Fund-raising event to celebrate The Ukrainian Museum's inaugural success (09/18/05)

Fund-raising event to celebrate The Ukrainian Museum's inaugural success

by Marta Baczynsky

NEW YORK - The Ukrainian Museum is celebrating its momentum of success, which has carried through from the opening of its newly built facility in April and the presentation of its inaugural exhibition, "Alexander Archipenko: Vision and Continuity."

The celebration, billed as a fund-raiser for the new museum, will be held on Sunday, September 25, at the Essex House on the south side of New York's venerable and beautiful Central Park. The event includes cocktails and a luncheon at the landmark hotel's opulent Petit and Grand Salons, featuring classical French décor. Ms. Slobodian-Odulak will serve as the mistress of ceremonies.

As its keynote speaker, the museum invited the writer and editor Askold Melnyczuk. Mr. Melnyczuk's first novel, "What Is Told" (Faber and Faber), was on The New York Times' Notable Book list. The Los Angeles Times Best Books of the Year for 2002 listed his second novel, "The Ambassador of the Dead" (Counterpoint).

Mr. Melnyczuk is a prolific writer and has also enjoyed success as a poet. His poems have been anthologized in "Under Thirty-Five: The New Generation of American Poets" and other similar publications. The author is a recipient of the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award for Fiction and the McGinnis Prize in Fiction from The Southwest Review; he has also received many grants for his writing from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

In 1972 Mr. Melnyczuk founded the literary journal Agni. In 2002 he received the PEN/Magid Award for Magazine Editing for Agni. At present he directs a creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and teaches in the Bennington Graduate Writing Seminars.

The entertainment portion of the celebration event at the Essex House will feature the virtuosity of the acclaimed jazz pianist John Stetch. The artist, who has been described as "a marvelous inventive pianist with dramatic flair and the chops to back it up," has performed at some of the world's most prestigious jazz venues, including the Montreal, Paris JVC and Monterey jazz festivals.

His unique recording of a solo trilogy, "Ukrainianism," was identified as "one of the best solo piano recordings in recent years" in Down Beat magazine. Mr. Stetch is a Steinway Artist and has been a guest on such programs as NPR's "Piano Jazz," "Jazz Set" with Branford Marsalis and "Weekend Edition" with Liane Hansen.

The proceeds of the event are earmarked to support the work of The Ukrainian Museum in its new facility and will also go toward maintenance of the recently constructed building.

The museum announced that several individuals have become sponsors of the event: Mark and Dr. Ariadna Bach, Andrew Lencyk, Esq., Dr. Ihor and Alexandra Sawczuk, Brian and Andrea Tomko, and Michael and Alexandra Zawadiwsky.

For information and tickets readers may contact The Ukrainian Museum at (212) 228-0110 or e-mail: info@ukrainianmuseum.org. Tickets are $150 per person.

The Ukrainian Museum is located at 222 E. Sixth St. (between Second and Third avenues) in Manhattan.

The exhibition "Alexander Archipenko: Vision and Continuity" has been extended through September 18, and is on view Wednesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Information about the museum may be found at www.ukrainianmuseum.org.

| Home Page |