Community Culture Bus / Gurtobus

IZOLYATSIA, in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, presents an experimental mobility project in regional Ukraine, The Community Culture Bus. The main aim of the project is to promote contemporary arts and culture in Ukraine’s smallest cities; to support the decentralization of the cultural sector and its development in villages, especially amongst young people; and to develop cultural mobility in Ukraine. The Community Culture Bus will serve to reinforce community development initiatives through cultural activities.

The Community Culture Bus will create an alternative public space for art events, a place for collaboration between artists and the local community, a meeting point for discussion, presentations and communication, and varied educational programs.

The Community Culture Bus will give the IZOLYATSIA and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv a “vehicle” to reach communities outside of the capital through cultural programs such as film festivals, book translations, Artists in Residence program, Art Wednesdays, and Donbas studies.

The Community Culture Bus itself is a multifunctional creative mobile space, created by transforming a city bus into a cultural hub. This project will partially revive the old tradition of avant garde museology and the practice of wandering exhibitions, which Ukrainian artists put on at the beginning of the 19th century.

In April 2019, IZOLYATSIA will announce an Open Call for Ukrainian towns and local communities to submit proposals. Through this call applicants will have the opportunity to recommend cultural activities on the bus that their town would most benefit from, such as presentations by local activists, artists’ exhibitions or discussions. IZOLYATSIA will also invite the most engaging ideas to present at IZONE in Kyiv.

Based on the results of the Open Call, the IZOLYATSIA project team will create a schedule confirming different cultural events across Ukraine. The Community Culture Bus will to start touring from in June 2019.