“Ill-considered and destructive.” The Shevchenko Committee commented on the scandal regarding this year’s award and drew up the mandate

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The Committee of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine on Thursday, March 16, issued an official statement in which it commented on the scandal regarding the presentation of the Shevchenko Prize this year. It says that the current composition of the Committee, appointed in 2019, tried to restore the reputation of the Award by stripping it of its Soviet content and filling it with relevant modern meanings. “We focused our efforts on continuing and at the same time renewing the tradition, according to which the Taras Shevchenko National Award occupies a special, central place in the national cultural policy,” the statement said. The signatories claim that with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, they became even more aware of their responsibility, perceiving their work as an important matter on the common path to Victory. Read UP.Kultura in Telegram “However, we, like many of you, were surprised by the proposal to add a new nomination to the Award, and in fact, a parallel competition. We agree that significant works created not only after 2014, but and after February 24, 2022, as well as not to miss the active participation of artists and cultural figures in the approach of the Victory. However, we express our disagreement with introducing new nominations, criteria or any other changes to the Regulations on the National Prize of Ukraine that exist today named after Taras Shevchenko in 2023 in an accelerated manner. Today, when the winners have already been determined, when the country is waiting for the Decree and the announcement of the names of the selected laureates of the 2023 Prize fairly and according to all procedures, such changes look ill-considered and destructive. This undermines the transparency and balance of the procedures, points Provisions and weight of the Award as a stable and authoritative institution with a clear algorithm of work The appearance of new nominations or other emergencies The changes in the Regulations for awarding already determined winners undermines the credibility of the Prize as the highest award for works of literature and art in independent Ukraine,” the Committee said in a statement. It emphasizes that “this year’s laureates, determined as a result of the vote on February 15, 2023, were elected in a legitimate manner, without violating the letter and spirit of the Award, in compliance with the current Regulations.” Read also: “Shame on the Ministry of Culture – it did not manage to preserve culture during the war”: founder of Ukrainer Bohdan Logvinenko “In our opinion, this choice should be recorded by the relevant presidential decree, which, according to the Regulation, is published in the established order, as a rule , until March 9 of the year of awarding the National Prize. In addition to distrust of the Prize itself as an institution, the postponement of the Decree can also be perceived as distrust of the Committee as an expert community,” the Committee noted. They emphasized that they share the idea of ​​introducing a special award for works of art created after February 24, 2022. However, it was emphasized that it requires careful thinking and planning, in particular regarding the criteria, nomination and selection procedures. “We, as members of the Shevchenko Committee, believe that this process should take place in such a way as not to harm the existence and reputation of the Taras Shevchenko National Award of Ukraine. Perhaps it is appropriate for the initiators of such an award to think about a completely new award that would meet the stated purpose. Another option – to discuss the introduction of relevant changes and new nominations to the Regulations on the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine before the start of the nomination of works for the prize in 2024,” the statement reads. The members of the Committee reminded that their powers according to the law ended after the awarding of the Shevchenko Prize in 2022. But due to the martial law, they agreed to the offer to continue working until its end. But due to disagreement with the mechanism of creating new nominations, the members of the Committee resign: “In the current circumstances, when we were faced with the intention to change the regulations of the Taras Shevchenko National Award ad hoc, add new nominations and speed up the selection procedure, the members of the Committee do not see the possibility of continuing the work – and make up their powers”. The statement was signed by 13 members of the Shevchenkiv Committee: Dmytro Bogomazov, Volodymyr Voytenko, Maya Garbuzyuk, Tamara Gundorova, Rostyslav Derzypilsky, Rimma Zyubina, Alla Mazur, Lyuba Morozova, Viktor Ploskina, Yuliya Sinkevich, Iryna Slavinska, Ostap Slyvinsky, Yevhenii Stasinevych. Earlier, its head Yury Makarov and one of its members, Vlada Ralko, made up their powers in the Committee. In 2023, for the first time in the history of the Shevchenko Prize, on March 9, Taras Shevchenko’s birthday, the names of the laureates were not made public and the corresponding presidential decree announcing the results was not published. Instead, Zelenskyi’s press service spread the news about his meeting with cultural and artistic figures on the occasion of the 209th anniversary of Shevchenko’s birthday. On March 10, the Chairman of the Committee Makarov published a post on his Facebook that they decided to supplement the existing nominations with an additional contest “For Contribution to Victory” and to announce the previously determined laureates and new ones together on May 22, the day of Kobzar’s reburial. In a conversation with UP.Kultura, Yuriy Makarov said that he does not know why the President’s Office never published a decree on the laureates of the Shevchenko Prize 2023 and when exactly such a decision was made in Zelenskyi’s office. The next day, March 11, the Taras Shevchenko National Award Committee of Ukraine still published a statement naming the 2023 laureates. However, the winners were named only in part of the categories, and the decree announcing the winners never appeared on the president’s website. Photo: Taras Shevchenko National Prize Committee of Ukraine Shevchenko Prize is the highest creative honor for a significant contribution to the development of culture and art in Ukraine. The prize has been awarded since 1961 until Taras Shevchenko’s birthday, which is celebrated on March 9. It is awarded in seven nominations: literature, musical art, theater art, film art, visual art, publicism and journalism, literary studies and art studies. Last year, the laureates were director Kateryna Gornostay with the film “Stop-Earth”, Hryhoriy Grabovych with the series of articles “Rethinking Pavlo Tychyna – Rethinking Ukrainian Modernism”, Tamara Gorikha Zernya with the novel “Dotsia”. Read also: Oscar nominees put together the “puzzle of war”: the film “Life on the Edge” was released

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