VOLUME 7 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.

Stick around — the night goes deep. Panel at 7PM, live score at 9:30PM, vinyl til close. RSVP even though it's PWYC so we know who to expect.

Schedule

7 PM | PANEL | "LOOTING, PROVENANCE, AND THE ETHICS OF MUSEUM COLLECTIONS" GRAHAM BOWLEY x Alexandra Shkandrij | RSVP

9:30 PM | LIVE SCORE | LES PASSAGERS x LA VIE HEUREUSE DE LEOPOLD Z | RSVP

11:00 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | MIRA MELA | RSVP

Panel | Graham Bowley x Alexandra Shkandrij

GRAHAM BOWLEY is an investigative reporter at The New York Times originally from Leicester, UK. He holds a Master's in Economics from the University of Oxford and previously worked at the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune before joining the Times. He is also the author of No Way Down: Life and Death on K2. At the Times, Bowley has become one of the leading journalists covering the art world, with a particular focus on looting, provenance, and the ethics of museum collections. His reporting spans seizures of looted antiquities from major institutions including the Met, the broader shift in how U.S. museums approach repatriation, how money launderers exploit the opacity of art sales, Nazi-era looting claims, and the politics of national museums and cultural institutions.

RSVP

Live Score | Les Passagers x La Vie Heureuse de Léopold Z

A Christmas Eve snowstorm through a Montreal plow driver's eyes — rescored live. Set over the course of a single winter day in Montreal, La Vie Heureuse de Léopold Z follows a snow removal worker caught between routine, responsibility, and quiet personal urgency. A portrait of labour, time, and the city under pressure — reimagined tonight through live score.

LES PASSAGERS is a Montreal-based project working across world music, jazz, electronic, and psychedelic rock. Their sound moves between groove and atmosphere — somewhere between Françoise Hardy, Herbie Hancock, and Tame Impala — grounded in improvisation and collective interplay. On stage, compositions expand, dissolve, and reconfigure in real time. Their work spans multiple releases and international touring, with recent projects focusing on live interpretation and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

RSVP

Vintage Vinyl | Mira Méla

Funk, soul, and disco with a touch of hip hop, jazz hop, and neo soul. Deep house, disco, soul and jazz on vinyl from a musician who plays by ear and selects by feel.

MIRA MÉLA is a jazz-trained pianist, singer, producer, arranger and DJ whose selections are informed by over a decade of performing across Canada, the US and Central America. From rocking crowds of thousands at Shambhala, regular appearances at both Toronto and Vancouver Jazz Festivals, to intimate rooftop DJ sets in Toronto's most sought after locations. Méla's selects pay reverence to the musical titans of Deep House, Jazz, Soul and Disco. Her unique sound is a fusion of UK Jazz house, contemporary vibes and classic boogie elements, with a strong emphasis on live instrumentation. She is currently recording her debut album — a neo-soul/jazz/boogie fusion project featuring award-winning musicians and her own original arrangements supported by live quintet horns and strings.

RSVP

Catch GANNA from Ukraine live with an epic concert and panel chat that's all about fresh sounds and stories.

Luminato and SVI present GANNA for an intimate evening at INSTITUT (SVI Institute).

The night begins at 6:30 PM with a conversation between GANNA and Mark Marczyk (Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Balaklava Blues, INSTITUT), exploring the intersections of folk, technology, war, and identity. At 7:30 PM, GANNA takes the stage for a solo live set.

"The talent—even magic—in musicology, composition, and vocals that flows through her in so many different ways is extraordinary" – London Jazz News (UK)

GANNA is a Ukrainian singer, composer, and producer based in Berlin. Since 2013 she has been researching and reimagining ancient folklore from her homeland. Today, she is considered "one of the most impressive singers and musicians on the European jazz and world music scene" (Ö1 Radio, Austria).

Her latest album HOME, by her ethno-jazz ensemble, was released in November 2022 on BERTHOLD records and was celebrated by the music press as "Album of the Year" (DLF Kultur radio, DE) and "Jazz Highlight of the Year" (BR radio, DE).

Her solo debut album KUPALA was released by BERTHOLD records in October 2023 and received widespread praise: "These are sounds of enchanting beauty" (BR-Klassik radio, DE). KUPALA was included in the "Best Ukrainian Albums 2023" lists by Slukh.Media and MIXMAG, and was named "New European Sound 2024" by LIVEUROPE.

Later, JOHNNY WESTCOAST takes the room deeper — a late-night journey through Ukrainian and global electronic sounds, moving between deep, melodic, and underground energy.

Andrea Kuzmich: songSCAPIN'

Every first Sat of the month, May through September, 7:30 PM at Tranzac

Mixing 25+ years of experience in Georgian and Ukrainian traditional polyphonic song with jazz and contemporary improvisation, Andrea Kuzmich (voice, guitar) teams up with some of Toronto's finest creative musicians for an elemental, groove-driven experience. In true folk fashion, expect the stage to dissolve — singing, clapping, dancing, joining in.

Carlos Gárate Where We Sing: Documenting a Folk Revival

May 8 – 29

Reception May 8
7pm-9pm‍ ‍

Since 2011, Carlos Gárate has documented Toronto’s Ukrainian art scene through an ongoing focus on the city’s folk art revival and the informal cultural spaces in which it takes place. Emerging alongside Toronto’s world music and folk revival scenes, the exhibition traces the Kosa Arts community (then Kosa Kolektiv) and the networks that form around it. The photographs move across church basements, cultural centres, house parties, neighbourhood bars, businesses, and public parks. Spanning more than fifteen years, the images foreground folk elements, gestures, and materials, presenting moments of gathering, performance, and shared cultural life as they unfold across the city.

