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The 'Ganok' Democracy Festival

August 8, 2026, Poltava

Space of Thoughts and Voices

The First Democracy Festival in Ukraine
Register for free
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
About the festival

What is Ganok?

The 'Ganok' Democracy Festival is an open-air event bringing together conversations about democracy, politics, civil society, culture, memory, and our shared future. Visitors can look forward to discussions, workshops, installations, and a 'human library' featuring Ukrainian and international public intellectuals, writers, historians, civic activists, and journalists.

The Democracy Festival is a public event format for open societies that originated in Sweden in 1968 in the city of Visby, where the then Minister of Education, Olof Palme, delivered a political speech from the back of a lorry. Today, festivals from various countries are united under an International Association, with participating members including Northern Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Iceland.

Association of Democracy Festivals

  • Accessibility

    participation in the festival is free and open to all who wish

  • Participation

    Visitors become direct participants in the festival and the democratic process in general

  • International format

    Democracy festivals are a Scandinavian model of open dialogue, which has been practiced in Europe since the second half of the 20th century

  • Geography

    The festival focuses on cities territorially adjacent to the contact line — places where democracy in Ukraine, the rest of Europe and the world is defended in real time

Features

The 'Ganok' Democracy Festival — space of thoughts and voices

Register for free
Festival principles

Principles of the 'Ganok' Democracy Festival

Fundamental principles of democracy festivals defined by the Association

  • 1
    Benefits for participants and society at the level of the whole country
  • 2
    Free and open to all
  • 3
    Work for participatory democracy (participatory democracy) and the public good
  • 4
    Focus on civic activism, participation, communication and interaction
  • 5
    Non-partisan: not tied to any political party or group
  • 6
    Format and spirit of the festival, not, for example, a conference
Festival Program

Program of the 'Ganok' Democracy Festival

12:30-13:15
Discussion

Reclaiming the Voice: How Decolonization Overcomes Imperial Erasure?

Big stage
45 minutes
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
12:30-13:30
Conversation

Living Library. Talk with Mykola Kulchynskyi

Small stage
60 minutes
Organizer:
'Tereny' Cultural Agency
13:30-14:15
Discussion

Local initiatives as a journey to the roots

Big stage
45 minutes
Organizer:
'Tereny' Cultural Agency
13:45-15:15
Masterclass

Storytelling Workshop

Small stage
90 minutes
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
14:30-15:15
Discussion

Plurality of identities: how are we moving on the path of European integration?

Big stage
45 minutes
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
15:30-16:15
Discussion

Ukraine: A New Sparta?

Big stage
45 minutes
Organizer:
Razom for Ukraine
15:30-16:30
Workshop

Ruined, plowed, starry

Small stage
60 minutes
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
16:30-17:15
Podcast discussion

Heroes without heroism. Whose are they really? Gogol, Exter, Malevich and other heroes of the great controversy

Big stage
45 minutes
Organizer:
Coalition of Culture Artors
16:45-17:30
Conversation

Living library. Talk with Refat Chubarov

Small stage
45 minutes
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
17:30-18:15
Discussion

Culture and the struggle for statehood: art criticism as a driver of political processes

Big stage
45 minutes
Organizer:
PEN Ukraine
17:45-19:15
Masterclass

Visual Thinking Workshop

Small stage
90 minutes
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
18:30-19:30
Discussion

How stories become plays

Big stage
60 minutes
Organizer:
Veterans Theatre
19:45-20:45
Live music performance

'To Zero and After'. Music and Poetry by Oleh Kadanov

Big stage
60 minutes
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
'Tereny' Cultural Agency
Discussion
12:30-13:15
Big stage
45 minutes
Reclaiming the Voice: How Decolonization Overcomes Imperial Erasure?

How do empires erase voices? How do they influence language, memory, culture, and shape perceptions of the «center» and «periphery»? Participants from Ukraine and Taiwan will talk about decolonization not only as a reinterpretation of the past, but also as a long process of regaining subjectivity, visibility, and the right to speak for oneself. At the center of the conversation — language as a space of freedom, cultural erasure and the return of visibility, Ukrainian and Taiwanese experiences of the struggle for one's own voice. Poltava becomes an important point of this conversation — a city that is today rethinking its own history and returning to its cultural tradition after decades of imperial distortion.

