The Music Sector and Ukraine

The list below gives you an overview of support initiatives for professionals working in the music field in Ukraine. It is a non-exhaustive list and will be updated regurlarly. If you have an initiative that you believe should also be included, please share it with us via email: info@emc-imc.org

Click here to read the EMC's statement in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and the music sector in all its diversity.

Available resources

Culture Action Europe's resources page

Together with their members, Culture Action Europe are collecting resources available for Ukrainian artists, cultural workers, students who had to flee Ukraine. The resource page is updated regularly, we invite you to add to it, and share widely. The webpage is open to contributions and enrichments!

Artists at Risk (AR)

AR works with artists around the world, including those affected by war and crises such as those in Ukraine and Afghanistan. They focus on helping artists to safety and placing them in welcoming artist communities. If you would like to donate, your support will directly benefit artists fleeing war and persecution in the form of emergency resources, travel aid, and residencies. More details of oppportunities for artists can be found on their website.

VCRC/Kyiv Biennial

This Ukraine-based organisation has launched an emergency support initiative for Ukraine's cultural community. Its goal is to help people who have stayed in Ukraine, providing them with immediate financial support for their basic needs.

How to Apply:

If you are either in need of help or want to contribute to this effort you can contact the VCRC team via email, Facebook or Instagram.

Music Export Ukraine

MEU have compiled a rolling list of Ukrainian labels and artists you can support, with Bandcamp links so they can receive your funds directly. They have also compiled  guide on how best to support Ukrainians at this time here.

MEP Group

This online resource hub provides continually updated information on initiatives supporting Ukrainian musicians affected by the war in Ukraine - both those in Ukraine and those who have fled - including professional musicians, music industry professionals (music managers, sound engineers, etc.), music scholars, music students, amateur musicians (children), and music teachers.

The Ukrainian Cultural Foundation

The Foundation introduces new mechanisms for result oriented and competition-based state funding for initiatives in the field of culture and creative industries in order to facilitate the development of the ecosystem of culture and creativity in Ukraine, which enables the creation and dissemination of new senses and common values in society, as well as contributes to the development of Ukrainian culture and preservation of cultural heritage in the context of world trends.

JMI Fund for Ukrainian Musicians

JM International, together with our members, is offering full scholarships to young Ukrainian musicians (between 18-30 years of age) to participate in various JMI music education programs this summer. With this humble gesture, we hope to be able to offer a little normalcy during a very abnormal time for these young people.

The initiative is twofold, targeting both young Ukrainian musicians who want to participate in international programmes and the general audience who want to support the fund and donate to the scholarships.

 

Goethe Institut

The war in Ukraine has forced many people to leave their country. Cultural institutions in Germany and other European countries have set up aid programs for artists and cultural workers. These include, for example, residencies lasting several months, scholarships or work opportunities that facilitate the stay in the host countries.

Together with the organization Artists at Risk, the Goethe-Institut facilitates such offers of support for suitable artists and cultural practitioners from Ukraine. Artists at Risk is a European organisation that has over ten years of experience in providing support services to vulnerable artists.

EFA Report on the survey on the war in Ukraine

EFA invited festivals to share their attitudes and proposals linked to the war in Ukraine, the actions they have adopted and the efforts they made in recent weeks and months. The survey also went beyond the Ukrainian war to see how festivals have reacted or are reacting to other conflicts in the world.

142 festivals responded to this survey, open from 14 April till 11 May 2022, showing the solidarity wave towards Ukrainians and other victims. The responses came from 38 countries, covering a balanced and broad geographic spread and representing various arts disciplines.

Creatives Unite

Creatives Unite has gathered resources from the Creative and Cultural Sector supporting Ukraine: initiatives, funds, projects, and actions. The echoes of the effect of a War happening in Ukraine brought immediately an imminent migrant crisis and the sector has been working to give response to the many displaced Ukrainians and also to support the ones still resisting in their homeland.

On The Move: Solidarity with Ukraine / (En)forced Mobility

On The Move, together with their members, are continualy updating their website to inform artists / culture professionals in need of relocation and support.

They are sharing these opportunities on a regular basis, calls for residencies, funding, initiatives on On thMove’s Facebook and Twitter pages related to Ukraine and artists / culture professionals at risk.

Cultural Aid Ukraine

Baden-Württemberg will take up offers of help from the cultural scene for refugee artists and their families from Ukraine. We provide concrete help together with our partners, to show solidarity with the Ukrainians. Together with the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg, a contact point was established by ifa as an initial measure, which both artists from Ukraine and cultural institutions in Baden-Württemberg can use. Baden-Württemberg will take up offers of help from the cultural scene for refugee artists and their families.

ZAIKs

ZAIKs are highlighting multiple ways to help Ukrainian workers from the arts and culture sector now residing in Poland. 

 

Live DMA

Live music actors raised issues facing an increase in cancellations of artistic performances and international tours in the Eastern region as a consequence of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. With this letter, we wish to reaffirm that it is safe to perform in Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, and it is important in solidarity with the people of Ukraine to show that our European culture and creative communities are unstoppable and unafraid.

Read the letter here

Amsterdam University of the Arts: Reach Out Programme

CvA Reach Out Programme
CvA Reach Out aims to help musicians who endeavor to start or continue their professional music education, but no longer have the opportunity to do so within their country of origin. The programme is open to all refugee music students. Our range of support includes free music lessons, extended application deadlines and late auditions, assistance with the application process, and assistance with English language courses.

CvA Reach Out Sundays
Every Sunday we will open our doors and offer free music lessons, workshops, and other facilities and means of support to registered refugees living (temporarily) in the Netherlands to help with the continuation of their studies or the start of their (higher) music education. 
 

Makersxchange

As the Ukrainian crisis is upon us and many Ukrainian artists and creatives have already been affected by it, there is an urgent need to support them in resuming their professional activities. After the successful realization of the 2-year mobility program, MAX (Makers’ eXchange) project is launching a special support program for Ukrainian artists and creatives that had to leave their country because of the war. Ukrainian CCS professionals will be connected with and hosted in creative hubs around Europe providing them access to working spaces and linking them to relevant creative communities.

27 of them will get a grant of 1.000€ to assist their mobility.

Along this process, the hubs will assist creatives by providing them access to working spaces and helping them find new job opportunities and blend into their creative community, aiming at their integration and professional growth.

Beneficiaries of this project will share their stories, describing their professional successes and challenges.

With One Voice - Ukrainian Music Creators Special Edition

In this special edition 'With One Voice' get the view from Ukrainian music creators inside Ukraine, and from the sanctuary of neighbouring Poland, about the impact of the Russian invasion on their lives, music, and homeland.

Joining hands and hearts, Festivals for Ukraine

Call for festival duos.

Many festivals in Ukraine have been cancelled, even some of the festivals taking place in the Western part of the country run in a very limited form. Five months after the start of the war, Ukrainian festivals need to feel the support of their European colleagues, to continue their work and not be forgotten. Joining hands and hearts: Festivals for Ukraine is a peer-to-peer call for festival duos addressed to members of the European Festivals Association, with the idea to engage in a one-on-one partnership with a colleague festival in Ukraine.