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Nigel Spicer on Ukraine's struggles
Last autumn, I visited Kiev in Ukraine as part of the Arts Council England-funded Museums and Resilient Leadership CPD programme. I found tension on the street, but also in our sector.
Internationally significant heritage sites and museums were entrusted with not only the preservation and celebration of national culture, creativity and history, but also the definition of a new post-USSR state.
All this against a background of a non-existent tourist infrastructure, seemingly intractable government, Soviet-era social attitudes, grinding poverty and oligarchical excesses.
Now, after the sweeping away of the eastward-looking regime, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and continuing unrest, this nation’s treasures and the institutions that interpret them are at significant risk.
As the pressures of de-Russification and de-Ukrainification intensify, it is time that we, as a professional community, did more to help our colleagues.
We may not be able to assist a great deal on a macro level, but we can provide support either individually or as organisations.
Our colleagues in Ukraine are dedicated to their work and the uncertainties that they are facing are huge, professionally and personally.
In the UK, our museums have undergone transformative changes over the past 20 years – a journey on which many Ukrainian institutions were just embarking.
Even in just talking, we can listen, share, learn and mentor. It is what we do so well, after all.
Internationally significant heritage sites and museums were entrusted with not only the preservation and celebration of national culture, creativity and history, but also the definition of a new post-USSR state.
All this against a background of a non-existent tourist infrastructure, seemingly intractable government, Soviet-era social attitudes, grinding poverty and oligarchical excesses.
Now, after the sweeping away of the eastward-looking regime, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and continuing unrest, this nation’s treasures and the institutions that interpret them are at significant risk.
As the pressures of de-Russification and de-Ukrainification intensify, it is time that we, as a professional community, did more to help our colleagues.
We may not be able to assist a great deal on a macro level, but we can provide support either individually or as organisations.
Our colleagues in Ukraine are dedicated to their work and the uncertainties that they are facing are huge, professionally and personally.
In the UK, our museums have undergone transformative changes over the past 20 years – a journey on which many Ukrainian institutions were just embarking.
Even in just talking, we can listen, share, learn and mentor. It is what we do so well, after all.