Donetsk Dispatch

I'm in Donetsk, Ukraine for the next week or so, as part of a Cultural Manager Residency with Eko-Arts, supported by the Center for Cultural Management in L'viv, and joined by my dear friend and industrial historian Gyorgi Nemeth from Hungary.   Over the week we will learn about the work of cultural organizations working with industrial history including the Metallurgical Museum, the Regional Museum, and Isolyatsia, whose amazing work combining an industrial site and contemporary art we learned about on today's visit.

But most importantly, we will be working with high school students to explore innovative ways in which they might share the city’s history.  We’ll share other projects—where student have written poems about photographs,  conducted oral history interviews,  created websites and even developed pop-up exhibits.  It’s an chance to learn more about a city and share our own interests in the creative presentations of history, involving a city’s own citizens in shaping the story that’s told—a new way of thinking for many history museums here.

Check back for updates on our progress!