Presented by Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre, ART at SVI, CONTACT Photography Festival

The CONTACT Photography Festival is an annual city-wide festival that began in 1997. It encompasses exhibitions, public art installations, and programs that feature the work of local and international lens-based artists every May.

The Festival’s Core Program brings together exhibitions and public programs presented in partnership with museums, galleries, and artist-run centres throughout the GTA and beyond.

The Open Call Exhibitions extend the festival’s community through the inclusion of independently organized modes of publicly presenting lens based work across the city.

VOLUME 5 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.

Tonight: an open folk session rooted in village traditions, an evening of Greek taverna music, an intimate solo set from Toronto legend of button accordion , and vinyl til close.

PWYC. RSVP so we know who to expect.

Schedule

5 PM | RESIDENCY | KRYVA KOSA‍ | ‍RSVP

7 PM | CONCERT | Greek Trio — Dimitra Kahrimanidis, Ariane Morin, Naghmeh Farahmand | RSVP

9 PM | CONCERT | Tangi Lion | RSVP

11 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | Janina Marie | RSVP

Residency | Kryva Kosa

Open acoustic rehearsal of Balkan, Baltic, and Slavic village folk — simple songs to learn, easy listening for the curious.

KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians and artists dedicated to sharing folk traditions from their diverse backgrounds. "Kryva Kosa" — meaning "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian — brings timeless village melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan, and Finno-Ugric cultures to life through music, dance, and communal exchange. They have performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka, and recently completed a four-month residency at Hart House, UofT.

RSVP

Concert | Greek Trio

From Northern Greece to Thrace to Asia Minor — music meant for folk dancing, celebrations, and quieter moments of song shared around the table. Voices, laouto, saxophone, and percussion in the basement.

DIMITRA KAHRIMANIDIS is a singer, ethnomusicologist, and recent participant on The Voice Greece. Known for her versatility and deep roots in traditional Greek repertoire, she is a familiar presence within Greek communities across the GTA. She performs on voice and laouto.

ARIANE MORIN brings her ongoing research and studies in Greek and Turkish music, cultivated in Thessaloniki and Istanbul, alongside a strong background in Balkan music. She performs on saxophone.

NAGMEH FARAHMAND is an Iranian percussionist from a musical family, trained in Persian classical traditions. Based in Toronto, she is an active performer and teacher across a wide range of ensembles and collaborations.

RSVP

Concert | Tangi Lion

Intimate solo set from toronto legend of button accordion

One accordion. A thousand miles of stories.

Button accordion wizard, cultural nomad, and longtime fixture of Toronto’s folk underground, Tangi takes the stage solo for a rare close-up encounter. A veteran of countless dance floors, tavernas, festivals, and late-night sessions, he digs deep into the folk traditions that shaped him, weaving together melodies that feel ancient, restless, and alive.

TANGI LION is a Brittany-born multi-instrumentalist, producer, and dance teacher whose career spans Celtic, Balkan, Klezmer, Brazilian, and world music traditions. Based in Toronto, he has co-founded influential projects including Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Balfolk Toronto, and Moskitto Bar, while championing cultural exchange through performance, production, and community building. Today, he continues to celebrate Toronto’s diversity on local and international stages.

RSVP

Vintage Vinyl | Janina Marie

Eclectic vinyl selections that get hearts pumping and blood bubbling — funky soundscapes, Italo-boogie-disco, and 90s-00s house.

JANINA MARIE is a Polish-Canadian DJ, record collector, and fixture in Toronto's underground music scene. Her sets span funky soundscapes, Italo-boogie-disco, and 90s-00s house. She has performed alongside Waajeed, Lefto Early Bird, and Xica Soul, toured across Europe and the USA, and appeared on Brooklyn's The Lot Radio and Poland's Czworka Radio. She is also a founding member of Group Benefits, a multi-genre dance party series dedicated to amplifying the work of women, queer, and non-binary artists.

RSVP

Today is the last day to apply for the SUS Foundation Grant for preservation and advancement of education and of the Ukrainian culture in Canada.

Grant Application Information

Background

SUS Foundation of Canada maintains a registered charitable status with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). As such it must administer its affairs subject to both CRA policies/guidelines and its own by-laws.

SUS Foundation of Canada by-laws directive

To use or grant to other charitable or educational organizations such portion of the income of the Foundation as the Board of Directors may deem proper for the preservation and advancement of education and of the Ukrainian culture in Canada.

Please note:

• Under the SUS Foundation of Canada policies/by-laws capital works/projects do not qualify for a grant.

• Funding requests for new projects must be submitted prior to project start date and cannot be submitted after projects have started or have been completed.

Canada Revenue Agency directive

The charity (SUS Foundation of Canada) may make donations to other registered charities for programs that achieve the charitable purposes of the Foundation. The other registered charities report directly to CRA.

The charity may carry out its own programs directly or through its employees or volunteers or by its intermediaries (agents, contractors or partners).

Activities through intermediaries

When working through non-registered intermediaries, SUS Foundation of Canada must be able to demonstrate that it takes an active and fully controlling part in the project or program. It must be in a position at all times to be able to demonstrate to CRA that the resources are being utilized appropriately. The applicant must supply a budget, progress reports and on completion of the project; a final report including a financial statement. A written agreement with the intermediary is also strongly recommended.

Timeline:

Deadline for Grant Application: May 31, 2026

Grants Awarded: June 30, 2026

If you have any questions about your application please contact: grants@susfoundation.ca

Click here to go to the Application Submissions page

VOLUME 4 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.

Tonight: Bohdan Ihor Antonych wrote in a trance. So did Luka Kuplowsky. Tonight, that trance becomes a full band performance — jazz, synthesizer, drum machine, and cosmic balladry in the basement. Stay late: Holy Oak Family DJ keeps it going until 2 AM.

