Adrian Bryttan Stringed Instrument Collection Donated to Vovk Foundation

Adrian Bryttan Stringed Instrument Collection Donated to Vovk Foundation

 

 

November 20th, 2023The Vovk Foundation is excited to announce a significant donation by the renowned American Ukrainian conductor and violinist Adrian Bryttan (www.bryttan.org). The Adrian Bryttan Stringed Instrument Collection is comprised of several 20th Century outstanding violins and violas produced by Dmytro Didtschenko, Walter Kozovsky, and Zenon Petesh in addition to other noted makers.

“We are honored to receive a gift of not only such value but of personal and artistic importance. What an amazing way to commemorate the legacy and lifetime of such an exceptional artist and close family friend in Adrian Bryttan,” states Yurij Wowczuk, Director. Planning is underway for a scholarship, competition, and instrument loan program that will be open to students and professionals of Ukrainian origin. More details to follow in early 2024.

Adrian Bryttan also noted: “I have personally known all these Ukrainian violin makers, and have been fortunate to perform on their instruments for many decades as concerto soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician. These violins and violas possess a warm round tone, and project well in the largest concert halls. Many, in fact, were made from aged Carpathian woods in Ukraine, accounting for their uniquely robust tone. I am pleased and very grateful to the Vovk Foundation for now making these fine instruments accessible to Ukrainian professional concert performers and talented students.”

For immediate release
Contact Nikki Bowman Mills, nikki@newsouthmediainc.com or call 304.413.0104

 

Vovk Foundation Director Yurij Wowczuk and Peter J. Piaseckyj Discuss Ukrainian History And The Legacy of Dmytro Dontsov

Vovk Foundation Director Yurij Wowczuk and Peter J. Piaseckyj Discuss Ukrainian History And The Legacy of Dmytro Dontsov

The following is an edited transcript from a podcast discussion held on August 29, 2023 between Vovk Foundation Director Yurij Wowczuk and Peter J. Piaseckyj, a noted marine engineer, naval architect, entrepreneur, and expert on modern Ukrainian history and politics.

 

YURIJ WOWCZUK: Uncle Peter (Bуйко Петрус), thank you so much for taking time to share your incredible and vast knowledge of Dmytro Dontsov and the times during which he lived.  From my perspective, he was a philosopher and thinker of monolithic importance to the notion of Ukrainian nationalism.  The fact alone that he maintained critical objectivity by never joining the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) is a testament to his perspective and legacy.  It also suggests a neutrality and objectivity that is not common among philosophers associated with similar movements in other Nations.  What other characteristics of his persona and philosophy set him apart in your opinion?

PETER PIASECKYJ:  It is unconscionable that until now a political philosopher of such enormous influence and political stature has been ignored and/or maligned by the English-speaking intellectual and literary world. I therefore feel honored to celebrate his 140th Birthday with you.

Dmytro Dontsov’s life, his role in history, his works remain incompletely understood and require objective research and unbiased understanding. His legacy is of course especially relevant today with the russian invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.

Dontsov helps us understand the concept of nations and borders in 20th century interwar Ukraine as the people who were most directly affected lived in Germany, Poland and of course russia – the most ideologically virulent and murderous state of Europe’s twentieth century.

Dontsov attacked russian imperialism in all its forms and made a decisive contribution to the undermining of russophilism and the influence of Communist ideas in Western Ukraine in the 1920’s. He pointed out that Ukraine was organically tied to the West since Kyivan Rus’ times and strongly condemned those tendencies among Ukrainians in the 19th and 20th centuries that weakened this tie. Influenced profoundly by the Ukrainian struggle for independence (1917–21), he blamed its leaders for the defeat. He idealized Kozak traditions and increasingly emphasized the importance of traditionalism and a ruling caste, and the necessity of militancy and activism among the younger generation.

His ideology was built on the principles of voluntarism and idealism; he considered them, the profound irrational will as the main life force of the individual and of society. Dontsov believed that ideas have played an increasingly important role in history; hence, he denounced Marxism and historical materialism, thus provoking bitter attacks by the socialist and especially communist camps. Because of his brilliant style of writing and his oratorical skill, Dontsov’s ideas had a great impact on the minds of many young Galician Ukrainians in the 1930’s.

Nationalism and idealism became dominant ideologies. Dontsov’s theses were to a large extent the basis for the revolutionary underground activity of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in the 1930’s. His ideology (Dontsovism) was opposed in certain circles, which condemned his antidemocratic, elitist ethic and his amoral justification of any deed that benefits the primacy of the nation. More than any of his contemporaries Dontsov was a figure of both adulation and vilification. But he always was true to his love of Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation.

