Culture and creative industries for sustainable regional development: theses from the forum in Vinnytsia

On June 26, Vinnytsia hosted the second of a series of cultural forums of the Swiss-Ukrainian project “Ukraine’s Cohesion and Regional Development”, UCORD, which is implemented with the support of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation by NIRAS Sweden AB. The forum was called “Culture and creative industries for sustainable regional development” and was devoted to issues of combining economic development with traditional and modern culture. The event was organized in cooperation with the Regional Development Agency in the Vinnytsia Region, with the assistance of the Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration and the participation of the Vinnytsia Regional Council.

In welcoming word, the head of the Vinnytsia Regional Council Vyacheslav Sokolovy noted that the event is symbolic for Vinnytsia:

“Each corner of our country has its own cultural and artistic achievements, traditions, and most importantly – talented people. Our culture, traditions, art, our identity are what the enemy encroached upon and what Ukrainians are fighting for. Our soldiers protect not only Ukrainian independence, but also the democracy of the entire civilized world.”

The main idea of ​​the organizers of the forum was to show that culture is not only about entertainment and creative expression, culture is also about the growth of the economy, meanings, values, systematicity, networks and connections. All this is closely intertwined and inseparable.

Maryna Bryl, leader of the UCORD project, said in her welcome speech:

“Culture encourages economic development, but under the condition that it ceases to be just a social object. Culture can and should have subjectivity for economic development, and therefore – the development of the community, the region and the country as a whole. At the same time, culture must develop and change. Our museums are often empty because they are not interesting for children and young people. We are gradually losing interest in our traditions and intangible heritage, because from childhood they are presented not as something valuable, unique and important for us as a nation, but as something ancient and boring. Therefore, it is necessary to be creative, to add innovations to transform cultural objects into attractive attractions, and cultural traditions into vivid events. It will attract investors and visitors.”

Maryna Kulinich, Head of Culture, Social Cohesion and Citizen Engagement, Advisor of the UCORD project on culture and social cohesion, added:

“By organizing another cultural forum in Vinnytsia, we wanted to show that combining economic development with traditional and modern culture is possible. Yes, our future is innovation in culture, but we must not forget our heritage, because it is what makes us Ukrainians, whom the world knows and respects today. Therefore, the panels, speakers and moderators of the forum were selected in such a way as to show the participants: there is no need to puzzle and invent something, we already have everything, we just need to look around, take our cultural resource, get creative with it, and in the future we will be able to compete in creative industries with any country. Why not?”

During the event, the participants were able to join the discussion panels on the topic of culture and creative industries in policies, strategies, programs and documents, familiarize themselves with interesting cases of the combination of culture and creative industries, with the unique ecosystem of creative entrepreneurship in the Podillia macro-region, and successful cultural routes.

The topic of the Vinnytsia forum was creative industries chosen not by chance, because this region has a successful experience of combining traditional culture with innovations. This is what Olga Dernova, the head of the culture and creative industries department of the humanitarian policy department of Vinnytsia OMA, said about it:

“Creative industries are the engine of the region’s economic growth. These two elements are inseparable today. Here, in Vinnytsia, we try to create a good product at the expense of cultural heritage, traditions, adding innovations. We preserve, remember, popularize and at the same time do everything possible to make this cultural product as relevant as possible today. These are creative teams, these are the products of our masters. When we combine our efforts in joint projects, we have an impressive result.”

Halyna Hryhorenko, co-founder and producer of Open Opera Ukraine, independent expert in the field of culture and creative industries, ex-deputy minister of culture and information policy of Ukraine, noted how important it is to spread the successful experience of Vinnytsia:

“The peculiarity of regional development is that at the level of cities and communities, everyone knows each other and knows how to unite and develop creative industries. The national level rather provides a framework, general regulatory things, political priorities, and all this is implemented at the regional level by those people who see the immediate result here and now. Creative industries are given a lot of attention in various strategic documents of the Vinnytsia region and Vinnytsia. This forum once again shows the importance of this area for the region. It is also important to spread this experience, because a good example always inspires. This forum helps to do just that.”

Also, each of those present had the opportunity to choose and visit one of the four thematic sections, which were dedicated to the resources and opportunities of creative industries for the development of communities and regions. It should be emphasized that the UCORD project sees dialogue and networking among participants as one of the tasks of such forums, who come to events not only to hear something new, but also to be heard, to find potential partners and exchange experience. СThat is why, during the forums, the UCORD project attaches great importance to thematic sections, where participants freely communicate with each other on specific topics.

The forum in Vinnytsia was organized in partnership with the Regional Development Agency of the Vinnytsia region. Nataliya Hyzhko, director of the Vinnytsia Regional Development Agency, told why the forum and the topic of creative industries are important for the work of the Agency:

“Creative industries are interesting for the Vinnytsia Regional Development Agency for several reasons. The first of them is that it is also a field of economics. Accordingly, everything related to profitability, local economic development is our priority. Also, among the tasks of the Agency is the promotion of cultural development through social cohesion, and creative industries are a good basis for such development. It is very gratifying that despite Covid-19, then the war, the sphere of culture is developing strongly, it just needs support, in particular, the kind provided by the UCORD project.” 

Each of the cultural forums of the UCORD project has its own unique theme, identity and features. The Vinnytsia Cultural Forum was no exception – there was no shortage of interesting things. In parallel with the meaningful part of the forum, a colorful craft fair was held, where local craftsmen presented their products. Also, during the event, participants could immerse themselves in virtual reality – VR worked at a separate location, where, wearing glasses, you could view photos and videos of objects destroyed by the Russian aggressors, including cultural ones. In this way, the organizers tried to remind that the war is going on and that it is near.

Read more about cultural forums of the UCORD project at the link.