Former New Yorker enlists friends for National Art Museum in Kyiv (05/16/99)

Former New Yorker enlists friends for National Art Museum in Kyiv

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A December snowstorm in Kyiv that piled Kyiv's roofs high with the white stuff, may prove to be the saving grace for the National Art Museum of Ukraine.

Almost a foot of snow pack on the museum's cover caused cracks and leakage that threatened to damage the 20,000 works of art displayed and stored in the building.

Even though emergency measures helped avert what could have become a calamity, the museum remained in poor shape with little financing available to remodel it and bring it up to Western standards. The government appopriated 30,000 hrv (approximately $8,600) at the time - far from what the museum needs for a proper remodeling.

And with the landmark building scheduled to celebrate its 100th anniversary in the fall of this year, but with no government funding available for such a celebration, the mood in the museum was downright downbeat.

Thanks to Iryna Stecura, a Ukrainian American from New York who has spent the last six years in Kyiv publishing a local entertainment guide, the mood has changed. An aficionado of the arts and a believer in the Western system of art patronage, Ms. Stecura and a group of concerned art enthusiasts have formed the "Friends of the National Art Museum of Ukraine."

She decided that the museum needed a benefactors' group after watching reports of the museum's snow problem on television and talking with the museum's director, whom she knew through her entertainment guide.

The Friends are believed to be the first advisory board for a public institution in Ukraine. In the West museums rely on such benefactors to help maintain and add to their collections, but in the world of the former Soviet Union the concept has not taken root, yet.

"We are beginning an alternative method of support for these public institutions that can no longer count on the government," said Ms. Stecura at a recent press conference.

She explained that the goal is to give the museum a badly needed facelift, to make it more appealing to people and to prepare it for a proper centennial celebration.

It is estimated that some $40 million will be needed to bring the building to the standards expected of a museum in the West.

Ms. Stecura conceded that is an unattainable goal for her organization, but feels that her organization can provide the start-up costs and impetus that will allow the project to move forward.

Eventually, as in the West, corporations must take responsibility for maintaining institutions of culture, explained Ms. Stecura. As a Friends press release states, "Ukraine may not be ready for large corporate support, as is the custom in the West, but it is time to start getting used to the idea that culture survives mostly on corporate support."

Ms. Stecura said the first thing that needs to be done is to make the entrance to the building attractive, so that people feel drawn to take a look at what's inside.

"It must attract people. This one is hidden behind trees and is unlit. In the winter you can't even be sure that it is open," said Ms. Stecura.

Museum Director Mykhailo Romanyshyn has eagerly welcomed Ms. Stecura's initiative. Because he has had much contact with the curators of the large museums of Europe and the United States, he understands that the notion of a benefactors' society, although new to Ukraine, is commonplace elsewhere.

"This is truly a historical moment, without a doubt, because it is a change in the way we are funding our institutions," said Mr. Romanyshyn.

He explained that although a January 1999 presidential decree directed the Cabinet of Ministers to fully fund reconstruction of the museum, it has not received any funds. "The situation in the museum is catastrophic," explained the museum director.

Mr. Romanyshyn said that because of the poor structural state of the building only 5 to 7 percent, or merely 2,300 square feet, of exhibition space was being utilized.

Currently, according to Mr. Romanyshyn, there may be no centennial celebrations - which he still hopes to conduct on September 13 - because no money has been released for that either. He expects that sufficient funding will be found to fulfill plans for a new exhibition of Ukrainian art from the 12th century to the present. He also would like to host an international academic conference and publish a centennial jubilee catalogue.

Right now his hopes are pinned on Ms. Stecura and the friends she has brought to the museum.

The group currently composed of Ukrainians from Ukraine and the diaspora, with the U.S. Commercial Attaché Andrew Bihun acting as honorary chairman, has planned three initial fund-raising events.

The first, a jazz recital with dinner was held on May 2 at the Building of Receptions near Ukraine's Parliament. The proceeds from the benefit, which was attended by some 60 individuals, including U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer and his spouse, were to provide the seed money for two larger fund-raisers. One will be a fashion show on the steps of the museum scheduled for May 22 and the other a summer masquerade ball in the museum's main hall, scheduled for June 12.

The organizing committee, which consists of a large number of Americans working and living in Kyiv, is looking to attract the affluent Ukrainian middle class, known as "New Ukrainians," into its ranks. For in the end it is their museum that the "Friends" want to help finance.

Members of the Ukraine's nouveau riche, obvious on Kyiv's streets by the Mercedes Benzes they drive and designer suits they wear, has not yet shown that it wants to make worthy causes part of their conspicuous consumption.

Undeterred, Ms. Stecura said she will find them and make them understand that Ukraine's public institutions are dependent on them.

The Friends of the National Art Museum are in the process of forming an international charitable organization and are also looking to the West for moral and financial support. If you will be in Kyiv during the time of one of the charitable benefits and would like to attend, or if you would like more information on the work of the Friends organization, contact Irena Stecura, (044) 442-45-61.

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