Director of the Czech Center in Kyiv Lucie Rzhegorzhikova
Taking the baton from Dagmar Ostrshanskaya, the Czech Center in Kyiv has been headed by Lucie Rzhegorzhikova since November. For several years she taught English, Czech and Russian in the Czech Republic and abroad, and also translates works by Russian and Ukrainian authors, and does comparative studies and editorial work. For example, she prepared for publication an anthology of contemporary Ukrainian short stories, “Ukraine, Let’s Go Ukraine”.
“Things are going very well at the Kyiv Czech Center,” says Lucie Rzhegorzhikova. “However, I would like to expand some programs and focus mainly on decentralization, because many events take place in Kyiv, but our center has not yet implemented any programs in other cities. So we will also take initiative in the southeast of Ukraine. In Odessa, we would like to present the work of Czech artists at a biennale. As for literature, we should focus on building a quality base for Bohemian studies. We want to revive the tradition of having native Czech speakers in Ukraine who would teach Czech to those interested. Because despite the fact that Czech and Ukrainian cultures are historically related, there have been no such Czech teachers there for 25 years.”
— What will be the priority of the Czech Center in implementing these plans?
— Teaching the Czech language is most naturally connected with Czech realities, culture and history. So I would call that a priority, and it would be brilliant if we could publish a Czech language textbook.
Lucie Rzhegorzhikova believes that the fact that, besides her, new directors of cultural centers of Poland and Hungary have been elected in the region works in favor of such plans. The director of the Cultural Center of Slovakia in Ukraine could also support new joint cultural initiatives.
— I think that the fact that within the framework of Visegrad cooperation we proceed from similar convictions and views on projects is a very significant factor.
— You mentioned earlier that a certain problem in Kyiv is the lack of a separate space where language classes could be held, which are currently held in the office and library of the Czech Center.
— Ideally, it would be possible over time to expand this space, for example, in cooperation with our Visegrad partners. One could establish a center with a language laboratory equipped with everything needed for language learning in the 21st century, conference rooms, and, for example, a café where space for democratic discussions could arise, since such places are still lacking in Ukraine. However, all this is still in the realm of dreams.
According to Lucie Rzhegorzhikova, contemporary Ukrainian culture in various forms is currently in high demand in Czech cultural circles. That is precisely why the time has come to launch new projects that could interest many people. Let us recall that the strategy of the Czech Center is aimed at uniting the activities of Czech and Ukrainian cultural figures and deepening knowledge of each other’s realities.