Another memorable and eventful year has come to an end and with it one of our projects, “INKuLtur – For Inclusion and Participation in Cultural Life”. It’s time to take a look at what events organised by our partners and the INKuLtur team within the framework of this project have made the past year 2023 remarkable for us. 

Within the project timeframe, three cultural institutions were selected in Ukraine by the partner organization All-Ukrainian Foundation “Step by Step”: the House of Culture “Energetyk” and the public library of the city of Vyshhorod, as well as the House of Culture in the Chotyanyvka community. In these institutions, a comprehensive needs analysis was conducted, followed by consultations regarding their accessibility. Subsequently, each of these institutions received a mini-grant, which they utilized to eliminate barriers. 

In addition to analysis, consultation and mini-grants, the project period included training seminars for institutional staff and meetings with local authorities to share expertise and knowledge in dealing with people with disabilities. 

In 2023, a new organisation in Ukraine “The League of the Strong” joined our project. Together we organised a networking event called “United for Inclusive Rebuilding Ukraine” in Kiev on 15 June 2023. The event brought together 30 civil society representatives and local and international experts. During the event, special attention was given to the presentation of successful inclusion and accessibility practices already implemented in different cities across the country. 

This was followed by a joint statement emphasising the importance of inclusive reconstruction. It called on representatives of government authorities and local self-governments to consider and uniformly implement accessibility and inclusion standards in the reconstruction of Ukraine. 

In November 2023, a two-day training on monitoring the accessibility of public facilities was conducted in Kyiv for representatives of local territorial communities. Subsequently, five monitoring trips took place with representatives from local administration and self-representation organizations of people with disabilities. The aim of this initiative was to raise awareness among representatives of government authorities and civil society regarding the standards of accessibility for public facilities, as well as to enhance understanding of the methods and tools used in monitoring. 

At the same time, a multiplier training programme was held in Armenia and Georgia during the project period, which was aimed at employees of cultural institutions. Together with our partners Caritas Aregak Foundation and Association “Anika” we managed to gather 30 people to participate in the training programme. The main aim of this training was to improve the accessibility of museums, libraries and theatres for people with disabilities. 

On 16 June, within the framework of the project, the association “Anika” organized together with the 15 new trained and graduated multipliers in Georgia an inclusive cultural event at the Ethnographic Museum of Tbilisi. The event was attended by many organizations, including the National Museum of Georgia, Rustaveli National Theater, and Vaso Abashidze State New Theater. 

On 1 July, participants, organisers and guests from Armenia gathered for a closing event of the Fellowship program for multipliers at the Emili Aregak Centre in Gyumri. The participants discussed the future of inclusion in culture and summarised the highlights and results of the programme. Afterwards they presented their project ideas and Marianna Harutyunyan, one of the programme trainers, announced the winner: the National Gallery of Armenia with its project idea “Touchable Gallery”. The small grant of 2000 euros was handed over to Hasmik Badalyan, the representative of the National Gallery. 

As part of the project, an interactive networking platform has been developed. It brings together experts in the field of inclusion and accessibility. This network platform provides cultural institutions, stakeholders, influencers and all interested parties with independent access to international expertise, regardless of the project applicant. The platform currently includes 58 experts and organisations from Armenia, Georgia, Germany, Ukraine and other countries. 

So 2023 was for us. In the new year we will continue our work and do even more together with our partners. Stay tuned! 

This project was a part of the INKuLtur-Programme and was implemented by Dialogue For Understanding e.V in collaboration with partners from Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and Germany in 2022 and 2023 funded by the Federal Foreign Office.