Hello, everyone. Glory to Ukraine!
It is nice to hear that. I was given this badge, and it is really cool – I liked it. It is nice that it says “Initiator.” That is true. I am very glad to see all of you. Hello. This is really cool. I prepared a few remarks, and then we will talk. This is very important to me because, frankly, I have been living with this idea for many years. And I am very glad that we are getting started. I am very grateful to our Deputy Prime Minister and her entire team for making all of this begin to take shape. Yes. God willing.
Dear artists,
We prepared a few words that I very much want to address to you. Dear finalists, our talents, our truly vibrant young people, experts.
I am very grateful to you and to the Tysiachovesna team. I am very grateful to the whole team.
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I truly congratulate you. This is indeed a landmark day, one we have been moving toward throughout this year, ever since we decided that we needed to launch this initiative and make it real. The idea was to create the largest permanent program for culture in history. And in just under a year – actually, a little less – we’ve come this far, right up to the start of all these pitch sessions today, in such a short timeframe.
This is a great result, a success for our culture. And I am very grateful to everyone who has become part of this story. Everyone who has a badge. And not only them – absolutely everyone. This is history, real history, that we are creating together. The most important and perhaps the most difficult part is still ahead.
There are several very intense and exciting, yet at the same time challenging, days ahead for everyone – above all for you, the finalists, who will have to defend your ideas, your projects, essentially your own creations. And for each of you, they are certainly the best. I know – I used to be just like that. And that is a fact. But now you have to convince others – convince them that your idea is alive and realistic, that it will work, that it is needed, undoubtedly, and needed by Ukrainians, that it will be interesting to all Ukrainians, and that your cultural product is the one that will bring people together.
And it will be important to win the battle against enemy propaganda for the hearts of people – millions of Ukrainians, millions of Europeans, millions of those who will be inspired, and already are inspired, by our love and by our Ukrainian culture. A total of 1,227 projects made it to the final. That is an amazing number. Congratulations to you. And this number proves that our cinema – your cinema – music, theater, and all of our Ukrainian art can become an even greater force. I sincerely wish each and every one of you success.
Believe in your ideas, fight for them, persuade, inspire. And of course, win. I also want to wish strength and endurance to our experts.
Indeed, you have already done a tremendous amount of work – reviewing nearly three thousand applications, selecting the finalists – and now, in my view, the level of responsibility is even higher, because the development of Tysiachovesna in the years ahead will depend to a large extent on your choice. I have been saying this from the very beginning of our Tysiachovesna program. Let me emphasize once again: from now on, the state will hold Tysiachovesna every year, will support culture every year, and every year it will grow. I am confident of that.
It will grow through new categories, new categories of participants, and new implementation budgets. This is Ukraine’s first permanent, ongoing, billion-hryvnia program to support Ukrainian culture. I am convinced that we need at least five years – ideally ten – at the pace we have today, when the industry has the capacity and our state provides the corresponding support. And this must, undoubtedly, deliver results.
In particular, it should create a substantial body of classic and non-classic, contemporary, high-quality, and competitive Ukrainian content. But Tysiachovesna must address not only this task, but many others as well, because this is certainly not only about entertainment. It is also about the economic effect, about keeping the industry consistently active, about work that, in turn, drives the development of the entire sector and the growth of individual creators and large creative teams, the development of cultural management and the industry’s infrastructure, and, importantly, high-quality arts education and a new generation of creative young people. And that is who you are. And this is indeed the goal, and this is the plan that the state will consistently put into practice. That is precisely why the results of the first Tysiachovesna will now be so important. Which projects will be created with state support, and how they will be assessed by the ultimate beneficiary of Tysiachovesna – the Ukrainian viewer, the Ukrainian listener, all Ukrainians, all our people, for whom we are here, for whom we create, for whom you create, and for whom Tysiachovesna exists. I ask all our experts to understand these challenges and this very serious responsibility. Once again, I am very grateful for your work, but I want to say that this truly is a serious responsibility.
It should not be treated as just another competition, even an important one, or simply as an ordinary pitch session – that is not what this is. Tysiachovesna is about something much bigger, something far more significant for the future – for the future of our culture and our country. What lies ahead of you is not simply a choice – a choice where it is not enough to be guided by the principle of whether I personally like something. You should look for the answer to whether Ukraine as a whole will like it. Although I understand that it is very difficult to make sure everyone will like something. There is always a risk of criticism, but criticism is normal – it is part of vibrant life.
At the same time, with all due respect to the experts – you are experts, you are professionals, you are independent experts, and that is great – what matters is that other people like it too. That is the question your decisions should seek to answer. And the decision should not be based only on whether I, as an expert who has seen a lot, would watch something like this. I'm not going to pressure anyone – please don't get me wrong – this is just how I feel.
We need a forecast – a kind of prediction – as to whether our children, our parents, and our most sensitive groups will watch this; whether Ukrainians in general will watch, listen, and take an interest in it; and whether it will become a powerful voice for Ukraine in the world. This is very important to us, especially during wartime.
Does it reveal the truth about us, about our people, about our independence, about the war, about the courage of our heroic warriors, about the Ukrainian character, about our values – then it becomes clear what we are fighting for – about what our children and young people want to become, who we are, what we want overall? Does it show our life? Does all of this reflect reality – our life, the life of Ukraine? Finding answers to all these questions and giving each project the appropriate assessment is not an easy task. It is a very responsible choice.
So I sincerely wish you good luck and good human intuition throughout this process. And I believe we will succeed. And exactly one year from now, we will not only be summing up the dry statistics of the first Tysiachovesna through projects that have already been brought to life – we will be talking about the triumphs of our cinema, animation, theater, music, and all of our Ukrainian art, which is here to stay.
To be successful, high-quality, and popular among all Ukrainians. This is an important goal for which Tysiachovesna was launched and which it will continue to pursue in the years ahead. I absolutely believe in this and, frankly, I am confident of it.
And that is exactly why great content with a mark of quality – made in Ukraine – is being created. May the best ones win!
Glory to Ukraine!