YW: The concept of “integral nationalism” is very vital to understanding Dontsov’s work and its influence.  In your own words, how do you define this concept and how does it relate to the Ukrainian people’s perspective today given what is happening?  Both Ukrainians living in Ukraine and abroad in the diaspora.

PP:   It is surprising that certain western historians, even those exceptionally well-versed in the Ukrainian liberation movement of the 20th century, fell into the trap of the Western academic understanding of the integrality of Ukrainian nationalism. The term and concept has been misapplied as it applies to Dmytro Dontsov and OUN. In a personal correspondence with Professor Oksana Mykytyuk, a researcher specializing in Dontsov at the Department of Ukrainian Language at the Lviv Polytechnic University, she writes to me that Dmytro Dontsov never uses such an expression. He uses only the word active nationalism (чинний націоналізм).

Dontsov’s six demands for an active “effective” nationalism were:

The nation must have a clear sense of its own identity.

A strong sense of its own interests.
Be willing to fight for its independence.
A have a strong sense of community.
A strong sense of culture.
A strong sense of history.

Just like the United Sates!

YW: Growing up, I of course was aware of Dontsov and his colleagues and thought partners, most notably scholars like Khvylovy (Хвильовий) and others.  In fact, Dontsov’s famous quote ” Кам’яне серце i Гаряча віра (stone heart and fierce, hot belief)” definitely solidified my beliefs and point of view as a teenager/young adult.  Of his many writings, I was always particularly struck by these:   Ідеологія, Націоналізм, Де шукати наших історичних традицій.  How has your perspective on the notion of Ukrainian nationalism changed over time?

PP:  My understanding of Ukrainian nationalism over time has deepened by my readings and discussions with Ukrainian historians and Ukrainian nationalists with a small n and a capital N. But my awareness came not through reading but in my listening to stories about our struggle for independence and with my interactions with people actively involved in the fight for Ukraine.

My political orientation and knowledge of Ukraine was enhanced by my listening to my grandfather Dr. Lev Hankevych (Hankewycz) and his many friends, who were Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews. My grandfather during the 1st world war – was the representative of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine in Bulgaria. From November 1918 – deputy head of the Western Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR), councilor, and representative of the secretariat, WUNR ambassador in Sofia and Vienna. In the 1930’s, he defended members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO) in Polish courts.

In essence, my claim to Ukrainian Nationalism is my lives’ experience and reading!

YW: No doubt that Dontsov’s philosophy had an influence on my grandfather’s writings, speeches, and approaches to supporting the diaspora.  Can you recall any discussions with my grandfather about Dontsov, his colleagues, and the origins of Nationalistic thoughts? 

PP:   In our family we respected him and his deep knowledge. My parents told me that he was the chief idealogue of the Ukrainian Nationalist political platform.

In his obituary, Yaroslava “Slava” Stetsko, a lifelong revolutionary and nationalist confirmed what my parents told me about him.

She wrote “… he was an ardent patriot, a man of deep thought, an extraordinary intellectual, an extraordinary expert on the revolutionary and liberation processes in Ukraine and the Russian Empire… a great and multifaceted personality. A remarkable nationalist socio-political figure, an extremely far-sighted mind, who was sometimes ahead of his colleagues in his projections, ideas, and plans. The deceased was a thoughtful analyst of world political processes and the importance of Ukraine’s place in them as a revolutionary problem of the world.”

It is a shame he did not see Ukraine become a free and nationalist state!

He was a participant of the Great Gathering of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR) held on July 1944, the umbrella organization that combined various Ukrainian nationalists and anti-Soviet partisans until the early 1960’s.

The UHVR, of which your grandfather was third Vice President, was a body formed toward the end of the Second World War by members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) to provide political leadership for Ukrainian independentist forces. It proclaimed itself the supreme organ of the Ukrainian people in its war of revolutionary liberation.  The council’s organizers hoped to establish a broader political and social base for armed resistance to both the German and the Bolshevik occupational forces and sought to attract support from outside the OUN, although the OUN would continue to serve as the UHVR’s ideological and organizational foundation.

Unfortunately, Ukrainian political terms do conform to western standards and therefor sound awkward and grandiose.

He was in a very select group of Ukrainian patriots in the UHVR. They were resolute, knowledgeable, driven to action and fearless – Dontsov’s ideal.

YW: Your review of Trevor Erlacher’s book* on Dontsov was very insightful.  In it, you very correctly point out inaccuracies about the world’s perception of Ukrainian nationalists and nationalism.  You identify “white spaces” in history.  You challenge certain presumptions and albeit, misconceptions.  Given the challenges we face with “setting the record straight,” what are your thoughts about where we go from here?

