The first season of the “Protasiv Yar” festival in memory of public activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi, who died on June 9, 2022 in the battle near Izyum, has come to an end. The closing of the festival took place on August 2 on the lawn in Protasiv Yar (Solomyansky district).
Starting from May, discussion panels, lectures, literary readings, film screenings, concerts were held at this location every two weeks on Saturdays during the summer. Given such an unusual duration and saturation of events, “Protasiv Yar” became a vivid phenomenon in the public and artistic life of Kyiv. Participants of the festival were activists, politicians, volunteers, military personnel, famous artists, musicians, ethnographers, ecologists, human rights defenders, etc.
Saturday, September 2, became the eighth day of the festival in 2023. The key topic of the day was the discussion “10 years of the Revolution of Dignity: the future of Ukraine”.
It was attended by: Dmytro Lykhovii, journalist, editor-in-chief of the online publication “Novynarnia”; Olena Styazhkina, historian, writer; Andriy Bondar, writer, translator; Yuriy Makarov, TV presenter, documentarian, writer; Oleksandr Sushko, executive director of the international foundation “Renaissance”.
Moderator: Myroslava Barchuk, journalist, TV presenter, vice-president of Ukrainian PEN.
“Euromaidan became the starting point for the development of the personality of Roman Ratushnyi and his views. Therefore, we consider it valuable to speak at the closing of the first season of the “Protasiv Yar” festival on the anniversary of the events on the Euromaidan,” the organizers explained.
The final discussion for the first season was a discussion among friends on the topic “Roman Town Hall: a man who changes people” (moderator: Artur Kharitonov, president of the NGO “Liberal Democratic League of Ukraine”).
The final chords of the “Protasiv Yar” festival were the performances of the folklore group “Gulyagorod” on the lawn, as well as the musical groups Grozovska Band, Zwyntar and “Pirig i Batig” in the nearby “Buryaki Hall”.
“Actually, the festival probably exceeded our expectations. Festivals usually last several days. We managed to make it for the whole summer. This is actually a very inspiring story. These are cultural shields that protect Ukraine, Kyiv. They seem to mark the space. Such festivals are incredible protection and memory,” said the mother of Roman Town Hall Svitlana Povalyaeva.
In a comment to “Novynarna”, she said that the “Protasovoy Yar” team plans to hold the festival in 2024 as well – possibly in the same “multi-series” format that distinguishes it from other one-day events.
However, the organizers admit, this will require expanding the team and attracting additional resources. After all, to a large extent, the large-scale festival-2023 was drawn on enthusiasm.
Oleksandr Sushko – the executive director of the “Renaissance” foundation, which provided a grant for partial financing of the 2023 festival – spoke favorably of its quality and advised the organizers to apply for a competition to hold such an event next year as well.
The “Protasiv Yar” festival is held in memory of public activist Roman Ratushnyi, a scout of the 93rd mechanized brigade of the Kholodny Yar Armed Forces of Ukraine, who died last year near Izyum, who was the founder of the “Let’s protect Protasiv Yar” initiative.
The festival took place every two weeks on Saturdays from May 27 to September 2023.
The purpose of the festival is to spread the idea of public activism, the power of local communities, associations of caring citizens, as well as the story of how the efforts of one person or a small group of people, their sense of responsibility, can change their own district, city and the whole of Ukraine.
“The event popularizes human rights initiatives, Ukrainian history, modern and traditional art and cherishes the memory of Roman Ratushnyi, whose work continues even after his death,” the organizers said.
Svitlana Povaliyeva, Yulia Bartle, Artur Kharitonov, Myroslava Barchuk, Yana Bezsmertna, Tetyana Teren, Viktoriya Amelina, Tetyana Vlasova joined the coordinating council of the 2023 festival.
“We considered together whether it is worth holding the festival now, during the war, but we finally understood that it is the most necessary today to unite people, give them strength and a sense of community.
Preserving the memory of Roman Ratushnyi means, first of all, realizing the ideas, dreams and plans he lived by. The idea of small local communities that can do great things. The idea of protecting human rights and justice in general. The idea of popularizing Ukrainian culture and history,” journalist and TV presenter Myroslava Barchuk explained.
The participants of the festival in 2023 were Mustafa Dzhemilev, Refat Chubarov, Akhtem Seitablaev, Taras Lyuty, Vakhtang Kebuladze, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Stanislav Aseev, Igor Kozlovsky, Alim Aliyev, Yuriy Makarov, Maryana Sadovska, Natalka Vorozhbyt, Rimma Zyubina, the bands “Telnyuk : Sisters”, “Horea Kozatska”, Grozovska Band and many others.
Organizational partners of the “Protasiv Yar” festival are the Ukrainian PEN and the National Center of Folk Culture “Ivan Honchar Museum”.
Information partners: “Channel 5”, “Espresso TV”, “Public Radio”, LiRoom, The Ukrainians, “Public Broadcasting”, Radio “Kultura”, “Novynarnia”, “Censor.net”.
The festival is supported by the “Renaissance” International Foundation.