PWYC. RSVP so we know who to expect.

Schedule

LUKA KUPLOWSKY | RSVP

8:00 PM | EVAN J. CARTWRIGHT

8:30 PM | NORIKO YAMAMOTO

8:45 PM | LUKA KUPLOWSKY & BAND

HOLY OAK FAMILY DJ | RSVP

10 PM | Vintage vinyl

Concert | Luka Kuplowsky & Band

A full band celebration of Luka Kuplowsky's new album The Grass Grows, Antonych Grows — Ukrainian orphic poetry meets jazz, new age, and cosmic balladry.

LUKA KUPLOWSKY's latest release adapts the poetry of the orphic Ukrainian poet Bohdan Ihor Antonych (1909–1937) to song. Written in a self-described trance state over six days, the record moves from demo drum machines and synthesizers into a wide scope of jazz, new age, and cosmic balladry. Tonight he performs it with a full band featuring Thom Gill, Joseph Shabason, Evan Cartwright, Josh Cole, Felicity Williams, and Michael Davidson.

EVAN J. CARTWRIGHT is a singular songwriter combining existential lyrics with masterful musicianship. Steeped in jazz melodicism, his trumpet-like phrasing and contemporary composition present an eclectic art song.

NORIKO YAMAMOTO is a mime, dancer, choreographer, and visual artist. Trained in ballet, modern, and jazz dance in Japan and New York, and in mime under renowned artist Mamako Yoneyama, Noriko will perform a solo piece as well as collaborate with Luka Kuplowsky and the band.

RSVP

Vintage Vinyl | Holy Oak Family DJ

The band sets down their instruments. The records come out. Classic cuts from the singer-songwriters that inspired this scene, with video projections of archival filmmaking from Luka Kuplowsky.

HOLY OAK FAMILY DJ is Thom Gill and Luka Kuplowsky.

RSVP

Last Day of Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch’s exhibit Kosiv Bazaar: A Living Archive of the Carpathians.

Ukrainian Museum of Canada Ontario Branch
620 Spadina Avenue | Toronto (inside St.Volodymyr Institute)

In the west of Ukraine, in the Carpathian Mountains, there is a place where magic happens. Known as the Kosiv Bazaar, it is a place where imagination is sparked, creativity flows, and the world meets.

The Kosiv Bazaar is a unique cultural phenomenon — a theatre for visitors and an essential part of everyday life for the Hutsul people. Here, tradition, craft, art, and daily life intertwine. The bazaar offers folk crafts, artworks, antiques, and contemporary goods: clothing, furniture, tools, livestock, and even transportation. All of this exists in a colourful, vibrant, and seemingly chaotic — yet harmonious — environment.

It is also a place of encounters and conversations, where local dishes and homemade moonshine are shared, and, most importantly, news, stories, and rumours are exchanged. Visitors come not only to shop, but to see and be seen.

The exhibition presents a portion of the vast collection assembled over many years by Leonard Krawchuk. The collection represents Hutsulshchyna and the neighbouring regions of Pokuttia and Bukovyna.

VOLUME 3 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave — around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door.

Tonight: a panel on historical truth and the literature of war, a rare screening of banned Ukrainian Poetic Cinema, a live improvised score laid over one of cinema's most visually ravishing masterworks, and vinyl til close.

PWYC. RSVP so we know who to expect.

5 PM | PANEL | MARCI SHORE x KAROLINA KOZIURA | "Nothing Bad Has Ever Happened" | RSVP

7 PM | FILM | "Well for the Thirsty" (d. Yuri Illienko) | Ukrainian Poetic Cinema curated by Pylyp Illienko | RSVP

9 PM | LIVE SCORE | Shaunt Raffi x The Colour of Pomegranates (Parajanov, 1969) | RSVP

11 PM | VINTAGE VINYL | Shaunt Raffi | RSVP

PANEL | MARCI SHORE x KAROLINA KOZIURA

"NOTHING BAD HAS EVERY HAPPENED"

Facing the past with eyes wide open — what does it mean to grapple with historical truth at a time of war? Marci Shore and Karolina Koziura go deep on academia, poetry, and publishing in Ukraine, and take a closer look at Victoria Amelina's neighbourly essay.

MARCI SHORE is Chair in European Intellectual History at the Munk School for Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, and formerly professor of history at Yale. She is the author of The Ukrainian Night, The Taste of Ashes, and Caviar and Ashes, and a Guggenheim Fellow. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times.

KAROLINA KOZIURA is a cultural and historical sociologist whose work centres on the legacies of violence, identity, and the politics of knowledge in Eastern Europe. Her current research focuses on the politics of hunger and the transnational contests surrounding the Great Ukrainian Famine.

RSVP

FILM | "WELL FOR THE THIRSTY" (1965)

Set in a nearly abandoned village, Well for the Thirsty follows an old man surrounded by memories of a disappearing world. One of the foundational works of the Ukrainian Poetic Cinema movement — banned on release, rarely screened — presented tonight by the son of its director.

PYLYP ILLIENKO is a Kyiv-born filmmaker and the son of director Yuri Illienko. He served as Head of the Ukrainian State Film Agency from 2014 to 2019 and is a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy and the European Film Academy. He is presenting tonight's film as part of an ongoing effort to bring Ukrainian Poetic Cinema to new audiences.

RSVP

LIVE SCORE | SHAUNT RAFFI x THE COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES

Sergei Parajanov's The Colour of Pomegranates is less a narrative film than a waking dream: a sequence of painterly tableaux drawn from the life of Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, rich with symbolic imagery, sacred music, and colour. Tonight, Shaunt Raffi gives it a new sonic body — a live improvised Ableton set with vintage samples.

