January 21, 2017

International conference to examine “Ukrainian Statehood 1917-1921: Institutions and Individuals”

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NEW YORK – On February 24-25, the Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University will convene a conference titled “Ukrainian Statehood 1917-1921: Institutions and Individuals” that will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Ukrainian Revolution and the creation of the modern Ukrainian state.

The conference will focus both on the important institutions that were founded under the Ukrainian Central Rada/Ukrainian National Republic, the Ukrainian State of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky and the Ukrainian National Republic under the Directory, and on the individuals that formed them.

These state institutions proved to be essential in organizing and giving structure to Ukrainian political, educational, cultural and religious developments at that time. The successes and failures of these initiatives provided models that were both emulated and adjusted in subsequent years and that continue to inform Ukrainian nation-building efforts today. The conference will examine the lasting impact of these individuals and institutions on Ukrainian culture and scholarship.

The two-day conference will feature panels focusing on political, academic and religious institutions, literature, visual art and music, as well as on memoirs and archives of this period. Among the people and organizations that will be examined at the conference on “Ukrainian Statehood 1917-1921” are: Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Heorhii Narbut, Ahatanhel Krymsky, Kyrylo Stetsenko, Serhii Iefremov, Yuri Mezhenko, Pavlo Khrystiuk, Mykhail Semenko, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, the National Library, the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts and the Kyiv Conservatory.

A characteristic shared by many of the aforementioned individuals is that they were involved in several fields and institutions at once: the academic, literary and political activities intersect in one variety of individual, while the religious, political and musical in another. The conference at Columbia University will allow theses particularities to be analyzed from different angles. Another important aspect underlying both institutions and individuals of this period – emigration – will also be touched upon in multiple panels.

Participating in the international conference will be scholars from the United States, Canada and Ukraine, including: Andrew Fedynsky, Olena Haleta, Tamara Hundorova, Oleh Ilnytzkyj, Valentyna Kharkhun, Myroslava Mudrak, Victor Ostapchuk, Marko Stech, Melanie Turgeon, Maxim Tarnawsky, Mark von Hagen and Zenon Wasyliw.

The first day of the conference will conclude with a reception at 6-8 p.m., while the second day will close with a concert at 7:30 p.m. focusing on priest, composer and UNR government minister Kyrylo Stetsenko and the genre of the Ukrainian art song, which he developed at that time and which has recently been rehabilitated. The concert will take place at the Ukrainian Institute of America (co-organizer of the conference) and will feature Monica Whicher (soprano), Andrea Ludwig (mezzo-soprano) and Albert Krywolt (piano).

The conference begins at on 1:30 p.m. on Friday, February 24. The venue is Room 151, International Affairs Building, 420 W. 118th St.

The entire conference, including the reception and the concert, is free and open to the public. No registration is necessary to attend the conference panels, but registration is necessary to attend the concert. Readers should register for the concert at http://ukrainianinstitute.org/event/ukrainian-art-song-concert/. For more information, they are advised to contact Mark Andryczyk at 212-854-4697 or at [email protected].

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