Via Carpatia 2023

The 6th Via Carpatia International Arts and Ideas Forum: “The Future of Tradition: Ukrainian Culture in a Global World”, held this year in Ivano-Frankivsk on 13–15 October, concluded with the presentation of the annual prize named after Ukraine’s great friend, the Polish philosopher and chronicler of the Hutsul region, Stanisław Vincenz, for Humanistic Service and a Contribution to Regional Development.

This year, the prestigious award went to Yosyf Zisels, civic activist, dissident, Executive Co-President of VAAD Ukraine, Executive Vice-President of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, and initiator and head of the Recovery During War programme.

The laureates of the Stanisław Vincenz Prize are intellectuals and civic activists who have made a significant contribution to cultural or social development. Previous recipients include Yuliia “Taira” Paievska, Myroslav Marynovych, Ivan Malkovych, Leonid Finberg and Petro Rykhlo. Together with friends and partners, they form the Vincenz Circle — an intellectual club of people united by high humanistic ideals.

“I am not a very emotional person, but right now I am overwhelmed with feelings — above all, gratitude to the Via Carpatia Prize Chapter for valuing my modest contribution to Ukraine’s life so highly,” said Yosyf Zisels as he accepted the award in Ivano-Frankivsk from Via Carpatia Forum initiator Mykola Kniazhytskyi. “I have spent most of my life in Chernivtsi, in the Precarpathian region. As a child, I bought books with money my father gave me. I remember one book catching my attention among many others. It was called On the High Uplands. Only later did I learn that it was a book by Stanisław Vincenz, written in 1938. It was translated into Ukrainian in 1957. Back then I did not remember the author, but this book about the Hutsuls and the Carpathians, which became my passion, had a profound effect on me. Many years have passed, and now I stand before you as a laureate of the Stanisław Vincenz Prize.”
Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Rostyslav Karandieiev came to Ivano-Frankivsk to greet the participants and guests of the Via Carpatia Forum. He noted: “The Via Carpatia festival is intended to unite Ukrainians. Over the years, this festival movement has spread to much wider regions and even to countries that have the Carpathian Mountains on their territory”.

“It is very important for us to preserve this tradition. Via Carpatia took place during COVID and in the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Last year, we held the Forum in Lviv,” says the initiator of the Via Carpatia Forum, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament Mykola Kniazhytskyi. “But we dream of returning to Verkhovyna and Kryvorivnia — and we are getting closer. Just as the Armed Forces of Ukraine are gradually liberating our territory. I believe that next summer we will hold Via Carpatia in Verkhovyna and Kryvorivnia, where we will talk among the mountains, admiring the beauty of the Cheremosh and listening to Hutsul melodies. This year in Ivano-Frankivsk, we had a good dialogue about Ukraine’s future.”

Over three days, Via Carpatia 2023 hosted dozens of different artistic and intellectual events. It began with a series of public lectures at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. They were delivered by Yosyf Zisels, Vitaliy Portnykov, Mykola Kniazhytskyi and Volodymyr Viatrovych.

Five panel discussions took place: “At the Crossroads: The Fate of Tradition in a Globalised World”, “Out of the Shadows: Positioning Ukraine in the World”, “Emigration and Solidarity: Between Preserving the Past and Promoting the Present”, “Strengthened by Our Ancestors’ Experience: The Role of Tradition in the Resilience of the Armed Forces and Volunteering”, and “Finding Ourselves: War as a Trigger for National Self-Discovery”. Speakers included Myroslava Barchuk, Anzhelika Rudnytska, Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi, Olha Salo, Elmira Ablialimova, Tetiana Pylypets, Bohdan Tykholoz, Henadii Poberezhnyi, Yurii Hudymenko, Antin Borkovskyi, Vasyl Pavlov, Volodymyr Skorostetskyi, Mariia Makivnychuk, Rostyslav Luzhetskyi, Roman Waschuk, Myroslava Keryk, Khrystyna Berehovska and Nadiia Makivnychuk, among others. All the discussions were broadcast live to a large audience on Espreso TV and are now available on Espreso’s YouTube channel.

Mykola Kniazhytskyi presented his documentary Church Without Christ: The Activities of the Russian Orthodox Church Must Be Banned. The discussion of the film featured Mykyta Poturaiev, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Taras Antoshevskyi and Father Ivan Rybaruk from Kryvorivnia.

One of the central events of Via Carpatia 2023 was the Word in War literary and artistic gathering, a book fair that brought around twenty military writers to Ivano-Frankivsk, some directly from the front. Participants included military writers and volunteers Oleksandr Lysak, Olena Lototska, Kateryna Flekman, Serhii Dziuba, Artemii Kirsanov, Valeriia Borshchevska, Volodymyr Skorostetskyi, Andrii Lototskyi, Viktor Yankevych, Olena “Lastivka” Mokrenchuk, Rustam Dmytruk, Olha Donechchanka, Oksana Vesna, Illia Titko and others.

The Forum’s artistic programme was curated by Shevchenko Prize laureate and outstanding theatre director and film actor Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi. The Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre in Ivano-Frankivsk complemented the intellectual discussions with a performance of Nation. Film screenings included the premiere of Mykhailo Krupiievskyi’s Chubai: To Speak Again and a presentation of Myroslava Barchuk’s What Difference Does It Make? from the documentary series The Last War.

Singer Yurii Yosyfovych performed at the Forum’s closing event, while the Word in War literary venue hosted the military band of the legendary 10th Mountain Assault Brigade, Edelweiss.

The Forum was hosted by Honoured Artist of Ukraine Anzhelika Rudnytska. The Forum’s Director was Yaryna Yasynevych.

Via Carpatia 2023 also presented three exhibitions: Ukraine 2022–2023, paintings by Liudmyla and Mykola Rybenchuk; MAALIE, part of the Zincir/Chain — Links of Memory project; and the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance’s Freedom Factor.

The Via Carpatia 2023 Forum was held with financial support from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and the International Renaissance Foundation. The Word in War literary and artistic gathering was supported by the Ukrainian Book Institute.
The content of the Forum’s events does not represent the official position of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the Ukrainian Book Institute or the International Renaissance Foundation.

Organisers:
Verkhovyna — Flower of the Carpathians NGO;
All-Ukrainian Democratic Forum.

Media partners:
General television partner: Espreso TV;
General radio partner: FM Halychyna.

Partners:
Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre in Ivano-Frankivsk;
Ivan Franko National Literary and Memorial Museum in Lviv (Franko House);
Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies NGO;
Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University;
Roman Ivanychuk Lviv Regional Library for Young People;
Dukh i Litera publishing house;
Ivan Franko Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Universal Scientific Library.

With assistance from:
The City of Ivano-Frankivsk;
Verkhovyna Settlement Council;
Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration;
Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council.

Photos from the Via Carpatia 2023 Forum are available here