Press Releases

Eastern Europe’s Ukrainian Culture Is Focus of Celebration
At Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus on October 6

Brooklyn, N.Y.—Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus is hosting a one-day exploration of Eastern European culture, entitled “Mapping the Eastern European Diaspora II: Ukraine,” on Wednesday, October 6. The celebration includes an art exhibit, round-table and panel discussions, and a feature film. All events are free and open to the public.

Among the events are:

Two simultaneous workshops on poetry and music, from 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps, in the Humanities Building 4th floor conference room, and by Julian Kytasty in Library Learning Center 122.
A video on the Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company, from noon to 1 p.m., in LLC 122.
The feature film, “Famine-33,” from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., about a Ukrainian family’s struggle to survive a Government-created famine in 1933, in the Avena Lounge, Main Building.
A panel presentation exploring “the politics of culture,” from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps (literature), Julian Kytasty (music) and Natalia Kolodzei (art) in the Avena Lounge.
A gallery opening and reception, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., featuring the work of the late Ukrainian artist Petr Belenok in the Resnick Gallery.

Panelists Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps, who have been translating contemporary Ukrainian literature as a team since 1989, were awarded the Translation Prize given by Agni Review and Boston University. Julian Kytasty is a third-generation Ukrainian epic singer and bandura player. Natalia Kolodzei is a curator, art critic and author of many articles on modern and contemporary art, in both Russian and English, and the executive director of the Kolodzei Art Foundation. Louis J. Parascandola, panel moderator, is an associate professor of English at the Brooklyn Campus where he teaches British and African-American literatures.

The celebration of Eastern Europe is sponsored by the Campus’s art, dance, English, music and media arts departments. Previous programs have included celebrations of the African and Asian Diasporas. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call Noel Hall at (718) 488-3355.

Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. Some 30,000 students currently are enrolled at the university’s three residential and three regional campuses, including more than 11,000 at the Brooklyn Campus. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.