CSM

Monitoring of the Ukrainian press in the first half of 2013 has shown that the amount of paid-for political and commercial materials keeps growing and journalists are encountering ever greater interference. This is all happening against the backdrop of a major redistribution of the press market, with media holdings being bought and sold through non-transparent deals and important social and humanitarian publications on the verge of closure. The most vulnerable in this situation is cultural journalism. The control of the press by private capital, interested in having tools of public influence ahead of the next elections, is leading to the disappearance of reporting on culture.      

But at the same time, demand among Ukrainian society for quality products and intellectual discussion is growing. Culture is becoming an important area of social dialogue, the struggle for civil rights, and critical reflection on political, economic and social life in Ukraine.        

One topic often on the agenda at cultural events in Ukraine is “Cultural Critique – for whom and in what form?” Ukrainian authors and journalists that write about culture are disoriented and need a common strategy; they have to work at a time of rapidly developing digital media, with an audience that is placing new demands on the structure and volume of texts.    

There is strong demand in Ukraine for media trainings, summer schools on cinema and literary criticism. Similar short courses focus mainly on practical writing skills, but don't provide a bigger picture on the connection between culture and politics, the critical dimension of modern culture, cultural policy on the state and local level, mechanisms of public funding of culture, and professional standards of cultural journalism.  

Given the above-mentioned and the demands of the times, CSM is launching the "Culture 3.0" Seminar on Cultural Criticism and Reportage - an educational projects based on the online magazine Korydor. 

The seminar will bring together journalists and editors that write on cultural issues. The training program of the seminar will include four thematic modules and a number of public lectures and roundtables for a broad audience. Start of seminar – November 22, 2013; End – April 2014.  

The aim of the project "Culture 3.0" is to articulate and disseminate international standards of responsible and honest journalism in the cultural sector. The seminar will create the conditions for the development of expert cultural journalism in Ukraine by increasing the professional level of journalists that write about culture. Module curators, guest lecturers and seminar participants will work on building a common understanding of critique at a time when there is a noticeable change in the principles of communication between critic and reader, publication and audience.       

Seminar structure:

Module1: 

Culture and Politics: how culture can foster change

Why do we write about culture the way we do about politics? How do you understand this flirtation without shaming yourself. Why do politicians (and everyone else) talk about “the responsibility of artists”? Cultural canons and politics. Political and cultural hierarchy, global victories and domestic wars. Art in the showrooms and on the barricades. Artistic activism and expectation. Can and should culture form the political agenda?     

Module curator: Oksana Forostyna – deputy editor of the journal “Krytyka”, journalist, writer.

Module 2: 

Creative Economics: the taste of money

Public policy and state financing of culture, monitoring of state cultural institutions, sponsorship in culture and economic interests, realities of creative economics in Ukraine and the European model – culture and market, new models of public support, the cost of spiritual independence.   

Module curator: Iryna Solovey – co-founder of Big Idea social initiatives platform, expert on management, marketing and strategic communication.

Module 3: 

Cultural Production: The what, how and why of the cultural product

Management and curating in contemporary culture, multiple disciples in art, expanding the audience for contemporary culture, socially responsible art.  

Module curator: Aksyniya Kurina – journalist, director, producer of the film “Open Access” (Vidkryty Dostup), movie critic, public activist. 

Module 4: 

Critique of Contemporary Culture: for or against?

How to write about culture today? Why write about culture? The role of journalists and critics in forming the audience for a cultural product, lobbying change, professional standards and editorial policy.  

Module curator: Vira Baldynyuk – editor of Korydor magazine, critic, journalist  

Every module will last 3 days (Friday – Sunday), include lectures and workshops by guest lecturers, theoretical and practical exercises, study tours to relevant institutions, meetings with key speakers, group discussions, participant presentations, public discussions and roundtables on key issues.  

15 participants (out of 45 applicants) were selected on a competitive basis:

1. Darya Badyor (Kyiv) 
2. Liliya Shutyak (Chernivtsi)
3. Oksana Mamchenkova (Kyiv)
4. Alina Sandulyak (Kyiv)
5. Kateryna Syerhatskova (Kyiv)
6. Lyubov Morozaov (Kyiv)
7. Yevheniya Nesterovych (Lviv)
8. Anastasiya Denysenko (Kyiv)
9. Kateryna Churikova (Kyiv)
10. Mariya Teteryuk (Kyiv)
11. Bozhena Horodytska (Lviv)
12. Anna Protasova (Kyiv)
13. Olha Honchar (Brovary)
14. Olha Balashova (Kyiv)
15. Natalya Yeryomenko (Lviv)

The seminar will be conducted in Ukrainian, Russian and English.

The most interesting works by seminar participants will be published in the online magazine Korydor and partner publications.

The project is supported with an i3 grant program from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for Development of Ukraine.