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Transplanted Donbass native Yuriy Krulikovsky is fighting the good fight on behalf of the Ukrainian arts scene. He sat down on the sofa with us for a talk about what makes him tick
Anative of Donetsk region, Yuriy moved to Kyiv when his wife, the actress Tatiana Krulikovska, was invited to join the company of the capital's Drama Theatre on the Left Bank Yuriy had been working as a businessman back in his hometown and spent a good portion of the year in Holland, but the decision to move wasn't a hard decision for the couple to make, despite how disruptive a move can be. |
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"When I got here I started everything from the very beginning," Yuriy says. "My wife is a very creative person and she dreamed of developing as an actress. It wasn't interesting to her to stay in a metallurgical city where you can't find many theatre fans. She got an invitation from the Drama Theatre and she was the happiest person I supported Tanya and took a risk. I had to think of the material aspects of living in Kyiv" Yuriy says that after eight years in the capital they still rent an apartment, given the sky-high prices here. (They also still have their old apartment in Donetsk.) Working in the non-profit development sphere can be a challenge, but Krulikovsky really likes his job - he finds something special about it every day He's been interested in art and music since he was a kid Established in 1994, the Fund is in its fourteenth season and supports a number of projects, and not only in Ukraine. In 2007 alone it helped present eight international projects, working in conjunction with partners in the Netherlands, France, Poland, and other countries. Ukraine has changed radically since the Fund launched Leonid Kravchuk was the country's president back then. The energetic young Anatoliy Tblstoukhov became the Fund's president and has run it up until now. Yuriy says that Tolstouhhov never used the foundation on behalf of his personal needs or toward political goals - he's the very model of a honest, competent manager. "I appreciate that we don't participate in political things," Krulikovsky says. "This is a place for the arts. The foundation was made to support theatre, art, music, and literature." Yuriy met Anatoliy when he'd first arrived in Kyiv and got on well with him, because they're both from Donetsk region 'Tm proud to be the director of the Fund for the Promotion of Arts Development," Krulikovsky says. "We develop young talents and bring different artistic ideas to life. Singer Valentyna Stepova always says that she grew up as a professional singer with the support of the Fund".
Flexibility is Key
"It's not only a gallery," he continues. "We're very flexible. Usually we present different artistic genres. There are concerts, literary evenings like the presentation of Andrey KurkoVs last book, and small theatre experiments." "It was very nice to hear positive comments about our live classical music concert from some Germans who visited the Fund a couple of days ago, right off the street," he says. On the other hand, sometimes the Fund director runs up against the limits of human empathy. "One of our recent charity projects was a big
"It's not only a gallery," Krulikovsky says. "We're very flexible. There are concerts, literary evenings like the presentation of Andrey Kurkov's last book, and small theatre experiments"
arts master class for orphaned kids from the children's house," he says. The Fund exhibited the kids' work, but, says Yuriy, "there wasn't a very good reaction Most of the works which cost 50 hrv were so hard to sell. I think that kids from the orphanages would be so happy to get that money." Yuriy decided to keep those works hanging until the last one sells. The foundation supports Odessa's Two Days and Two Nights of New Music festival which will take place on 18 and 19 April this year on the premises of the Odessa Philharmonic. The idea is to unite classical music with new tendencies - video projections, unusual instruments, and so on Yuriy says that this is one of his favourite yearly events and that he can't get enough of the music Photography exhibitions, he explains, are becoming more and more popular. The beginning of April will see Olena Vasilyeva present her black and white nude photos in an exhibition entitled 'My World'. What else is on tap for the future? There will be plenty of different exhibitions and concerts next season in honour of the Fund's 15th anniversary. The Fund has already invited Kristina Katrakis-Kushch, a US artist with a Ukrainian background, to show during the jubilee season Katrakis-Kushch produces showy and slightly aggressive paintings of the sort that will attract attention "I want to organise an eye-catching presentation this November, with a lot of European stars coming," says Krulikovsky, who is already busy at work planning the programme of events.
Natalia Marianchyk
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