For 2027 and beyond I hope to be working with and visiting artists and theatremakers in Ukraine. I have been 3 times in 2026 to meet cultural leaders and independent creatives, and during EdFringe26 I worked with the Ukraine Institute on a programme for producers to visit Edinburgh.
I need, and welcome, support for this work. It is not part of a specialised programme, but rather my way of offering some support and future-planning for those who are celebrating the Ukrainian culture, creating work which offers a window into life in the country during the Full Scale Invasion, and finds ways to offer hope and some healing to artists and audiences across the Country.
The theatres and concert halls have been full throughout 2026. A new international festival KiFest has been created. Kyiv has been awarded UNESCO City of Music for the next 4 years. Amazing epic re-imagined Greek drama like Trojan Women from NASI with LaMama New York, and the Veteran’s Theatre Aeneid/Eneida have been showing what is possible to create in Ukraine for the world.
In a series of blogs through 2026 I track my reflections on my meetings in Kyiv and Lviv. There are many links and I hope you will consider ways to offer Time, Talent or Treasure to creative initiatives.
Reflections on visits to Ukraine
My first visit with Anastasiya Yevchenko / March 2026 – 9th March https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-march-2026/
Returning for KiFest in May – 7th May https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-visit-greetings-from-kyiv/; 10th May https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-theatre-impressions/; 11th May https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-theatre-impressions-pt-2/
Reflections 28th September – https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/is-there-anyone-still-living-there/
My third visit incl running a producing course in Oct – 5th October https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-blog-1-fear-or-concern-pre-conceptions/; 7th October https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-visit-blog-3-not-born-for-war/; 14th October https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-blog-4-final-day-in-kyiv/
An invitation to do something with time, talent or treasure to help -27th October https://www.chrisgrady.org/blog/ukraine-blog-5-a-warmer-safer-retreat Aiming to raise £3,200 to allow 4 artists to have a month of warm/safer retreat each
An Immediate Way to Help
One of my guest speakers on zoom during the short course I ran in Kyiv in October expressed perfectly why I want to keep coming back to Ukraine and helping to make stuff happen “We feel paralysed, guilty, powerless and sad” at what we witness from a distance in the news. I would add Charlotte Higgins exploration of anger and rage to those feelings. The rage can lead us to action.
The Jam Factory arts centre in Lviv, Western Ukraine, wants to open its doors, and find local accommodation for artists from the East of Ukraine and Kyiv where conditions over winter mid-invasion are desperately daunting. Each £800 raised will allow one artist a month in Lviv to reset, keep warm, be creative, and find refuge & new friends. Can you help with a donation. And then cane you share this information and opportunity with your networks. Thank you
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/a-warmer-ukraine-winter-for-artists
