Shevchenko-fest

This literary and music festival was dedicated to the birthday of famous Ukrainian poet of 19th century Taras Shevchenko and has been held on March 9th,in the café “Chillout Donbas”. The festival lasted one day. The event was fully DIY: Anastasiya and Petro paid all of the administrative expenses, poster designs and printing from their own money. In the line-up of Shevchenko-fest were readings by young poets, music performances and movie screenings – all the music and poetry was in Ukrainian. Headliner of the festival was the musician and bandura player Zhyvosyl Lyutyi. «There were not many visitors at the 1st Shevchenko-fest, only around 30 people. I was so busy with organization of the event that had no time for promotion. The last festival took place in 2014. It occurred on the day when regional administration office was occupied. So visitors were a little worried. Art-café owner Matyna Ivanivna said: “Why should we be afraid? We don’t do anything bad!” – recollects Anastasiya Medyanyk.