*Ukrainian Nationalism in the Age of Extremes, An Intellectual Biography of Dmytro Dontsov, Harvard University Press (Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies) – May 4, 2021,by Trevor Erlacher

PP:   The new orthodoxy of thought in Academia about Ukrainian nationalists and nationalism in Ukraine as well as in independent Ukraine is the continued implications about nationalists and nationalism such as collaboration, fascism, anti-Semitism, ultra-nationalism, and the study of intercultural legal extremism.  All of these falsehoods are captured in the words currently also used by russian propagandists. It needs to be emphasized that the Ukrainian Nationalists had no one to turn to for military training or arms, so the word collaboration is absurd and meaningless in historical discourses!  There is wisdom in the aphorism, “the enemy of my enemy, is my friend”.

It is imperative that historians write about people like your grandfather and my father, who risked life of his family (namely, me as well) He was the forest administrator of the Metropolitan Yaktoriv-Univ forests. His foresters, and the villagers of Yaktoriv, Halychyna, all participated in saving them.  He miraculously survived incarceration in Stalin’s dungeons in Peremyshliany.

We need to set the record straight about TRUTH – with facts.

Yurij, thank you organizing this Podcast to Honor the memory of Dmytro Dontsov, one of the foremost political philosophers of Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine and her Heros!

 

The Vovk Foundation partners with Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA)

The Vovk Foundation partners with Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA)

 

August 30th, 2023The Vovk Foundation 501(c)3 is pleased to announce that it has partnered with the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) to collaborate on 1) supporting individual entrepreneurs, scientists/engineers, students, and investors, as needed and appropriate, through the business startup and maturation process, 2) facilitating introductions to the same to make said individuals aware of the Vovk Foundation and its sponsoring organizations, 3) conducting discussions and reviews around specific deal flow, specifically in the defense, and security sectors, 4) collaborating on conferences, workshops, and related activities, and 5) working towards the establishment of a physical presence in Ukraine for this partnership.

UVCA, a member of Invest Europe, was established to spread the word about Ukraine’s achievements and opportunities and to support investors in every aspect, from providing reliable information to establishing international connections at the industry and government levels. UVCA shapes the future direction of the private equity industry by promoting investment opportunities of Ukraine, representing interests of private equity investors to policymakers and improving the investment and business climate of Ukraine. 

“For me personally and for the Association as well,” says Dmytro Kuzmenko, UVCA CEO “this partnership means a new page in the promotion of the ecosystem of Ukrainian startups and new opportunities for fruitful cooperation with American investors and companies. As for Ukrainian tech entrepreneurs and startups, this is a great opportunity to open new markets, attract more investments, achieve new results and support our country in its fight for freedom and independence. I believe that this partnership will allow us to create a strong and sustainable basis for the further recovery and development of the Ukrainian economy by creating greater opportunities for joint investment and joint ventures with the most outstanding Ukrainian entrepreneurs.”

The Vovk Foundation was established in 2023 to offer assistance and support to Ukrainians and those of Ukrainian ancestry. The foundation focuses on advocacy in the following areas:

  • Education—Provide targeted financial support and scholarships
  • Entrepreneurship—Support the development of entrepreneurialism
  • Innovation—Promote defense and commercial innovation activities
  • The Rebuild—Help restore scientific, industrial, and educational infrastructure
  • Truth Seeking—Amplify the facts about Ukraine and Ukrainian nationalism

“We are very pleased to partner with UVCA and play an active role as it supports one of the critical focus areas for our foundation, namely, entrepreneurship and new technology development,” says Yurij Wowczuk, director of The Vovk Foundation. “Our missions are aligned and this commitment will help deliver strong and sustainable growth of the Ukrainian venture ecosystem.”

For immediate release
Contact Nikki Bowman Mills, nikki@newsouthmediainc.com or call 304.413.0104

 

Graduate Student at Prestigious School Selected by UNWA for First Vovk Scholarship

Graduate Student at Prestigious School Selected by UNWA for First Vovk Scholarship

NEW YORK – A Ukrainian-American student in the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, has been selected by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA) as the first recipient of an inaugural $4,000 scholarship offered in partnership with the Vovk Scholarship Foundation. 

Maria Kulchyckyj is pursuing a Master’s degree in public policy at the prestigious school with a focus on democratic reform in Ukraine.  

“I want to use the knowledge gained from graduate studies to join international development teams engaged in reconstructing Ukraine,” says Ms. Kulchyckyj. “I strive to be a senior U.S government advisor to Ukraine and assist Ukraine in becoming a full member of the European Union and other Western alliances.”

The UNWLA Vovk Scholarship award is granted to persons of Ukrainian descent, including Ukrainian-Americans, who have completed their freshman year at an accredited U.S. university as full-time students and maintain a very high academic standing.  It is being offered for the first time in 2023.