Mariam Nayem, Victoria Belim, Jason Liu. Moderated by Sasha Dovzhyk

Participants:
Viktoriya Belim
Viktoriya Belim
Jason Liu
Jason Liu
Vakhtanh Kipiani
Vakhtanh Kipiani
Moderator:
Bohdan Lohvynenko
Bohdan Lohvynenko
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Conversation
12:30-13:30
Small stage
60 minutes
Living Library. Talk with Mykola Kulchynskyi

Mykola Kulchynskyi — Poltava public figure, dissident of the Soviet era, participant of the national democratic movement and one of the active participants in the events preceding the declaration of independence of Ukraine. He was persecuted in the USSR for his pro-Ukrainian position and anti-Soviet activities, in particular he was sentenced to imprisonment.

Let's talk about the struggle for independence, the formation of national consciousness in the Poltava region, as well as how these processes affect modern Ukraine — from cultural policy to war and social change.

Speaker:
Mykola Kulchynskyi
Mykola Kulchynskyi
Moderator:
Tetyana Teren
Tetyana Teren
Organizer:
'Tereny' Cultural Agency
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Discussion
13:30-14:15
Big stage
45 minutes
Local initiatives as a journey to the roots

A discussion about how culture lives and changes in Ukrainian regions today and who is actually shaping the new artistic map of the country. We will talk about local initiatives that break stereotypes about the «provincial», create their own cultural magnets, reinterpret the past and become a start for changes within communities. This will be a conversation about how local projects change the perception of regions and help find common roots through values, experience and culture.

Number of participants: 3 participants + moderator.

Organizer:
'Tereny' Cultural Agency
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Masterclass
13:45-15:15
Small stage
90 minutes
Storytelling Workshop

The Russo-Ukrainian war has been documented like no other war before it. Photos, videos and testimonies are accumulating in vast quantities. How are modern ways of documenting war changing the very nature of storytelling? And how can a storyteller, whether a scholar, researcher, writer, journalist or artist, use this unprecedented archive to create the most powerful and compelling stories? This workshop, led by journalist Natalie Nougayrède, will combine practical writing exercises and group discussions to explore new approaches to constructing narratives and making sense of the war.

Natalie Nougayrède is a French journalist, former editor-in-chief of Le Monde, and a member of The Guardian’s editorial board (2015—2020). She received the Albert Londres Journalism Prize for her coverage of Russia’s aggression against Ichkeria. She serves on the board of the Primo Levi Centre in Paris, supports civil society and media initiatives in the Eastern Partnership region, and is a member of both the Körber Foundation’s History Forum and the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Speaker:
Natalie Nougayrede
Natalie Nougayrede
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Discussion
14:30-15:15
Big stage
45 minutes
Plurality of identities: how are we moving on the path of European integration?

After the adoption of the new laws «On the indigenous peoples of Ukraine» (2021) and «On National Minorities (Communities)» (2023), conversations about the diversity of Ukraine have reached a new level. The policy towards national minorities (communities) of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine is one of the defining ones in the processes of Ukraine's integration into Europe. What is behind these processes, what rights and freedoms do our peoples have? How is the war changing the ethnic landscape of Ukraine, causing new waves of migration? And what new picture of a multicultural Ukraine are we creating together? We talk about this in a conversation with journalist and veteran of Gagauz origin Ivan Kapsamun, head of the NGO «Nadazovsky Greeks: Urumi and Rumei» Olga Tsuprykova, and Volodymyr Yakovenko, co-founder of the Roma youth organization «ARKA». The conversation is moderated by the author of the book «Our Others», INDEX program curator Olesya Yaremchuk.

Ivan Kapsamun, journalist and veteran of Gagauz origin, Olya Tsuprykova, head of the NGO «Nadazovski greky», Volodymyr Yakovenko, co-founder of the Roma youth organization «ARKA». The conversation is moderated by the author of the book «Our Others», INDEX program curator Olesya Yaremchuk.

Participants:
Ivan Kapsamun
Ivan Kapsamun
Myroslav Horvat
Myroslav Horvat
Moderator:
Olesya Yaremchuk
Olesya Yaremchuk
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Discussion
15:30-16:15
Big stage
45 minutes
Ukraine: A New Sparta?

As Russia's war of aggression grinds into its fifth year, Ukraine has done more than survive — it has become a new kind of power: militarized, cohesive, innovative, and agile. A «new Sparta» that punches far above its weight, reshaping the world order in the process. But what does it mean for a democracy to become a «Sparta»?

How is war remaking Ukrainian identity and society? Where is the line between resilience and militarization — and can Ukraine hold on to its democratic soul while forging the security architecture of what comes next?

