VERONIKA SKLIAROVA & PARADE-FEST
LONG-TERM COLLABORATION - UKRAINE
Veronika Skliarova from Parade-Fest and Zoe Lafferty from Artists On The Frontline first began collaborating in 2020. Travelling across Ukraine conducting in-depth research, their projects focused on how arts, activism and social movements have come together to fight political change and the power of cultural resistance in the face of Russian colonisation, invasion, and censorship in the last 100 years. Each iteration of their work pushes the boundaries of testimony, blending it with digital technology to amplify stories on the global stage.
VERONIKA SKLIAROVA
Veronika Skliarova is a renowned independent Producer, Cultural Manager, Cultural Activist and Arts Journalist. She is the Founder and Producer of Parade Fest and Director of ART DOT NGO.
Currently, she is leading "Art Therapy Force" a large-scale therapeutic project and is publishing the 2nd edition of Anthology24 a collection of texts for theatre written after the start of the full-scale invasion.
Recently, she was coordinator of the Ukrainian pavilion at the Avignon Festival, was a member of the jury of the Polish drama award Avrora in Bygdoszcz, and coordinator/producer of the exhibition “Kurbas. Maysterni”.
PARADE-FEST
Originally based in Kharkiv, Parade-Fest is one of Ukraine's leading independent multidisciplinary arts organisations.
Both through an annual festival and year-round creative projects, Parade-Fest focuses on social and political issues, investigating Ukrainian identity and self-determination.
Founded by Veronika Skliarova, it provides a much-needed cultural platform to something loudly together - about human rights, LGBTQ+ rights, feminism and inclusion - using arts in outdoor and public spaces to engage a broad range of society.
FEAR INTO ACTION
2020 -2021
Exploring how activists, artists and everyday Ukrainians transformed their fears into creative activism.
Together with musician Stas Kononov, dancer Nina Khyzhna, and director Artem Vusyk from Neft Teatr, we collated powerful and unique testimonies. Stories took us from marching at Pride festival, acts of rebellion against the patriarchy, a survivor’s battle with cancer and women who held up balloons as they walked toward tanks in Crimea.
At the height of the pandemic, as many felt stuck in limbo due to lockdowns and isolation we shared these inspiring stories through in-person and digital spaces. When the full-scale invasion began in 2022 we published a selection to read online.
FREEDOM OF CULTURE
RESISTING AN EMPIRE
2022 -2023
Once the 2022 invasion began the transformation of fear into action became an urgent question across Ukraine. Veronika and Parade-Fest lead multiple projects that used, education, social and political creative innovation on the frontline in Ukraine.
With the widespread destruction of Ukraine’s theatres and art museums and the persecution of writers and artists, we began to research and document the attempt to eradicate the country’s cultural identity - a tactic of war. Travelling across Ukraine we interview artists discovering their bravery of artistic expression and the personal costs behind standing up to an empire.
WITH FIRE AND RAGE
2023
An immersive audio adventure, sharing stories from artists on the frontline in Ukraine. Combing testimony with video, visual art, 360 photography, poetry and music, this smartphone adventure explored creativity's powerful role in the face of invasion.
Over 1000+ audience members walked through Liverpool, hearing stories of creative resistance at key public and cultural locations from the Liverpool Everyman to the Philharmonic. Narratives took audiences from music concerts in metro stations during air raids, to artworks smuggled out of cities as rockets fell, to subversive street art created under Russian occupation.
Winning The Stage Digital Award 2024, With Fire And Rage was commissioned by Culture Liverpool for EuroFestival as part of Eurovision 2023.
POLITICS OF MEMORY
2023
In a series of talks organised by the Jam Factory and curated by Veronika, artists came together to speak about the role of storytelling during war and invasion.
Taking place across two days in Kharkiv during the ongoing bombardment, artists Peter Armenovsky, Nina Khiznoi, Zoe Lafferty, Veronika Skliarova and Dmitry Zaets led talks and discussed their experiences and challenges creating art in the context of war.
BETWEEN THE EARTH AND ME
2024 - 2025
“Between The Earth and Me” explores through testimony the connection between personal and environmental catastrophe in Ukraine and how the impacts of ecocide, genocide, and colonialism are deeply interwoven.
First-hand narratives reveal the deep connection between life, death, and the land—soil as a burial ground, earth as protection in frontline trenches, overgrown fields as a mask for landmines, and how birds' names have become references to identify drones.
Following stories from diverse regions, landscapes, and generations, "Between The Earth & Me" aims to celebrate all forms of life and Ukraine's deep-rooted environmental values. It is both a lament for the devastating impact of war on people and the planet and an exploration of what regrowth means in the face of profound loss.
Currently in development, September 2024 saw the first research phase.
VICTORIA AMELINA
At the beginning of July 2023, writer, poet and war crimes researcher Victoria Amelina was killed in a Russian missile strike.
Victoria’s mission to piece together and connect Ukraine’s history, geography and culture, in turn, built connections and solidarity with those internationally.
It was Victoria’s knowledge and documentation of the attempts to destroy Ukrainian cultural identity, that prompted us to meet and ask her to contribute to With Fire And Rage.
LUTFIYE ZUDIYEVA
On the 22nd of February 2024, Lutfiye Zudiyeva, a Crimean Tartar writer, journalist and Co-ordinator of the Crimean Solidarity Human Rights Network was detained.
It was an honour to get to know Lutfiye and her formidable work as a writer and human rights defender, through collaborations on Fear Into Action in 2021 and With Fire And Rage in 2023, created with Parade-Fest and Veronika Skliarova.