Involvement in European cultural processes is very important for Ukraine. That is why the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy fully supports the participation of our country in European programmes and initiatives in the cultural sector, promotes networking between professionals and encourages creative exchanges and other forms of cooperation between artists in the cultural and creative industries. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we do not lose contacts and continue cultural and creative cooperation and exchange of experiences online.

For Ukraine's cultural and creative industries, the European Union’s Creative Europe programme is a great opportunity to cooperate with partners from other countries participating in the programme and create joint projects of European level.

Participation in the Creative Europe programme gives a unique opportunity for the festival to be held at this difficult time for the world, when many festivals have been cancelled due to the pandemic and related restrictive measures. This is a new experience for us, because in 2020, for the first time in history, the OIFF was held online.

Creative Europe is one of the programmes that gives you an opportunity to implement long-term art projects and build partnerships across Europe that can give funding for large-scale projects.

We achieved our goal in 2017, and together with eight partners received a grant for the project "Emergence: Reframing Memory". Within its framework, we work in the direction of performing arts, organizing events in different countries on the interaction of individuals with cultural and historical landscapes. Fees for artists, travelling, hosting, making props and organizing exhibition - Creative Europe programme supports all our project activities.

The most interesting thing for producers is that Creative Europe programme allows you to get a grant to develop a project. Meaning, when you already have a clear understanding of the scenario, but it is not finalized yet and many questions arise. There is a lack of communication with historians, psychologists or when we show social-political riots - with specialists who study the psychology of protests. It is difficult to fill such gaps in knowledge by yourself.

Participation in the programme is a great experience and practice of cooperation with European structures, organization of internal discipline. All work is done online and therefore it is necessary to have at least an average level of knowledge of English.