The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications held the first founding meeting of the Alliance of Cultural Sustainability – an international platform created at the initiative of Ukraine to unite the efforts of governments, international organizations and expert communities to strengthen the role of culture in the formation social stability, recovery and peace-building processes in response to global challenges.
This meeting was a continuation of the implementation of the Rome Manifesto, adopted in the summer of 2025, and is based on a number of strategic documents, including the Vilnius Call for Action (2024), the G7 Declaration “Culture is the Common Good of Humanity” (Naples, 2024) and the Uzhhorod Declaration (2025).
T.v.o. Tetyana Berezhna, Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, emphasized the importance of institutional consolidation of the cultural dimension in security and recovery policy:
“We are turning an idea into a reality – creating a global platform that brings together governments, international organizations and partners to make culture the foundation of resilience, recovery and peace.”
She emphasized that culture during the war plays a key role as a source of identity, national unity and social cohesion. She also reminded that according to the Law “On the Basics of the State Policy of the National Memory of the Ukrainian People”, adopted in August 2025, culture is officially recognized as a component of the national security system, and the Strategy for the Development of Culture until 2030 defines it as one of the main tools for the restoration of communities.
First Deputy Minister Galina Grigorenko presented the architecture of the Alliance, calling it a tool for sharing knowledge and coordinating efforts aimed at preserving and restoring culture in wartime conditions. She drew attention to the severe losses in the cultural sphere: economic losses exceeded 24 billion dollars, thousands of cultural heritage sites and infrastructure were damaged or destroyed, and 44% of the population lost access to cultural services. These factors became the basis for creating an effective mechanism for supporting culture as a key element of national stability.
During the meeting, the structure of the Alliance and the road map for the next six months were presented. Among the planned initiatives: the launch of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund, the implementation of programs for the use of equipment provided by international partners to strengthen the capacity of cultural institutions, the development of the exchange of experience between communities and specialists, the expansion of public-private partnerships, as well as the holding of art residencies for foreign artists in various regions of Ukraine.
This founding meeting became a preparatory stage for the Second International Conference “Cooperation for Sustainability”, which will be held in November 2025 in Copenhagen, where the functioning mechanism of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund will be presented.
