The sixth Ukrainian Art Festival Bouquet Kyiv Stage 2023 has already taken place, and that's the main thing! This was the second festival we held during the ongoing war in Ukraine and under martial law regulations.
The special feature and achievement of this year's festival was that we managed to hold a full-fledged, multidisciplinary, comprehensive large-scale event featuring various forms of art: music, visual arts, cinema, theater, and literature.
In total, the audience was presented with up to 40 events, including premieres and projects. The majority of artistic projects were created within the past year.
The main conclusion drawn from the festival is that Ukrainians have preserved their humanness despite the horrors of this inhumane war. People gravitate towards high art, artists continue to create their works - testimonies of our time, audience halls are packed, and enormous queues are formed at the entrance to Sophia.
Humanness is something that cannot be destroyed in Ukrainians.
The slogan of this year's festival - "Walk and ye shall reach!" - is an internal feeling of many Ukrainians. This slogan guided the preparation and, indeed, the execution of the festival.
The Bouquet Kyiv Stage 2023 festival unfolded amid the sounds of air sirens, but the voice of art was more powerful, convincing, and life-affirming.
It is crucial that despite the poignant artistic content, people were left with a sense of unity, upliftment, and faith in the victorious power of light and life after the festival concluded.
The festival has come to an end; however, the viburnum tree which we planted on the opening day as a symbol of memory for Ukrainian artists who perished in the great war, remains in Sophia Garden.
This viburnum tree will continue to grow, bloom, be covered in red berries every autumn, and symbolize the continuation of life and our responsibility to the fallen heroes.