Chicago's Ukrainian National Museum receives $500,000 state grant (08/01/99)

Chicago's Ukrainian National Museum receives $500,000 state grant

CHICAGO - Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan presented a capital expansion grant of $500,000 to Chicago's Ukrainian National Museum during the Ukrainian Day Celebration on July 24 at the Executive Mansion in Springfield.

At a reception at the Governor's Mansion, a surprised and grateful museum president, Dr. George Hrycelak, and Executive Director Jaroslaw Hankewych accepted the check from Gov. Ryan during activities relating to the officially proclaimed Ukrainian Day in Illinois. Sponsors of the event included the governor, State Sen. Walter Dudycz, Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union, and the Governor's Office of Ethnic Affairs.

State Sen. Dudycz, a long-time friend of Ukrainians and supporter of the museum in Chicago, had taken personal interest in assuring the UNM became eligible to receive state funds from the Public Museum Capital Grants Program.

Gov. Ryan and Sen. Dudycz visited the UNM in Chicago last year, receiving a tour from Olha Kalymon. They came away from the museum enamored by the institution and its potential. Through the support of Sen. Dudycz, it became possible for the museum to qualify for state funds earmarked to help ethnic and public museums statewide expand their facilities and create new exhibits.

Mr. Hankewych, along with museum staffers Natalka Semuschak and Erika Homonyi on May 18 led a delegation that carried a representative exhibit of the museum's collections to the rotunda of the Illinois State Capitol Building for the International Museum Day celebration. This successful and informative exhibit attracted several government visitors, including Sen. Dudycz and State Treasurer Judy Barr Topinka. Due to the perseverance of Sen. Dudycz, the UNM became a serious contender, and then recipient of a capital expansion grant.

Museum is thriving

The capital grant comes at an exciting time in the history of Chicago's Ukrainian National Museum. Having moved four years ago into a newly renovated building in the center of the Ukrainian Village, the UNM has garnered praise and favorable criticism not only from the surrounding Ukrainian community, but also from a growing complement of visitors from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

The museum stands as a cultural anchor of stability in the Ukrainian neighborhood, existing and active for the past 47 years. During the recent 25th Convention of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, held in Chicago, the museum hosted the conventioneers and held a concurrent exhibit, prepared by volunteer librarian Kalyna Drohomyrecky, on the theme of "Women as Guardians of Our Culture." The visitors' response was positive and inspiring.

Furthermore, the UNM has partnered with Chicago's world-renowned Field Museum of Natural History in a project called "Cultural Connections" involving 14 local ethnic and cultural museums to encourage broader access of these museums to all Chicagoans.

The museum staff participated actively in the just-concluded Joint Conference of Ukrainian American Organizations in Washington with Areta Halibey, volunteer librarian, presenting her views on public access to printed and manuscript collections of Ukrainian museums at the gathering of the Ukrainian American Library Association.

The museum's entirely volunteer staff has guided the UNM through difficult times, devoting their time and expertise to all areas of museum operations. The UNM currently is forging ahead with an aggressive computerization and cataloguing project.

Under the direction of the second vice-president, Orest Hrynewych, the museum has embarked on a task of computerizing the museum's collections in an accessible database, which can be used not only by other professionals and museums, but eventually the public at large. This ambitious project, supported by a $30,000 grant from the Chicago-based Heritage Foundation, is well under way and developing its own momentum.

Expansion now a realistic option

Space at the UNM, as at any museum, is at a premium, therefore a capital expansion grant is most welcome. A committee will review the various options to expand the premises and will present a report to the board of directors and the oversight committee. A satisfactory expansion to the facility can be completed in several years.

The board of directors, staff, volunteers and members of the museum have expressed thanks to the taxpayers of the State of Illinois, Gov. Ryan, State Sen. Dudycz, and its loyal supporters for entrusting the UNM with public funds, for believing in its mission and in its future. "We look forward to meeting and exceeding your expectations in the new millennium," stated Dr. Hrycelak. For more information, contact the Ukrainian National Museum of Chicago, 721 North Oakley Blvd., Chicago, IL 60612; (312) 421-8020.

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