RSVP

VINTAGE VINYL | SHAUNT RAFFI

Armenian folk, desert blues, ethio jazz. Threads of the evening may resurface. New ones will appear.

SHAUNT RAFFI is an Armenian music curator, DJ, and producer based in Toronto. He is the curator of Tapestry Jam, a monthly improvised music series, and the host of Sonic Salon. As the founder of Antikka, The Oud & the Fuzz, and Tapestry, Raffi has long built environments where artistry and community intertwine, rooted in Armenian, South West Asian, and North African cultures.

RSVP

Communities mark the day with cultural festivals, concerts, parades, workshops, fashion shows, school activities, and photo campaigns that showcase the beauty and diversity of Ukrainian embroidery traditions. Many cities illuminate landmarks in blue and yellow, while Ukrainian organizations, churches, and schools host educational events on regional embroidery styles and their history.

INSTITUT is a new underground cultural speakeasy living in the basement auditorium of St. Volodymyr Institute at 620 Spadina Avenue — a space that has always been there, right underneath, below generations of students, archivists, curators, and librarians. In its pilot phase (May–September 2026), it runs every Thursday from 5pm until late, featuring music, cinema, literature, and art. Ukrainian and beyond.

We are instituting the PWYC (pay-what-you-can) model — which basically means RSVP ASAP, because it's gonna fill up.

This is the first set in VOLUME 2 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave - around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...

1. INSTITUT 002 residency: KRYVA KOSA FOLK BAND
   5 PM | PWYC | RSVP

2. INSTITUT 002 concert: TYMISH KOZNARSKY TRIO & CARLO MUSCAT
   7 PM | PWYC | RSVP

3. INSTITUT 002 vintage vinyl: MIRA MELA
   11 PM | PWYC

INSTITUT 002 residency: KRYVA KOSA FOLK BAND

Open acoustic “rehearsal” of Balkan, Baltic & Slavic village folk for dance; simple songs to learn, easy listening for curious types.

Traditional balkan, baltic, and slavic village folk music for dance in an open acoustic "rehearsal" format; easy to learn songs for curious musicians; easy to absorb listening for thirsty conversationalists.

KRYVA KOSA is a collective of musicians & artists who are here to share the folk music

traditions from their diverse backgrounds. They play live music, teach folk dances at upbeat public socials, and create interactive spaces for musical exchange and learning.

"Kryva Kosa" means "crooked scythe" in Ukrainian. Join them to experience timeless village folk melodies from Ukraine and neighbouring Slavic, Baltic, Balkan & Finno-Ugric cultures of Europe.

They have performed and taught at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, Drom Taberna, Kosa Folk Arts Melanka and recently finished a four month residency at Hart House UofT.

INSTITUT 002 concert: TYMISH KOZNARSKY TRIO & CARLO MUSCAT

Malta-born saxophonist bridging the high-stakes creativity of contemporary, wartime Kyiv with European jazz; openning set by vibey jazz trio

One of them is a Canadian-born music school student figuring out the intersection of his passion and his roots. The other is a bit of an internationalist with European leanings and Latin fascination living on the front lines of the war from democracy and western values. Both are Ukrainian Jazz.

This is the bulk of the night in VOLUME 2 of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave - around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door

TYMISH KOZNARSKY is an award-winning jazz saxophonist hailing from Toronto, Canada. He frequently performs at venues such as the Jazz Bistro, the Rex Jazz and Blues Bar, and the Jazz Room, both as a sideman and bandleader of the Tymish Koznarsky Quintet. Tymish has collaborated, recorded, and studied with internationally acclaimed artists, including Kirk Macdonald, Harold Mabern, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kiya Tabassian, Lorne Lofsky, Babak Amini, and Pat LaBarbera, while also being a featured soloist on Caity Gyorgy’s Juno award-winning album “Featuring and Juno nominated project “Lemon Tree” by Ale Nuñez. He is Currently one of many musicians that perform as a part of Davies Studios projects “Listening Room,” “Marmalade,” “Neo,” and “Blues.”

CARLO MUSCAT began his musical education at the age of eight. A few years later, he picked up the saxophone and started to discover a love for jazz music. During the early years of his career, he made a name for himself through local performances in Malta before beginning to collaborate with renowned local and international musicians. In 2013, he moved to Paris, France, where he had the opportunity to explore the scene and learn from other musicians, both by listening to and collaborating with them. The Parisian scene led to the recording of his first album, 'The Sound Catalogues', which stemmed from an earlier project at the 2012 Malta Jazz Festival. During this period, he continued working on new compositions for recordings and furthering his collaborations. Carlo has performed a number of concerts around Europe, including in Paris, London, Istanbul, Milan, Berlin, Kyiv, and Rotterdam. He now has five albums under his name as a leader and will be releasing his sixth album in 2023; he also appears on another five albums as a sideman. He describes his musical journey as a process that is ceaseless and expressive, allowing for freedom of interpretation. He is known for his fresh take on the genre and his unabashed use of improvisation, making the tunes of his compositions markedly his own.

INSTITUT 002 vintage vinyl: MIRA MELA

We’re excited to launch Reading Our Roots — the CIUS & SVI Library Book Club, a new space for thoughtful conversations around Ukrainian history, memory, and storytelling.

Our first meeting will be held in collaboration with HREC, coinciding with the release of the new free online course, “Famine as Genocide: The Holodomor in Ukraine,” available worldwide on Coursera.

We begin with Red Harvest by Michael Cherkas — a powerful graphic narrative that brings the history of the Holodomor to life in a deeply human and visually compelling form.

Join us for an evening with the author Michael Cherkas, in conversation with Karolina Koziura, one of the authors of the course, as we explore how history is told, remembered, and interpreted.