“This is a very challenging scholarship program,” says UNWLA president Natalie Pawlenko.  “It is aimed at identifying and developing potential leaders of the Ukrainian community in the United States with the appropriate skills to influence government policy.  We are very pleased to be partners with the Vovk Foundation in this regard.”

The Vovk Foundation honors the memory of two patriarchs:   Ivan Vovchuk, a noted scholar, writer and leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN); and, his son Andrew, an accomplished engineer and technologist.

“We are thrilled to partner with such a storied and successful organization as the UNWLA to administer a scholarship program for students of Ukrainian heritage,” states Dr. Zenovy S. Wowczuk, Vovk Foundation President.  

“It is our intention to work in concert with UNWLA to have a permanent endowment that will allow for not only multiple scholarship awards, but also highlight the involvement and engagement of students in their heritage and culture.”

An active member of the Ukrainian-American community in Washington, D.C., Ms. Kulchyckyj completed her Bachelor’s degree (Magna Cum Laude) in International & Global Studies and Health: Science, Society and Policy at Brandeis University.  Her extensive studies and work experience have provided her with a strong background in public health. 

Ms. Kulchyckyj has also received honors and awards recognizing her participation in a wide range of activities including data collection for public health research and fund raising.

“When Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, I knew I had to help Ukrainians in need,” says Ms. Kulchyckyj.   

She led an online fundraiser that donated more than $20,000 to humanitarian aid organizations in Ukraine, including $2,000 to help a military hospital in L’viv to purchase an X-ray machine. 

In addition to the UNWLA Vovk scholarship, Ms. Kulchyckyj is a recent co-winner of the Eva Staszkiw scholarship, also administered by the UNWLA.

For more information:
UNWLA Press Service
609-964-9878

 

VOVK Foundation Sponsors Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival

VOVK Foundation Sponsors Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival

Sky Philanthropy, Boston University Center for the Study of Europe; Music, Arts & Fashion Productions and Sky International center present:

Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival 2023: Where culture and freedom meet philanthropy
Saturday, August 26, from 2PM – 9PM
Boston University Beach, 270 Bay State Rd., Boston, MA 02215

The vibrant and cultural city of Boston is eagerly anticipating the return of the Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival. This remarkable event, organized by Sky Philanthropy, will captivate attendees with a celebration of Ukrainian culture, performances, and a commitment to philanthropic endeavors. The festival is set to take place on August 26, 2023, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Boston University’s Campus (270 Bay State Rd.).

Drawing inspiration from last year’s resounding success, which united over 3,000 people from diverse communities and over 30 organizations, the Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival promises an unforgettable experience. This year’s festival will showcase activities and performances that encompass the essence of Ukrainian music, dance, food, visual arts, and traditions. Attendees can look forward to a day filled with history, rich culture and opportunities to contribute to meaningful causes.

At the heart of the Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival lies Sky Philanthropy, the festival’s dedicated organizer. Over the past year, Sky Philanthropy has made a substantial impact, donating over 60,000 lbs. of medical supplies, generators, autonomous lights, countless first aid kits to soldiers, school supplies to children, and even facilitating the acquisition of a cargo truck with the support of a Swedish parliament member. The remarkable acts of generosity of many volunteers involved in the organization of the festival highlight the commitment to making a difference in the lives of those in need.

Extraordinary talent is set to perform at the Boston Ukrainian Festival in 2023. One of the best Ukrainian Dance Ensembles in the United States, The Yunist Dance Ensemble, will showcase a wide variety of dances and costumes from different regions of Ukraine. Eurovision 2023 special guest and 2010 Eurovision finalist representing Ukraine, Alyosha, will perform original songs. Additionally, the Ukrainian Festival Chorus, conducted by Jorge Soto will bring together a diverse community of singers to welcome festival goers with the Ukrainian National Anthem. Boston University, Harvard University and special guests will join in panel discussions, educating the public about Ukraine’s history and current events. 

The Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival is an event that transcends borders, inviting individuals from all communities to celebrate the culture, advocate for freedom and democracy, and support the population in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees in the US. 

For more information, sponsorship opportunities, or to get involved, please visit https://linktr.ee/boston_ukrainian_festival or contact marketing manager Murphy Mellowes at mellowes@bc.edu.

Media Contact:
Murphy Mellowes
Boston Annual Ukrainian Festival
Phone: (414) 551-2306
Email: mellowes@bc.edu

Festival’s co-founders:
Olga Lisovska, (857) 919-4832, lisovska1@aol.com
Natasha Sky, (781) 929-8077, natbabushkina@gmail.com

Event footage from last year’s festival can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX7xMIOAeck