The 11th plenary session of the Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape (CDCPP) was held from November 23 to 25 in Strasbourg (French Republic).
Kateryna Chuyeva, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, joined the session online.
Thus, among the biggest needs of Ukraine in the field of culture, she named the support of specialists in the field of culture and artists who remain in Ukraine. In particular, through the provision of grants and scholarships, invitations to internships, organization of exhibitions from Ukrainian collections in European museums, etc.
“Also, humanitarian assistance to cultural institutions is extremely important for us – to preserve collections, libraries, archives and support activities in the winter period, as well as support for the digitization of collections. In addition, the issue of heritage protection in the combat zone, in the occupied territories and the mechanisms of effective countermeasures against the illegal transfer of cultural values by the russian occupation authorities remains important,” said the Deputy Minister.
Therefore, on November 23, a separate item on the agenda was the issue of further cooperation of the Committee with Ukraine and the implementation of the Declaration on the aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine, adopted on April 1 of this year at the Conference of Ministers of Culture of the Council of Europe.
According to the results of the work, the Secretariat of the Council of Europe has prepared for consideration by the Committee a document containing possible priorities for cooperation in the field of culture and cultural heritage for the implementation of the Declaration on the aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine. However, during the meeting, the Council representatives noted that the situation in Ukraine is changing very rapidly, new challenges and needs are constantly arising, priorities may change, and therefore flexible response mechanisms are needed.
“Now I’m talking to you from a bomb shelter, and just now, explosions can be heard in the city. We ask you to help our museums and other heritage institutions. For them, it is vital to survive the winter. Could you imagine what would happen to the Louvre or any other European museum if it was left without electricity for a few days? After all, both security systems and maintenance of the climatic regime depend on it. Regretfully, many Ukrainian museums, archives and libraries, especially in the front-line territories, because of the shelling of the energy infrastructure of Ukraine, found themselves in this situation just before winter,” said Kateryna Chuyeva, addressing her European colleagues.
