Beyond Greener Grass

ArtsLink Assembly: Beyond Greener Grass shared critical ideas, build networks of support, develop implementation plans, and initiate a new cultural ecology for Ukraine and its diaspora.

This Assembly of Ukrainian cultural leaders continues CEC ArtsLink’s sustained and deep engagement with the cultural community of Ukraine over many years.

The broad issues for the Assembly are outlined in the Beyond Greener Grass: Strategies Towards Ukrainian Transnational Cultural Reconstruction report that emerged from the 2022 ArtsLink Assembly in Warsaw. The agenda for ArtsLink Assembly: Beyond Greener Grass (BGG) was shaped in a series of workshops for artists and cultural leaders held in Lviv, Kyiv, Berlin, and Warsaw in March-June 2024. These moderated dialogues focused on strategies for Ukraine’s cultural reconstruction, created platforms for ongoing discussion, shared knowledge, and added a wider range of artists’ perspectives to the strategic thinking and planning.

In 2025, the Assembly brought together key artists and cultural leaders to present the outcomes of the workshops—reflections, new issues and ideas, as well as constructive proposals for future action.

All presentations are accessible through the CEC ArtsLink website and on this page, with public events to be livestreamed and archived for broad accessibility.

ArtsLink Assembly: Beyond Greener Grass is organized, curated, and produced by CEC ArtsLink in partnership with Jam Factory Art Center. A newly opened independent contemporary art institution in Lviv, Ukraine, Jam Factory plays a key role in reflecting and presenting contemporary processes in Ukrainian and international art and culture, opening opportunities for public dialogue.

Friday 23 May

Welcome and Introduction / Вітання і вступ

3:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 8:30 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 10:30 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Bozhena Pelenska, Jam Factory
Simon Dove, CEC ArtsLink, New York City
Hnat Zabrodskyy, independent 

Artists Solidarity / Солідарність серед митців: перспективи і ініціативи

4 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 11:00 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Katya Taylor, independent curator, BGG workshop participant

Artists Solidarity Panel: Perspectives and Initiatives

4:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9:30 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 11:30 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Katya Taylor, moderator
Olha Sahaidak, curator, leader of the Coalition for Cultural actors of Ukraine
Borys Filonenko, co-curator of the Ukrainian Pavilion in Venice, philosopher, writer, curator, art critic, editor-in-chief of ist publishing

The panel is followed by an open mic discussion. 

Break

6:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) /11:30 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 13:30 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

The livestream will resume with the following session:

Presentation of Ukraine-Focused Decolonization Guide / Посібник з деколонізації, зосереджений на Україні

7:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 12:30 p.m. BST (Lonson, UTC +1) / 14:30 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Anastasiia Manuliak, Ukrainian Institute, in dialogue with Kristīne Milere, Exhibition Curator, Latvian National Museum of Art / Art Museum RIGA BOURSE, Latvia (online via zoom)

Ukrainian Cultural Recovery and Future Panel / Панель «Відновлення та майбутнє української культури»

8 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 1 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 15:00 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Hnat Zabrodskyy, moderator
Lia Dostlieva, artist and curator, BGG workshop participant
Kateryna Iakovlenko, artist and curator
Natalia Matsenko, curator, art critic, and lecturer

The panel will be followed by an open mic discussion.

Break

9:15 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 2:15 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 16:15 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

The livestream will resume with the following session:

Interdisciplinary and Multiregional Projects / Панель "Міждисциплінарні та багаторегіональні проєкти"

9:45 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 2:45 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 16:45 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Yevheniia Nesterovych, сultural manager, art critic, Lviv workshop participant
Daria Prydybailo, curator, Berlin workshop participant
Yuliya Kostereva and Yuriy Kruchak, Open Place residency network, Warszawa workshop participants
Les Vynogradov (online), music curator, Berlin workshop participant
Polina Bulat, dance producer, cultural manager, Warszawa workshop participant

The panel will be followed by an open mic discussion. 

Day One Reflections

10:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 3:30 p.m. BEST (London, UTC +1) / 17:30 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Kateryna Botanova, cultural critic, curator, and writer

First Day Summary

11 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 4 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 18:00 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Hnat Zabrodskyy and Katya Taylor

Saturday 24 May

Artists and Memory, Healing and Grief / Митці й пам’ять, зцілення та горе

4:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9:30 a.m. BST( London, UTC +1) / 11:30 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Kateryna Semenyuk, cultural manager, curator, co-founder of the Past / Future / Art memory culture platform

Intervention by Alevtina Kakhidze

5 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 10 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 12:00 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Alevtina Kakhidze explores the topic of decolonization in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, followed by an open mic discussion.

Break

5:40 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) /10:40 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 12:40 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

The livestream will resume with the following session:

Strategies for Cooperation Between Ukraine, New Diaspora, and Beyond / Стратегії співпраці між Україною, новою діаспорою та міжнародними партнерами

8 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 1 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 15:00 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Panel and discussion with the Assembly
Moderated by Volodymyr Sheiko (Ukrainian Institute) and Simon Dove (CEC ArtsLink)
Liza German, curator, founder of the Naked Room gallery, based Vienna
Kateryna Radchenko, curator, Director of Odesa Photo Days Festival
Kateryna Rietz-Rakul, head of Ukrainian Institute in Germany, based in Berlin
Anton Ovchinnikov (online), choreographer, performer, composer, lecturer, poet, and organizer
Olha Honchar, cultural scholar, director of the Territory of Terror Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes in Lviv, Lviv workshop participant
Anna Kopylova, independent cultural manager and curator, former director of Voloshyn Gallery 
Kateryna Alymova (online), cultural and music manager, curator, producer, co-founder of Kyiv Contemporary Music Days
Georg Schöllhammer, Office Ukraine, Vienna, Austria; editor-in-chief of springerin – Hefte für Gegenwartskunst

Day Two Reflections and Next Steps

9:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 2:30 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 16:30 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

Hnat Zabrodskyy and Volodymyr Sheiko

Thanks

10 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 3 p.m. BEST (London, UTC +1) / 17:00 EEST (Lviv, UTC +3)

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