📍 SVI Library, 620 Spadina Ave
🗓 11 May 2026, 18:30

Copies of Red Harvest are now available for purchase at the SVI Library at a special price of $25 (cash only).

SVI Library hours:
Mon 9–4 | Tue 11–7 | Wed–Thu 9–5 | Fri 9–4

Carlos Gárate Where We Sing: Documenting a Folk Revival | Reception

Reception May 8
7pm-9pm‍ ‍

Since 2011, Carlos Gárate has documented Toronto’s Ukrainian art scene through an ongoing focus on the city’s folk art revival and the informal cultural spaces in which it takes place. Emerging alongside Toronto’s world music and folk revival scenes, the exhibition traces the Kosa Arts community (then Kosa Kolektiv) and the networks that form around it. The photographs move across church basements, cultural centres, house parties, neighbourhood bars, businesses, and public parks. Spanning more than fifteen years, the images foreground folk elements, gestures, and materials, presenting moments of gathering, performance, and shared cultural life as they unfold across the city.

The CONTACT Photography Festival is an annual city-wide festival that began in 1997. It encompasses exhibitions, public art installations, and programs that feature the work of local and international lens-based artists every May.

The Festival’s Core Program brings together exhibitions and public programs presented in partnership with museums, galleries, and artist-run centres throughout the GTA and beyond.

The Open Call Exhibitions extend the festival’s community through the inclusion of independently organized modes of publicly presenting lens based work across the city.

Carlos Gárate Where We Sing: Documenting a Folk Revival

May 8 – 29

Reception May 8
7pm-9pm‍ ‍

Since 2011, Carlos Gárate has documented Toronto’s Ukrainian art scene through an ongoing focus on the city’s folk art revival and the informal cultural spaces in which it takes place. Emerging alongside Toronto’s world music and folk revival scenes, the exhibition traces the Kosa Arts community (then Kosa Kolektiv) and the networks that form around it. The photographs move across church basements, cultural centres, house parties, neighbourhood bars, businesses, and public parks. Spanning more than fifteen years, the images foreground folk elements, gestures, and materials, presenting moments of gathering, performance, and shared cultural life as they unfold across the city.

Presented by Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre, ART at SVI, CONTACT Photography Festival

The CONTACT Photography Festival is an annual city-wide festival that began in 1997. It encompasses exhibitions, public art installations, and programs that feature the work of local and international lens-based artists every May.

The Festival’s Core Program brings together exhibitions and public programs presented in partnership with museums, galleries, and artist-run centres throughout the GTA and beyond.

The Open Call Exhibitions extend the festival’s community through the inclusion of independently organized modes of publicly presenting lens based work across the city.

INSTITUT is a new underground cultural speakeasy living in the basement auditorium of St. Volodymyr Institute at 620 Spadina Avenue — a space that has always been there, right underneath, below generations of students, archivists, curators, and librarians. In its pilot phase (May–September 2026), it runs every Thursday from 5pm until late, featuring music, cinema, literature, and art. Ukrainian and beyond.

We are instituting the PWYC (pay-what-you-can) model — which basically means RSVP ASAP, because it's gonna fill up.

Consider this the first volume of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave - around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...

1. INSTITUT 001 panel: UKRAINE'S CULTURAL FRONT ABROAD
   5 PM | PWYC | GET TICKETS

2. INSTITUT 001 concert: ORI SHALVA & PRESSGANG MUTINY
   7 PM | PWYC | GET TICKETS

3. INSTITUT 001 vintage vinyl: DJ McHI
   11 PM | PWYC | GET TICKETS

INSTITUT 001 panel: UKRAINE'S CULTURAL FRONT ABROAD

A conversation about diasporic activism in the arts led by the creators of THE DIVISION.

Consider this the first volume of the INSTITUT experiment. Every week, a different hypothesis. Underground at 620 Spadina Ave - around the back, through the lot to the steel doors, down the stairs, past the mechanical room, through the swinging wood laminate door...

Vol 1: Grab a drink and enjoy a high level conversation about identity politics from two Ukrainian-Canadian front line cultural activists. In a relaxed setting as opposed to a stuffy lecture hall.

***

ANDREW KUSHNIR is a Canadian playwright, director, performer, teacher, and community arts worker who calls Toronto home. He is artistic director of the socially-engaged theatre company Project: Humanity, where much of his documentary theatre work is done.

***

LIANNA MAKUCH is a second generation Ukrainian Canadian theatre artist. She has traveled several times to Ukraine to research and develop her plays Barvinok and Alina, gaining awards and recognition from both the professional theatre and Ukrainian communities. Lianna received a Dora Award for Outstanding Direction for her for directorial debut, First Métis Man of Odesa, which has been seen on stages nationwide.

INSTITUT 001 concert: ORI SHALVA & PRESSGANG MUTINY

The album release of "Departure" from the city's beloved shanty crew (w DJ) set against a backdrop of traditional Georgian "supra" ballads

INSTITUT 001 vintage vinyl: DJ McHI

Classic reggae, dancehall and dub with some hints of cumbia.

Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch
and St. Volodymyr Institute present a Spring Market

Art • Timeless jewellery • Thoughtful gifts

Sat. May 2, 2026 | 10 AM–5 PM
Sun. May 3, 2026 | 12 PM–5 PM

Celebrate the beauty of spring at a curated market featuring:

• Original works by various artists, including a featured collection by Adele Kereliuk

• Vintage and contemporary jewellery and accessories

• Treasures for you and your home

• Vyshyvanky for Spring

• Flower arranging workshop

• Tea, coffee, sweets, and savoury café offerings

PERFECT TIMING FOR THOUGHTFUL MOTHER’S DAY GIFTING
– OR SIMPLY TO WELCOME THE SEASON

Live piano score to Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929) performed by composer Taras Luka at INSTITUT, St. Volodymyr Institute.

