Ukrainian Institute of America receives $70,000 state grant (06/27/04)

Ukrainian Institute of America receives $70,000 state grant

by Andrew Nynka

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation awarded the Ukrainian Institute of America a $70,000 matching funds grant.

The grant, the second of its kind for the institute in the past seven months, comes at a point when the Manhattan-based organization's aging landmark headquarters building continues to undergo an array of refurbishments and improvements, most recently to the physical appearance and condition of the mansion.

The commissioner of the state office, Bernadette Castro, told the UIA in a letter dated May 14 that the Institute was the recipient of the award, which is earmarked for restoration work on the French Renaissance mansion, UIA President Walter Nazarewicz told The Weekly.

In a statement made public that same day, New York State Gov. George E. Pataki announced that the grant to the UIA was part of a larger disbursement of funds from the Environmental Protection Fund. The fund awarded a total of $2.4 million to 12 open space, recreation and historic preservation projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, the statement said.

Late last year the National Park Service awarded the institute a matching funds grant of $270,000, also for preservation work on the 106-year-old mansion. The building, located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 79th Street in New York City's Museum Mile neighborhood, was acquired by the Institute in 1955 from Ukrainian American inventor William Dzus, and has been an architectural gem for the Ukrainian American community in New York ever since.

UIA President Nazarewicz said the grants were "wonderful news" and said that, by bestowing the awards, both grant-giving organizations had recognized the importance of preserving the institute's building.

Mr. Nazarewicz said there was "no question" that the awards had brought the institute more recognition. "We're more recognized by the American community," the UIA president said. "We're doing very well. We have a number of indicators that the grants will continue."

Before the institute can receive the full amount of both grants, it must raise $340,000 on its own. To date the organization has raised $120,000, Mr. Nazarewicz said. The UIA president said the institute's annual budget for running the building, roughly $350,000, $35,000 of which is used to pay labor costs, continues to make fund-raising difficult.

Previous efforts to raise funds for the institute, Mr. Nazarewicz said, relied solely on "members and friends." The national and state grants were the first of their kind to the institute.

Both grants have allowed the institute to embark on a multi-phase program of restoration which must still pass final approval by the institute's board of directors. The first phase will encompass repair of the building's aging electrical and plumbing infrastructure by using money from the national grant, while the second phase will consist of installation of a central air conditioning system.

Other planned enhancements to the building would include repair of existing bathrooms and the addition of several new bathrooms, repair of the staircase that leads to the building's basement, and the relocation of the institute's offices - currently on the first floor - to the basement.

Mr. Nazarewicz said that, aside from any restoration and cleaning work, the outside of the landmark building will not change. "We intend to stick strictly to the original architecture of the building," he said.

Mr. Nazarewicz said the basement would be renovated in order to provide a professional work space for the institute's staff, while the area that currently houses the organization's offices on the first floor might be redone into a "Ukrainian room," where non-Ukrainians "can come in here and learn about Ukraine."

He said he foresees a building that will have "five stories dedicated to all aspects of Ukrainian culture, art, sculpture and painting."

"We see the full use of the building to disseminate information on Ukraine and to non-Ukrainians," Mr. Nazarewicz said. He called it "a window to Ukraine that would keep showing people who we are and what we are."

| Home Page |