Participants:
Melinda Hering
Melinda Hering
Moderator:
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Organizer:
Razom for Ukraine
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Workshop
15:30-16:30
Small stage
60 minutes
Ruined, plowed, starry

In this workshop, we invite participants to take a critical look at natural and agricultural history in the halls of the Poltava Regional Museum of Local Lore. In Ukraine, natural history is often told separately from the economic or agricultural history of the region. In one hall: local flora and fauna, histories of nature reserves, in another — agrarian successes and the historical continuity of agriculture. Together with other participants of the forum, we would like to ask: what story about the steppe and the field do museums tell us, what does the official narrative hide and what does it reveal, and how can this story be told differently?

Speakers:
Iryna Zamurueva
Iryna Zamurueva
Nina Direnko
Nina Direnko
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Podcast discussion
16:30-17:15
Big stage
45 minutes
Heroes without heroism. Whose are they really? Gogol, Exter, Malevich and other heroes of the great controversy

Nowadays, Ukraine is actively decolonizing the public space from imperial figures and reclaiming artists and figures who have been appropriated by Russian culture for decades. But is everything so simple? Can we clearly answer the question of who these people were? And are we not creating new myths instead of honestly talking about the difficult past? At the Festival of Democracy in Poltava, a live podcast discussion will take place with the participation of Anna Lodygina — journalist, author of the popular Back to the Roots project and a book about Alexandra Exter — and Anton Lyagusha — member of the Coalition of Cultural Activists, academic director of the master's program «Memory Research and Public History» at the Kyiv School of Economics. Together they will talk about famous figures with complex biographies, about how national narratives are formed, and about what it means to be Ukrainian. Can a person have several identities at the same time? Who has the right to determine which culture they belong to? And why do these disputes today go far beyond history? Without ready-made answers, without heroization and without taboos — just an honest conversation about memory, culture and our need to look for our heroes.

Participants:
Anton Lyagusha
Anton Lyagusha
Anna Lodygina
Anna Lodygina
Organizer:
Coalition of Culture Artors
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Conversation
16:45-17:30
Small stage
45 minutes
Living library. Talk with Refat Chubarov

What do we really know about Crimea? Not from news reports, but from the firsthand experiences of those for whom it is home? In this open conversation, we’ll hear the story of Refat Chubarov—chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. This is a friendly conversation where you’ll hear about Crimea through a personal story, learn more about Crimean Tatar culture, resilience, and the struggle to return home, and hear about preserving identity in the face of exile and pressure. The «Living Library» format encourages maximum openness and direct dialogue. Each participant will have the opportunity to ask their own questions.

Participants:
Refat Chubarov
Moderator:
Kateryna Tkachenko
Kateryna Tkachenko
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Discussion
17:30-18:15
Big stage
45 minutes
Culture and the struggle for statehood: art criticism as a driver of political processes

The influence of culture on the domestic and international policy of any state is obvious. The subjectivity of any community is impossible without its recognizable image, brand. Culture itself, however, is also impossible without constant conversation about it. Can cultural and art criticism become a political tool in the hands of an experienced user, a driver of democratic changes in society, a tool that sharpens our perception of established practices of interaction with each other? Is everything in the world politics and is everything in the world culture? How does our ability to distinguish, and therefore to create a high-quality, unique and competitive cultural product make us desirable interlocutors on international platforms, strong and influential players in the arena of international politics? And how does the ability to talk about culture in a way that makes people want to know it help us in this? Cultural commentators and critics Anastasia Platonova and Lena Chichenina will reflect on this. The conversation will be moderated by Anna Vovchenko, program manager of Ukrainian PEN.

Participants:
Lena Chichenina
Anastasia Platonova
Moderator:
Anna Vovchenko
Organizer:
PEN Ukraine
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Masterclass
17:45-19:15
Small stage
90 minutes
Visual Thinking Workshop

When words are even more confusing, you can resort to drawings — quick sketches. Mykola will show you how to draw for the sake of communication, not «beauty». The program includes — a visual language constructor: 7 elements for conveying meaning, speed exercises that will teach you to simplify and cut out the unnecessary, and a challenge that will prove that you can visualize any thought.

You don't need to be able to draw. Come get a ready-made visual alphabet for your projects!

The workshop will be conducted by Mykola Hlibovich — comic book artist, visual artist, web designer with many years of experience, and author of creative workshops on visual thinking.

Mykola will show how simple drawings add more information than just words, why visualization is first and foremost about communication, not about how «beautifully» you can draw, and how to develop visual thinking.

Why is it important?

When you need to explain abstract processes, involve people in a project, or facilitate, words can sometimes get confusing. Visual language is a tool for direct action. It helps synchronize teams, convey meaning without distortion, and capture the main thing here and now using sketchnotes.