EXCLUSIVE LIVE CINEMA CONCERT

Ukrainian-Canadian composer and pianist Taras Luka performs an original piano score LIVE to the iconic Ukrainian avant-garde film Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929). It'll be the first in a series of exclusive and immersive live soundtrack experiences happening this summer at the St Volodymyr Institute's new underground speak-easy lounge INSTITUT (620 Spadina Ave.)The film was produced in Ukraine by All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration (VUFKU) and filmed in Kyiv, Odesa, and Kharkiv, capturing the rhythm of modern city life through groundbreaking cinematic techniques.In the Sight & Sound critics’ poll, it was ranked among the top ten greatest films of all time and later named the greatest documentary film ever made.Created without actors, costumes, sets, or a traditional script, the film captures a single day in the life of a modern city. Vertov documents urban life through pure cinematic form, transforming everyday reality into a dynamic visual symphony through radical editing, rhythmic montage, and bold visual experimentation.During the screening, Luka performs the score live on stage, transforming the film into a powerful immersive audiovisual experience where music and image unfold together in real time.***Taras Luka is an award-winning composer with an international career across Europe and North America, known for his work in theatre, film, and large-scale concert productions. His work “Choral of Freedom” world premiered at Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Verdi (Italy) under conductor Oksana Lyniv as part of the international Concerto per la Pace initiative with the Italian Red Cross.Taras is the composer of major theatrical and musical productions, including Romeo & Juliet, Heart in Half, Buka, and In Captivity. His works have received national recognition in Ukraine

Man with a Movie Camera remains highly popular across Europe and is regularly screened by major institutions such as the British Film Institute, the British Council, and the Ukrainian Institute—highlighting its lasting influence on European film culture. screened by major institutions such as the British Film Institute, the British Council, and the Ukrainian Institute—highlighting its lasting influence on European film culture.

Video:
https://youtu.be/wYMbv0CjEqo?si=_tTeAtKPZHTWdcKJ

Join us for a creative flower arranging workshop, where we will work with seasonal blooms to create natural, garden-inspired arrangements.

During the workshop, Joanna will guide you through simple, intuitive techniques for arranging flowers, along with tips on choosing blooms from local growers or your neighbourhood corner market. We will also explore how to combine store-bought flowers with elements from your own garden, creating compositions that feel organic and personal.

Joanna’s approach is gentle and supportive, focusing on natural movement, balance, and personal expression rather than perfection. All materials are provided, and you will leave with your own arrangement to take home, along with the confidence to keep creating with what is available to you.

Registration is required to attend.
$95 per person.
2-hour session. (10:30 AM–12:30 PM or 2 - 4PM)
All materials included.

You will also take home a beautiful bouquet complete with a glass vase. Coffee, tea, and sweets will be provided during the workshop.

The flower arranging workshop is part of the Spring Market presented by the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch and St. Volodymyr Institute — taking place May 2–3, 2026. Before or after the workshop, take some time to explore the market and discover beautiful art, jewellery, and thoughtful gifts.

Joanna Harshman is a floral designer inspired by the beauty of her childhood, spent between her grandfather’s garden and the lush meadows of the Sudety Mountains in Poland. She has had the privilege of working in some of Toronto’s most artistic and renowned flower shops, where she refined her craft and developed a keen eye for unique, expressive arrangements. Her work moves between organic, garden-inspired compositions and more distinctive, sculptural designs.

With a background in social psychology, Joanna enjoys weaving together creativity and human connection. Her workshops are rooted in a love of natural forms, creativity, and shared experience. She guides with an intuitive and relaxed approach, creating space for personal expression to unfold.

instagram: @mea.flora website: meaflora.ca

Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch
and St. Volodymyr Institute present a Spring Market

Art • Timeless jewellery • Thoughtful gifts

Sat. May 2, 2026 | 10 AM–5 PM
Sun. May 3, 2026 | 12 PM–5 PM

Celebrate the beauty of spring at a curated market featuring:

• Original works by various artists, including a featured collection by Adele Kereliuk

• Vintage and contemporary jewellery and accessories

• Treasures for you and your home

• Vyshyvanky for Spring

• Flower arranging workshop

• Tea, coffee, sweets, and savoury café offerings

PERFECT TIMING FOR THOUGHTFUL MOTHER’S DAY GIFTING
– OR SIMPLY TO WELCOME THE SEASON

Join us with special community ticket access

Please join us for a special community evening featuring a theatrical performance of The Division by @andrewkushnir , followed by a post-show gathering by @institut.to (a new underground speakeasy c/o @svi.toronto ) with a performance by @nastasia.y (Ukrainian neo-soul trio) in support of artists living and creating through war.

Proceeds from the evening support Aid for Artists, a project of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation that works with Ukrainian artists and cultural institutions to strengthen and sustain the country’s arts community during the ongoing war.

About the Play
In The Division, Kushnir journeys back to his family homeland, Ukraine, to confront mysteries about his grandfather’s life as a soldier and watchmaker.

The family mythology he unearths has astonishing connections to the present, not least of which the fallout of Russia’s full-scale invasion. With his award-winning style of documentary theatre, Kushnir faces the unspoken truths that shape our personal and collective histories.

Event Details
Friday, April 24, 2026
Crow’s Theatre • 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto
8:00 p.m. • Theatrical performance of The Division
9:30 p.m. • Reception hosted by INSTITUT, an intimate speakeasy experience presented in collaboration with the St. Volodymyr Institute
10:00 p.m. • Performance by NASTASIA Y (Ukrainian neo-soul trio)

$60 | Special ticket pricing available with promo code UKRAINE
A portion of ticket sales will support Aid for Artists

Additional information available at projecthumanity.ca.

