rough cut of the film and present it to her partners to find funding for post-production.
Evgeniya Melkonyan will facilitate a project of creative and restorative movement and voice laboratories that will help people cope with anxiety, find support, and recover. She plans to hold about 3 events in different cities of Ukraine.
Anna Aliyeva started working on researching the provenance of artworks that were taken to Germany from Ukraine during the Second World War. Now, when she has returned to Kyiv, she plans to identify the works whose traces have been found in Germany.
Olena Braychenko is working on materials about changes in food culture caused by the war. She has developed a questionnaire based on the testimonies of residents of the de-occupied territories in Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. She is currently analysing the food practices of Ukrainians under occupation.
Valery Guevska is developing a magazine issue about underground culture called Potop. She plans to finalise a font named Dido, dedicated to the artist Andriy Sahaidakovsky, and make a video installation for the Konstruktsiya festival.
Khrystyna Semeryn will create essays with intellectual reflection on war and society (Memory Landscapes, War & Resistance Ecologies of Ukraine, Language of Love and Freedom) and a series of reports on war and memory.
Lyubov Lisovenko will help and support people affected by the war: purchasing food, medicine, hygiene products and other essentials for those in difficult life circumstances.
Andriy Savych is a musician whose career has taken him through various orchestras both in Ukraine and abroad (Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia and others). He returned to resume his activities and share his knowledge.
Oksana Stomina is a poet and writer, public activist, and founder of the NGO Paperovi Shody. During the three weeks of the siege of Mariupol, she worked in a volunteer centre and documented the horrors of Russian aggression. Now she has started working on a documentary book about the war — “WAR ON PEACE AVENUE. Stories from the Siege of Mariupol”. This is a collection of stories of Mariupol residents who suffered from the Russian occupiers.
Alina Holovatyuk is a CGI artist, developer of the CEO app and InTempo tactile case, a preventive device against panic attacks and stress. She is currently actively exploring the possibilities of using artificial intelligence in design and architecture.
Julia Nechai had her theatre studio (Bila Valiza Theatre Studio, Chernihiv) for 10 years. It was destroyed due to the war in March 2022. Julia wants to launch charity courses for women in the military and open a children’s theatre group in Chernihiv.
Yulia Kisil is an artist working on the documentary series Libido in Wartime. In this project, she explores the story of Ukrainians who are trying to maintain vitality and a thirst for love despite a full-scale war.
Olena Pinkovska is a musician, performer of opera and chamber music. She plans to combine chamber and vocal works by repressed authors in one concert programme. She will establish a partnership with an orchestra, create a programme and plan events.
Iryna Shcherba is a psychologist and psychotherapist. She is creating a programme of psychological rehabilitation centres for our defenders and their families.
Olga Ruban has been working in the technique of lempwork since 2008. Before the war, she had her workshop in Hostomel, held masterclasses, and participated in exhibitions. She plans to reopen her workshop and resume her creative and teaching work.
Ganna Bohachuk will be working on the Identity project, which explores the factors that influenced the formation of identity through the lens of personal memories of women from the eastern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine.
Nadiia Voronova is a Doctor of Science, Associate Professor of the Department of Aesthetics, History and Culture, and Candidate of Philosophy. She will be working on a project to study the history and culture of Donbas. The final result of the research will be presented at an international conference.
Oleksandra Koryak is a Roma activist and human rights defender who has been working in the field of Roma rights for over 10 years. She will be researching gender-based violence in Roma communities.
Anastasia Leonova is a co-founder of ist publishing, a publishing house specialising in non-fiction literature. She will be involved in the publishing process of Susan Sontag’s book Regarding the Pain of Others, which deals with military photography and ethics.
Yulia Pylypchatina is an illustrator and ceramist. Her studio is located in the centre of Kharkiv, and Yulia dreams of continuing to create there, inspired by the traditions of the Kharkiv region.
Oleksandra Naryzhna is an architect, head of the Urban Reform NGO, which implements new approaches to the development and activation of cities through urban projects. Will be engaged in the preparation of non-formal education programs to improve the skills of young people in the field of urbanism for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Svitlana Tarasenko is a teacher and project manager of the NGO Center for Lifelong Education. She will work on a book for children on entrepreneurship and the formation of a course on women’s entrepreneurship.
The programme is implemented by Insha Osvita in partnership with Commit by MitOst gGmbH and with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
