The Russian attack on Ukraine is an attack on peace, democracy, and freedom of expression.
Artists of all disciplines – musicians, painters, sculptures, photographers – are trading their instruments of choice for guns and ammunition to defend their homeland and their very lives.
Ọ na-agbawa obi.
The Netwọk nlegharị anya ụwak together with Ovation TV stands with Ukrainian artists.
In the last three days, protesters took to the streets of New York, Los Angeles, and other cities around the world, including Paris, Duesseldorf, and many more to denounce Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. In Manhattan, hundreds waved Ukrainian flags and chanted “Stop Putin Now” as they marched from Times Square to the Russian Mission to the United Nations on the Upper East Side.
One of those protesters was Luba Drozd, a Brooklyn-based Ukrainian artist who immigrated to the United States when she was a teenager. Drozd’s immediate family lives in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, close to the border with Poland, and other members of the family are based in Kyiv.
As museums across Ukraine work to protect their collections from Russian attacks, Ovation TV and its Stand For The Arts coalition call on the global artistic community to speak out against Russia’s attack on the people of Ukraine and to protect the rich artistic and cultural Ukrainian heritage from devastation.
Ovation TV’s contacts embedded throughout a network of Ukrainian cultural institutions have been made aware of a Putin “kill list” that includes the nation’s most influential artists/activists
Combining this with Putin’s history of destroying and or stealing artworks of occupied countries to personally enrich his pockets or to forever erase a free nation’s cultural heritage, we implore all artists and cultural institutions to immediately help finance the safe refuge of both Ukrainian people and its national treasures.
Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, director-general of the Mystetskyi Arsenal Art and Museum Complex in Kyiv, Ukraine, has asked for the solidarity and support of the global arts and culture community.
Ukraine has made significant progress in the world of arts and literature and it is imperative that this peaceful nation remains free and independent so that it may continue these artistic contributions.
The historical, modern, and architectural artwork of Ukrainian artists must be protected and preserved. The World Tourism network applauds and supports Ovation TV and its Stand For The Arts coalition. “Arts and Tourism are very much related, said Juergen Steinmetz”, Chairman of WTN.
#StandWithUkraine.