** Tickets are extremely limited. To access this special pricing:

• Use promo code UKRAINE

• Select “Tier B” tickets

• The discount will only appear in your cart once the promo code has been applied

2026 Ukrainian Art Song
Summer Institute

Who Can Apply

Vocal artists and collaborative pianists—professional, emerging, upper-undergraduate, and graduate—are invited to apply to the Ukrainian Art Song Summer Institute taking place in Toronto, Canada, from August 10 to 16, 2026.

• Eight (8) vocalists will be selected to develop their classical singing technique while exploring the rich and varied repertoire of Ukrainian art song.

• One (1) pianist will be selected to develop their professional collaborative skills while studying the style, context, and composers of Ukrainian art song.

Application deadline: extended to April 10, 2026

The Ukrainian Art Song Project is an affiliated organization of St. Volodymyr Institute

Similar to Pysanky, Driapanky involves dyeing eggs in a single colour, but to decorate the egg, you gently scratch away the surface to reveal the white shell beneath. This practise, known as "to scratch" in Ukrainian (driapaty/дряпати) and sometimes spelled as Dryapanky, which is less common in Ukraine but more common in many western Slavic countries, particularly Poland, Czech Rebulic, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, and amongst Sorbians. Driapanky designs can feature simple patterns or intricate designs, often inspired by nature and imbued with symbols of protection and goodwill. They can range from simple patterns to more illustrative qualities, making them a great choice for those who enjoy drawing.

In this workshop, we will delve into various aspects of Driapanky creation. We'll explore the differences between using aniline and natural dyes for eggs, discuss a range of designs and motifs, become acquainted with the different tools required for the craft, delve into the rich tradition of Ukrainian decorated eggs, and learn techniques for protecting your Driapanka without the need for emptying or lacquering the egg.

Duration: 2 hours
Instructed by Oksana Hawrylak
This workshop is best for you if you've already made pysanky and would like to learn a different technique.

Please note that sharp tools will be used in the workshop and are not suitable for children.
All materials will be provided, including a dyed egg, scratch tools, and reference materials.

TRADITIONAL UKRAINIAN PYSANKY WORKSHOP with Liudmyla Zymbovych

Learn the traditional art of writing Ukrainian pysanky in this hands-on workshop led by pysanka master Liudmyla Zymbovych. Using dyes and a wax-resist technique, you’ll create beautifully detailed, symbolic folk art on eggs while exploring a rich, cultural tradition.

Saturday, March 28 • 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm
$70 per person • 12 & under $50 (each child must be accompanied by an adult)*
All materials included • Space is limited • Instruction in English

Location: St.Volodymyr Institute, 620 Spadina Avenue, Toronto

February 24, 2026 marks four years since the start of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. HOPE is presented at the SVI Art Gallery to acknowledge that date and to affirm that solidarity continues and attention has not faded.

This exhibition brings together artists whose work reflects on hope — not as an abstract idea, but as something that keeps people going, carried through daily life, memory, and creative practice. Hope is found in gestures of care, in the preservation of culture and language, in acts of resistance, and in the decision to continue.

Working across photography, graphic design, printmaking, drawing, painting, and textiles, the artists present personal and collective responses shaped by the realities of war, displacement, and connection to community. Some works speak directly to the present moment. Others approach it more indirectly, through symbolism, material, and process.

Together, the exhibition holds space for reflection while looking forward. In this context, hope is not passive. It is active, shared, and sustained through creative work.

Participating Artists

Diana Nadia Lawryshyn
Dima Lavrentiev
Iryna Tashlitska
Olenka Kleban
Olha Tkachenko
Lena Pogrebnaya
Mariya Haponenko
Ruslana Makarova
Sasha Theodora

Window display:
Anastasiia Bielohryvtseva – Paper Light – Contemporary Vytynanka Window Installation
Alex Slywynskyj – Sunflower – Stained glass

Tickets: $15 suggested · Sliding scale

If you are able to pay more, we encourage you to do so. Your generosity directly supports Oksana's work and St. Volodymyr Institute's ability to continue community-focused organizing in Toronto.

Paying $20 is $25 is a meaningful contribution to the work of keeping Ukrainian culture visible.

The Stain of Blood: On Art in Wartime Ukraine. A Performative Reading by Oksana Briukhovetska

What does it mean to make art when your country is at war? When your studio is a shelter, your subject is survival, and some of the artists you love have gone to the front and not come home.

Kyiv-based artist, curator, and writer Oksana Briukhovetska will bring her answers in a performative reading that is part testimony, part meditation, part act of witness. Drawing on her deep engagement with Ukraine's contemporary art community, she will share what art looks like from the inside of an ongoing war: the daily realities, the impossible choices, the strategies people use to keep creating and keep living. And she will honour the artists and fighters Ukraine has lost.

About Oksana Briukhovetska

Oksana Briukhovetska is an artist, curator, and writer whose practice centres on textile collage and critical writing about Ukrainian contemporary art. Her work engages themes of memory, trauma, women's labour, feminism, solidarity, and decolonization.

She served as a co-curator for the Ukrainian chapter of Secondary Archive, the platform for women artists from Central and Eastern Europe (2021–2024), and as curator at the Martin Roth Initiative residency for Ukrainian women artists (2024–2025), which culminated in the publication and exhibition Meaning after Loss (2025). In 2025, Oksana published Voices of Black Lives Matter, based on interviews conducted with Americans during the 2020–2021 protests.

She lives and works in Kyiv.

