Cultural Emergency Response (CER), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the protection of cultural heritage under threat, announces the launch of the Black Sea Regional Hub. The hub was created in partnership with Ukrainian public organizations - the Agency for Cultural Sustainability (ACURE), the Laboratory for Monitoring Ukrainian Heritage (HeMo) and the NGO "Museum for Change".

The official launch of the regional hub will take place on September 9, 2024.

The CER regional hub in the Black Sea will become a critical center for coordinating efforts to protect Ukrainian cultural heritage in the context of the ongoing war.

In 2022, in cooperation with the Headquarters for the Rescue of Heritage (HERI), CER provided financial assistance to more than 100 cultural institutions, conducted damage assessments of monuments, provided vital materials and supported efforts to prepare Ukrainian museums for winter. In 2023, CER provided support in the transportation of materials, documentation of damage and stabilization of buildings, provided material support to cultural institutions of the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions. In addition, the National Restoration Center received assistance, and the project of a mobile laboratory for the digitization of museum collections was launched.

The experience gained from working in Ukraine over the past two years has led to the creation of a permanent hub that will bring together the work of leading cultural heritage rescue organizations in Ukraine to increase efficiency in overcoming the challenges caused by the war.

More information about the Black Sea Regional Hub CER will be announced at a press conference to be held on September 9 at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center at 11:00 a.m. The event will be broadcast online.

Speakers:

• Anastasia Bondar, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine
• Robert Quarles van Ufford, head of the Department of Cultural Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
• Vanessa Fraga Frol, Head of Cultural Emergency Response Programs
• Oleksandra Kovalchuk, founder of Museum for Change (Odesa)
• Ihor Poshivaylo, general director of the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity, co-founder of the Agency for Cultural Sustainability
• Vasyl Rozhko, founder of Heritage Monitoring Lab, head of Tustan NGO (Lviv)

(More information: 097 602 34 22 Ksenia Dvornikova)