European Heritage Days Took Place in Vinnytsia

In 2021, the European Heritage Days were dedicated to the theme of inclusive and diverse heritage to encourage a wide audience to participate in such events and emphasize that interacting with people and communities of different cultural backgrounds enriches our lives.

In Vinnytsia, special attention was also paid to improving the accessibility of events. The European Heritage Days were organized by the Department of Marketing and Tourism of Vinnytsia City Council in partnership with the NGO "Harmony", Vinnytsia Regional Museum of Local Lore, Vinnytsia Regional Art Museum, Vinnytsia History Center and Vinnytsia Regional Clinical Psychoneurological Hospital named after O.Yushchenko.

"In working with the accessibility of museums and other locations in Vinnytsia, we are working not from scratch, but with what we inherited from the previous era," said the chairman of the board of the NGO "Harmony" Liudmyla Netskina. "People with disabilities and low mobility groups can visit a very limited number of institutions to learn more about the history of the city. Their adaptation requires a lot of financial investment and constructive decisions. But now much more attention is being paid to it, which is a big breakthrough and gives good prospects for the implementation of the ideas of accessibility."

"Barrier-free is not only physical," adds Oleksandr Vesselenyi, director of the Department of Marketing and Tourism of Vinnytsia City Council. "Events such as this year's European Heritage Days help to develop skills of working with different groups for museum staff and guides. There are some principles of working with people with limited mobility, people with hearing or vision impairments, with functional limitations, including mental. In several Vinnytsia locations there are already good examples of both accessibility and special programs. Vinnytsia Regional Art Museum works with children with autism. The Dunstan Crafts Center, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, is implementing an interesting project this year to promote medieval history for children with special educational needs."

European Heritage Days started in Vinnytsia on Friday, September 24, with a public discussion "Culture. Tourism. Inclusion". Representatives of tourist institutions of the city, public initiatives and all those willing to listen to what inclusive aspects have already been implemented in Vinnytsia and which still need to be implemented were discussed on the topic of accessibility. Among the speakers of the discussion were the Chairman of the Board of the NGO "Harmony" Liudmyla Netskina, the head of the organizing committee of the International Forum of Inclusion in Chernivtsi Mariia Nikitina and the head of the Dunstan Crafts Center Serhii Desiak. In particular, the project "Inclusive Travels in Ukraine: accessibility of museums of Ukraine" was presented, which prepares a website with information about the levels of accessibility of museums throughout Ukraine.

On Saturday and Sunday, the European Heritage Days in Vinnytsia continued with a series of excursions and master classes from regional museums and Vinnytsia guides, which took into account the needs of people with disabilities and people with limited mobility. The Art Museum conducted "Diversity in Painting" tours and pottery workshops. The Museum of Local Lore organized excursions on the theme "Interactive Museum: get involved and learn!" and a fair of master classes "Heritage of masters: a craft for all", where those interested could learn the basics of creating jewelry, embroideries and motanka dolls.

The guide Oksana Rozdorozhniuk conducted an inclusive sightseeing tour of the city for representatives of the public organization "Harmony", and Tetiana Rybak conducted tours of the psychoneurological hospital named after O.Yushchenko "House of Crazy People" with an exclusive opportunity to get to the museum of a medical institution and an inclusive tour of the central part of the city "Mama Mia Vinnytsia" for parents with prams. In total, more than 250 people attended the European Heritage Days events in Vinnytsia this year.