SUPPORTING UKRAINE

The Russian war on Ukraine has brought unspeakable horrors and destruction. The suffering caused by the war can hardly be put into words: cities destroyed to the ground, countless war victims, longtime divided families. This new reality was impossible to accept and so we resisted. While the Ukrainian army wrote history with its feats of relentless heroism at the frontlines, so many of us civilians of all nationalities inside and outside of Ukraine resisted in any way we could find, attempting to force the reality back on track.

Upon Russia’s offensive invasion of Ukraine in 2022, an unmatched wave of solidarity passed through humanity, with the urge to support our Eastern European neighbor as much as possible. Amongst them star violinist Lisa Batiashvili, who herself as a child had to flee her homeland Georgia with her family in the early 1990s to escape the impending civil war. Having personally organized a transport of medicine worth 30.000 euros to Ukraine upon the war, Lisa Batiashvili soon followed by collecting donations adding up to the amount of 10.000 euros, to purchase protective clothing for local musicians in war zones. In March 2022, the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation then started awarding grants directly to Ukrainian musicians, many of whom were affiliated with Ukraine's top orchestras, ensembles and conservatories.

The citizens of Ukraine are fighting not only for their own survival, but for their cultural heritage as well, and this must be preserved by all means. A country with a rich culture dating back thousands of years, Ukraine's global contribution to music is immense and its musicians and their families now find themselves on the brink of survival with their livelihoods destroyed. Performance venues were bombed, professional ensembles fragmented, salary payments suspended and employment contracts terminated. Most were separated from their families across the border, others sheltering in basements, and all of them in need of our assistance. Many of the affected musicians left behind not only their homeland, but also their working tools, in other words, their instruments. Many had to flee their home cities, which have been utterly ruined by bombardment, and are desperate for income.

RELIEF FUND FOR UKRAINIAN MUSICIANS

Initiated by Ukrainian-American violist Alexander Vavilov, the Relief Fund for Ukrainian Musicians (RFUM) started collecting large contributions to support humanitarian assistance for Ukrainian musicians and their families. Rapidly formed within just a few weeks, RFUM got busy right away with sending the much-needed urgent financial aid to Ukrainian musicians. With so much need to cover and limited resources at hand, the fund specialized in helping musicians from places which suffered the brunt of the invasion. The program reached musicians who escaped Ukraine's borders as well as those who remained in their war-ravaged homeland. Beneficiaries were identified through musician networks and personnel info from musical organizations in Ukraine a process that was supervised by the fund's Advisory Board.

DIRECT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE SURVIVAL OF UKRAINIAN MUSICIANS

Our rather substantial aid was enough to help musicians pay their rent and feed their families for months. The grant sum, generally set at the amount of 500 euros unless individual cases under justified circumstances called for an exemption, was substantial enough to influence relocation planning, enabling them to make potentially lifesaving choices and get their families to greater safety. Some told us they spent it on replacing the destroyed instrument, others – on medical care, yet others – to help equip family members to go fight to free their country. But most often our beneficiaries told us how powerfully moving was the mere fact that they were cared for, that someone thought of them and made an effort to help, that they were not forgotten in their darkest hour.

RECIPIENTS INCLUDE MUSICIANS FROM KHARKIV, MARIUPOL, SIEVIERODONETSK, CHERNIHIV, SOLEDAR, BAKHMUT

Just as the world became horrified by the images of devastation of Mariupol, we were on the phone with musicians who managed to escape, often with just the clothes on their backs, and were desperate to get help buying essentials. In less than a year we have sent aid to dozens of refugees from Mariupol, including the entire Mariupol Philharmonic. We helped many musicians from Kharkiv, just as they stayed in that ancient center of culture while it was being bombed almost daily that year, those from Sievierodonetsk and Bakhmut, cities raised to rubble, and many others. Born out of utter despair and with the urge to fill a gap in helping out our fellow musician friends, we are headed towards completing seventeen months of devotion to our Ukraine project. It is not surprising that while originally formed to address the urgent need resulting from the initial shock of the Russian invasion, the fund ended up working way past this target.

THANK YOU FOR 130.000 EURO DONATIONS FOR UKRAINE

With dedicated charity concerts, several larger grants and many small donations from all over the world, we were provided with the means of more than 130.000 euros to pass on to 230 individual Ukrainians in need, people whose lives have been changed forever, often in ways that are too traumatic for print. Witnessing the unsolved hardship and continuous suffering, our hearts remain heavy as this summer we come to a close with a project introduced as emergency relief. The need is far from over and unfortunately it will stay strong for many years to come, past Ukraine’s victory, the end of war, and into the long period of reconstruction. Our fund has been created to address an urgent need but was not set up to provide a lasting solution. As the work of the fund wraps up, our thoughts and efforts will stay with Ukraine and our gratitude will forever last with the numerous donors who helped the fund to shine a life-saving light ever so brilliantly.

Our thanks goes out to each and every one having made this meaningful community and contribution possible. Thank you to Alexander Vavilov, who dedicated enormous efforts to build the Relief Fund for Ukrainian Musicians and taking on the many challenges we faced in the process. Our togetherness truly made a difference in the lives of many.

Final report by authors Alexander Vavilov & the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation