Koliadky in the 21st Century

Published: January 5, 2021   

We were very excited for the amazing concert that took place on January 2nd – Koliadky Reimagined: Ukrainian Carols in the 21st Century. Traditional folk met contemporary classical music in this stunning survey of Ukrainian Carols (Koliada) across generations. Ukrainian Village Voices were joined by musicians from the Aeon Ensemble. They performed centuries-old carols passed down orally and contemporary imaginings of these works by Ukraine’s finest living composers. The concert was broadcast live in both HD and 360° Virtual Reality so audiences could enjoy a completely immersive experience.

“I have to say I am loving every aspect of this – the programming, the performance, the music, the mix” – shared Dmytro during the concert. And we definitely forwarded these words to the artists, volunteers and everyone who made this happen. 

Huge thanks to all of you who could join and so supported the bigger goal! The concert was part of a larger fundraising series to help with the production of a centenary concert celebration of Shchedryk’s first performance on the grand stage of the Carnegie Hall in 2022! All proceeds from the tickets are going toward our big vision and huge goal – learn more about and support the 100th anniversary of Shchedryk. 

Learn more and support RazomCulture. Let’s share the incredible Ukrainian culture with the world!

Kino na Dakhu: 2 days, 3 Ukrainian movies, One roof top in NYC

Published: September 15, 2020   

We had a fabulous time at our first in-person event in many months and the two nights of our Films on the Roof / Кіно на даху mini- film festival!

Thank you to everyone who joined us Friday and Saturday nights – thank you for getting tickets, wearing your masks, distancing yourselves, being so kind and respectful, and even volunteering to help clean up afterwards. We were so happy to see our Razom community is as strong as ever. The location was perfect; the sounds of New York and the view of St. George Church complimented the gathering so well. And the films! We are so proud to have the Razom premiere of the film Mr. Jones on the Friday night. The film was moving, beautiful, and so important. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s on Amazon. And the screening of Hutsulka Ksenya and Julie Blue was just the following night, when we even got to hear from special guests Roxy Toporowych, writer and director of Julia Blue, and Maks Lozynsky, who played Yaro in Hutsulka Ksenya! It was an unforgettable experience. We laughed, we cried, we delighted in the treasures of Ukrainian and Ukrainian-American cinema. And all that on the Ukrainian Cinema Day.

Lots of thanks to the Razom Culture leader Leah Batstone for organizing the event, and to our volunteers – Maryna Prykhodko, Dora Chomiak, Mariya Soroka, Olya Yarychkivska and many others – for helping out. A big shout out to the St. George Academy for hosting us, and Streecha for the delicious kompot!

Learn more about Razom Culture initiatives and make sure to check our Culture Calendar for the upcoming events!

Veteranius: More veterans to receive IT skills thanks to Renaissance Grant

Published: August 19, 2020   

Thanks to the financial support of the International Renaissance Foundation and European Union in Ukraine within the humanitarian initiative “Humanity and Mutual Assistance”, as well as the IT company BWN Group, Razom for Ukraine is expanding its Veteranius project to help Ukrainian veterans, volunteers and internally displaced persons master programming skills. Project participants will also be taught English and provided with psychological support.

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Razom Emergency Response: Over $45,000 allocated to protect health workers fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine

Published: July 28, 2020   

Together with partners, volunteers and kind people from all over the U.S. Razom volunteers raised and delivered over $45,000 of supplies to health care workers who are fighting against the pandemic on the frontlines in Ukraine.

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Two hospitals in Ukraine received life-saving equipment due to Razom collaborative emergency fundraising efforts

Published: July 23, 2020   

Razom Book Club with Dotsya Prototype

Published: July 21, 2020   

When many of us are still staying at home for the quarantine measures, Razom Book Club keeps reading on and just had its fourth online meeting. This time the Club read and discussed the awarded book Dotsya (“Доця”).

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CheerUp Packages. Second Delivery

Published: June 4, 2020   

Razom continues delivering CheerUp packages to the Ukrainian community of New York as a part of our Emergency Response to the pandemic. “The purpose of ‘CheerUp Packages’ is to show that we are here, that we support each other as a community,” says Mariya Soroka.

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Emergency Response Webinars

Published: May 25, 2020   

The safer-at-home mode requests a different way of Razom meetings. As a part of the Emergency Response we have organized a series of webinars to cover various burning topics – from the basics of the coronavirus, to legal support to those “got stuck” because of quarantine and closed borders, to q&a with the one, who has experienced the travel back to Ukraine during this time.

We no longer could invite all our friends and volunteers to the office or a face-to-face meeting, but we still had to share essential information about the ongoing situation around COVID-19. That’s how the webinar series “Про коронавірус зрозумілою мовою” (Сoronavirus. Explained) has started. And the first three webinars showed the pandemic from three different standpoints:

– by Nataliya Smolynets, an infectious disease doctor (part 1 & part 2);
– by Iryna Kit, a Mount Sinai Hospital nurse, NYC (recording);
– and by our Razom volunteer Dr. Olya Yarychkivska, science of genetics, who explained the up-to-date scientific research of coronavirus and shared some useful additional resources and links – see below (recording). 

Further, we have had two webinars with our own Iryna Mazur, who shared the latest news and essential information for many Ukrainians who unfortunately got their travels postponed due to the closed borders, and quarantine measures in both countries (Ukraine and the US). You can find the recording here.

The final webinar was with Andriy Polishchuk, a Co-Pilot Project participant, who happened to be in the US for his neurosurgery internship, and had to leave because of the overall shutdown. Andriy shared his experience during the internship and his return trip to Ukraine and the quarantine measures (recording).

We are incredibly grateful to our speakers and presenters for their time, for the shared knowledge, so much needed at these challenging times! Big thanks also go to Roman Smolynets, Anastasiia Rybytska and Dora Chomiak for helping behind the scenes of the webinars. And thanks to all of you who joined the webinar and asked questions!


If you are interested in reading more, here are great resources about coronavirus:
– in Ukrainian
https://my.science.ua/tag/covid-19/
http://microbiya.com/index.php/uk/88-koronavirus-shcho-dali
https://medium.com/@pyrshevka
– English
https://www.the-scientist.com/tag/coronavirus
https://www.technologyreview.com/…/the-coronavirus-issue/

Learn more about Razom Emergency Response efforts and support the project to provide the necessary help in times of need.

Cheering NYC up with CheerUp Packages

Published: May 20, 2020   

The first CheerUp packages were delivered to our amazing Ukrainian community on Friday! Together we brought a few of much-needed smiles to Brooklyn and Staten Island.

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Care Packages for New-Yorkers

Published: May 8, 2020   

On May 5th, we devoted the special GivingTuesdayNow initiative to help the community that’s in the global epicenter of the pandemic: NYC. We are preparing Care Packages that will both cheer up Ukrainians in New York with a token of our care and appreciation and support local Ukrainian-based businesses that are suffering because of the quarantine measures. Join our volunteer team and donate today.

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