Strategic session in the Novomoskovsk Community: Will the Mykolaiv Painting have a future?
June 21, 2024
On June 11, 2024, as part of the “Healing Communities” educational and enlightenment project, a strategic session was held at the Novomoskovsk District State Administration, bringing together representatives of the authorities and the public.
The strategic session is the third stage of the “Healing Communities” educational and enlightenment programme, which brings together representatives of government, business and civil society to analyse the challenges and opportunities facing a particular community, build a development strategy and outline the next steps to realise the common good of the community here and now.
“It’s great to see our goals, objectives and activities. But we will never start acting until we have real and concrete planning. So, we need a plan”, said trainer Svitlana Buhay at the beginning of the strategic session. Another trainer, Andrii Rozhdestvenskyi, urged the participants to take personal responsibility not only for themselves, their own family, but also for the community they live in and are called upon to develop.
That is why the participants of this session drafted future programmes and developed step-by-step ways of their possible development in the Novomoskovsk community. One of the strategic directions chosen by the participants was the Mykolaiv painting, which is unique to this region.
Mykolaiv (Ihren) painting is a technique of decorative and applied painting. Since the mid-nineteenth century, this painting technique has been widely used by craftsmen from the village of Ihren, Novomoskovsk district. A forest wharf was built in this village, which gave impetus to the development of the production and painting of chests. Gradually, this craft spread to the surrounding villages of the Novomoskovsk district and later became the hallmark of the artisans of the Katerynoslav province. Masters of painting decorated household furniture and utensils, but most of all, locally made wooden chests.
Colourful flowers, juicy berries, leaves and branches are painted with confident, sweeping strokes. Unlike the world-famous Petrykivka paintings, which are characterised by a black or white background, the background of Mykolaiv paintings is green, like the forests of Prysamaryia.
According to the participants of the strategic session, Mykolaiv painting is now being actively revived through seminars, workshops, and trainings where schoolchildren and everyone else is taught this painting technique. So, it can really become a great business card of the Novomoskovsk community.
Fr Lyubomyr Yavorskyy, coordinator of the “Healing Communities” project, also addressed the representatives of the Novomoskovsk community: “You have to believe in yourself, in your strengths and capabilities. And this is something incredible. I am watching you now, listening to you, and my colleagues will not let me lie, and I am impressed with you. Your feedback, your belief in yourself, your signatures with a fixed date to see a success story. This is power!”
“We thank the organisers and trainers of the project for the generous gifts of new knowledge and the opportunity to realise that there are people who are ready to act for the prosperity of our community. We thank all the participants for their shared values, ideas and step-by-step ways of community development. Together, we are building a new Ukraine”, the representatives of the “Nation’s Pride” Charitable Organisation who took part in the programme wrote on their Facebook page.
Press service of the Patriarchal Foundation “Mudra Sprava”