ELIA Statement on the Vilnius Call for Action by UAx Platform Manager, Uliana Furiv

Dear Hosts, Delegates and International Partners,

We applaud that so many countries and international organisations are coming together to support Ukraine in cultural recovery.

How can there be a recovery of the culture sector in Ukraine without art education and training? Just as Ukraine requires psychologists and physiotherapists to restore the unbroken minds and bodies of Ukrainian people, the cultural sector needs hundreds, if not thousands, of trained artists and cultural professionals to manage the complex tasks of reviving and expanding Ukrainian cultural heritage. Advanced arts education must be central to the recovery and post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, receiving urgent support from the international community.

In 2022, ELIA—a globally connected European network representing over 300,000 students across all arts disciplines in more than 280 art universities and academies across 52 countries—sharply condemned the unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine. ELIA stands by all Ukrainian Arts Academies. In November 2022, in collaboration with the Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation, ELIA launched the UAx Platform. To date, UAx is the largest and only program in Ukraine that unites 15 Ukrainian Arts Academies and connects them with an extensive international art education community.

Following the outflow of thousands of Ukrainian students, it soon became clear that what Ukrainian academies and universities needed was not merely refuge for students and staff outside the country, but concrete mechanisms to support their institutional survival within Ukraine.

The need for retention of staff and students was immediate; the necessity for long-term alliances with international arts academies was paramount; and the desire for alignment with EU educational frameworks was vital. The UAx Platform was thus born. These three pillars have informed our work.

Pillar 1: The UAx Platform guarantees membership and access to the influential ELIA network.

By 2025, 15 Ukrainian Arts Academies will represent one of the largest European contingents in ELIA, with academies from Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, and Uzhhorod presently represented.

Pillar 2: The UAx Platform is building the most extensive Sister School Network in Ukraine.

Each year, UAx brings more academies into the fold, totaling 30 sister schools by 2025. The Platform fosters a robust knowledge community of arts academies both within Ukraine and internationally, promoting peer-learning, exchange, along with significant infrastructural support. But most importantly, UAx nurtures solidarity amongst this dynamic community.

Pillar 3: The UAx Platform distributes Fellowship bursaries directly to students. A total of 100 students will have been named Abakanowicz Fellows by 2025. The bursaries support artists and cultural practitioners from visual arts, design, performing arts, theatre, film, music, art history, cultural studies, and restoration degree programs.

These emerging cultural professionals will lead the process of cultural rebuilding, recovery, preservation, and formation of the renewed Ukrainian identity.

In conclusion, on behalf of ELIA and UAx Platform, we endorse the Vilnius Call for Action for the recovery of Ukraine’s cultural sector. Priority 3 Action Plan for Culture in Ukraine particularly resonates with our mission: Revival of institutional capacity of cultural institutions and cultural education. We commit to supporting cultural resilience in Ukraine, aligning to the UNESCO efforts, and the development of the cultural sector by empowering higher arts education in the country. To this end, we would like to urge a thorough assessment of the needs of the higher art education sector in Ukraine. We call on international partners to join hands in building the capacity of the Ukrainian higher arts education sector today.

Thank you! Дякую!

Watch Uliana's full statement here>