Learn to make traditional Ukrainian Pysanky with Marika Zdaniw

TRADITIONAL UKRAINIAN PYSANKY WORKSHOP with Marika Zdaniw

Learn the traditional art of writing Ukrainian pysanky in this hands-on workshop led by pysanka master Marika Zdaniw. Using dyes and a wax-resist technique, you’ll create beautifully detailed, symbolic folk art on eggs while exploring a rich, cultural tradition.

Wednesday, March 18 • 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
$70 per person • 12 & under $50 (each child must be accompanied by adult)*
All materials included • Space is limited • Instruction in English

Location: St.Volodymyr Institute, 620 Spadina Avenue, Toronto

* this workshops involves the use of candles and hot wax. Children must be supervised.

The Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (HREC), an initiative of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta, has announced the launch of a new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) titled Famine as Genocide in the 20th Century: The Case of the Holodomor. Scheduled to be fully accessible online on March 23, 2026, the 13-module course will be delivered globally on the Coursera platform, offering a vital resource for scholars, students, and the public alike to examine one of the 20th century's most devastating, yet understudied, episodes of mass violence.

The course addresses a profound paradox: the famines of the 20th century occurred in an age of unprecedented global food abundance. As the case of the Holodomor illustrates, the catastrophic 20th-century famines were not merely humanitarian disasters but were often forms of political violence that targeted marginalized populations in the pursuit of transformative political projects.

The 1932-33 famine in Soviet Ukraine—the Holodomor—represents the epitome of this kind of violence. Famine as Genocide in the 20th Century explores the Holodomor through an interdisciplinary lens, engaging with famine studies; Soviet , Ukrainian, and global history; colonial and genocide theory; as well as memory studies. Organized by the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium at the University of Alberta, the course draws on decades of international research conducted by leading experts.

The course consists of 13 modules, or lessons, that integrate a wealth of recent scholarship related to the Holodomor.The delivery method via the Coursera platform will feature interviews with leading international experts, archival documents, videos and photos, guest lectures, primary and secondary source readings, and scalable assessments.Module topics include “Dying and Living,” which explores the experience of those who suffered the Holodomor; “Ukrainian Cultural Renaissance and the Destruction of Ukrainian Culture,” which looks at the policy of Ukrainianization and its brutal conclusion; “What Did the World Know?” which addresses what the international community knew about the famine at the time it was happening; and modules on the aftermath and longer-term impact of the Holodomor as well as how knowledge of the Holodomor has been preserved and shared over time.  

The collaboration between the University of Alberta and Coursera ensures that the course fulfills a dual mandate: While University of Alberta students—specifically through the Department of History, Classics, and Religion—will be able to register for Famine as Genocide in the 20th Century: The Case of the Holodomor, the online course will be accessible to the general public globally at no cost.

Participants will gain knowledge of the Holodomor’s impact on Ukrainian, Soviet, and world history, improve their ability to analyze primary sources and oral history, and develop a critical understanding of Stalinist society. 

Crucially, the course compels reflection on the Holodomor's enduring relevance to current political developments in the region and the Russian war on Ukraine, addressing themes like disinformation and ‘fake news’ within the context of historic Russian-Ukrainian relations.

This project is made possible through the dedicated efforts of CIUS and HREC, with generous support from the Helen and Paul Baszucki Family and the Temerty Foundation.

About the Course:

Famine as Genocide in the 20th Century: The Case of the Holodomor is a wide-ranging exploration of the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine. Learners will gain a deep understanding of the Holodomor in the context of other 20th century famines, genocide studies, survivor experience, knowledge dissemination, disinformation and denial, and Ukrainian and Soviet history. 

The Holodomor, one of the major tragedies of the twentieth century, became the subject of serious study only since the fall of the USSR. Through an exploration of recent research and through the prisms of colonialism, empire, genocide, famine and food security, (dis)information dissemination, and Ukrainian-Russian relations, Famine as Genocide in the 20th Century: The Case of the Holodomor makes the case that the Holodomor is crucial to understanding Ukrainian, Soviet, European, and world history as well as current events.

This course is offered online in thirteen modules through University of Alberta’s partnership with the platform Coursera through which courses are offered for-credit to UofA students as well as to the general public.

Dumai Dunai + Paul Chin + Orbital Ensemble + Tarek Funk: Wavelength Music Festival + Conference 2026

Presented with Sonic Boom
In partnership with TO Live

Co-presented with Uma Nota Culture

Dumai Dunai (Montréal // Slavic dub-punk party band)
Orbital Ensemble (Toronto // psychedelic post-bossa nova)
Paul Chin (Cayman Islands & Toronto // DIY DJ, producer & friendship breakup expert)
Tarek Funk (Hamilton // Arabesque Afrobeat-infused hip-hop)

Wavelength Music Festival + Conference 2026 heads down the Dundas West strip for our last show of the festival. With its intimate setting and eclectic decor in Toronto’s hippest neighborhood, The Garrison is a celebration of independent live music. We’re thrilled to wrap up the fest with this global-meets-hip-hop celebration in partnership with our friends at Uma Nota, producers of Mixto Fest and the Geary Art Crawl.

Dumai Dunai is here to sweep you up in the blasting horns of Balkan wedding brass bands and the joys and sorrows of Ukrainian village polyphony. The seven-piece channels multi-lingual lyrics and punk rock energy through deep dub grooves, delivering something that feels like pure, unfiltered ecstasy.
Joining them, Orbital Ensemble offers an immersive blend of psychedelic grooves and jazz melodies shaped by MPB influences. The lineup also features professional illustrator, community organiser, recording artist, and DJ Paul Chin, alongside Syrian Palestinian MC and multi-instrumentalist Tarek Funk, whose sound moves through hip hop, funk, and Afrobeat.

Saturday March 21
The Garrison
1197 Dundas St. W. - Toronto
Doors 8pm
19+