What's in the program?

Visual language constructor. We will analyze the 7 basic elements that are necessary to draw for communication (drawings of people, place and time, combining drawings and text, using color, structuring elements, reflecting processes, and effects that make the drawing come alive).

A graphic marathon of exercises that will teach you to simplify, leave what is most essential, and draw super fast.

Mega-intensive — 100 drawings that will prove that you can draw anything you can think of.

No artistic background is required. Come and get a ready-made visual alphabet for your ideas and projects!

Speaker:
Mykola Hlibovych
Mykola Hlibovych
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Discussion
18:30-19:30
Big stage
60 minutes
How stories become plays

How stories become plays: veterans' theater and the return of reality to art

How does the real experience of war turn into a literary text and a theatrical production? Where is the line between documentary fact and dramaturgy, and how to talk about experiences so that the voice of veterans is heard without embellishment or distortion? At the center of this conversation is the creation and work of the Veterans Theater: its main idea, daily challenges and mission of preserving memory. Participants will share how the personal stories of military personnel become the basis for performances and how people try to preserve themselves, their humanity and the memory of losses in the most cruel circumstances.

During the meeting, military serviceman, journalist and co-founder of the Veterans Theater Yuriy Matsarsky will also read two of his own texts.

We talk about how stories become plays and stories with the director of the Veterans Theater, Oleksandr Lyuty, and the theater's co-founder, a military man and journalist, Yuri Matsarsky.

Participants:
Oleksandr February
Oleksandr February
Yuriy Matsarsky
Yuriy Matsarsky
Organizer:
Veterans Theatre
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Live music performance
19:45-20:45
Big stage
60 minutes
'To Zero and After'. Music and Poetry by Oleh Kadanov

Oleh Kadanov is a Kharkiv-based musician, poet, and serviceman, leader of the band 'Orchestra Che', and a member of the 'Mannerheim Line' and 'Kerouac's Mantras' projects. The programme will feature the author's songs, as well as poems from the collection 'To Zero and After'—texts born from the experience of life before the full-scale war and living through it.

 

Artist:
Oleh Kadanov
Oleh Kadanov
Organizer:
INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange
'Tereny' Cultural Agency
Location:
Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore
Registration for the festival

To participate in the festival, please fill out the registration form

Entrance and participation in the 'Ganok' Democracy Festival — are free of charge. Food and drinks at the food courts on the festival grounds will be available for purchase separately.

Registration
Practical information

How to find the festival location

The 'Ganok' Democracy Festival will be held on the lawn near the porch of the Poltava Museum of Local Lore

Courtyard of the Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore

Digital festival program

Current program of the 'Ganok' Democracy Festival «Ganok» festival program and conveniently view the schedule of events, locations and important information right from your smartphone.

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Digital festival program
Admission to the 'Ganok' Democracy Festival is free subject to registration.
Register for free
Festival Partners

Partners of the Ganok Democracy Festival

Co-organizers: INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange, 'Tereny' Cultural Agency

Program Partners: Razom for Ukraine, Coalition of Culture Actors, PEN Ukraine, Veterans Theatre, Post Bellum Ukraine

Organisational Partners: Poltava Regional Military Administration, Poltava City Council, Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Regional Museum of Local Lore, Ivan Kotlyarevsky Poltava Regional Universal Scientific Library

Brand Identity: AXIOMA design

The event is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation and the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Благодійний Фонд «Robert Bosch Stiftung»
Міжнародний Фонд Відродження
Інститут документування і взаємодії INDEX
Громадська Організація «Post Bellum-Україна»
Український центр Міжнародного ПЕН
Фонд «Razom»
Коаліція дієвців культури
Полтавська міська рада
Полтавська обласна військова адміністрація
Полтавський краєзнавчий музей ім. В.Кричевського
Театр Ветеранів
«Хартія-Хаб», просвітницький простір 2-го корпусу НГУ «Хартія»
Благодійний Фонд «Robert Bosch Stiftung»
Міжнародний Фонд Відродження
Інститут документування і взаємодії INDEX
Громадська Організація «Post Bellum-Україна»
Український центр Міжнародного ПЕН
Фонд «Razom»
Коаліція дієвців культури
Полтавська міська рада
Полтавська обласна військова адміністрація
Полтавський краєзнавчий музей ім. В.Кричевського
Театр Ветеранів
«Хартія-Хаб», просвітницький простір 2-го корпусу НГУ «Хартія»