Composer, conductor and music critic Mykola Fomenko (b. 1894, Rostov-on-Don, Russia, d. 1961, New York, USA) was raised in a large family by a widowed father, who encouraged his son to pursue a “practical” profession. Fomenko began studying piano only at age 17. During the First World War he fought in the Caucasus. In 1929 he graduated from the Kharkiv Conservatory, where he studied composition and conducting. He was music director and conductor of the Kharkiv Music and Drama Theatre, until he was dismissed for refusing the join the Communist Party. Subsequently he worked at the Mystetstvo publishing house. Following the Second World War he was a displaced person in Europe until he immigrated to the United States in 1951. There he taught at the Ukrainian Music Institute of America in New York and worked for the Ukrainian section of Voice of America.
His output as a composer consists of more than 100 works, including two symphonies, a piano concerto, chamber works for strings, solo piano pieces, several operas, incidental music, choral works and art songs.
The Society of Friends of the Ukrainian Folklore Centre is a non-profit society that was established to support the work of the Ukrainian Folklore Centre (Ukrainian Folklore Programme) at the University of Alberta. The Friends actively publicize the activities of the Centre, increase community awareness and raise funds for future projects. The organization has produced a video highlighting Ukrainian Culture studies at the University of Alberta as well as promoting outreach in the community.
The Friends' mission is to:
"Morally and financially support the Ukrainian Folklore Programme at the University of Alberta and to increase its capacity to study and communicate the complexities of the Ukrainian experience in the world.
To facilitate the growth of Ukrainian ethnology, which is the discovery of knowledge about Ukrainian culture and identify through the study of arts, customs, beliefs, songs, crafts and other traditions, as well as the people who partake in them, by providing support to the Ukrainian Folklore Programme in public relations, communications, fundraising, administration, and special projects."
The Friends Society has also contributed financially to student research scholarships, archival projects, infrastructure and publications. In addition, the Friends Society has successfully received grants from Canada's Digital Collections Initiative grant through Industry Canada (the Ukrainian Folklore Photo Archives and the Ukrainian Wedding Web Exhibit), federal and provincial government grants for Local Culture and Diversity on the Prairies Research Project (Department of Multiculturalism and Community Initiatives Program).
The Society was initially formed in December 1993, as the Society of Friends of the Chair of Ukrainian Culture at the University of Alberta. In 1996 the Friends of the Chair…. Registered as a Society in the Societies Act of Alberta and a year later registered as a Registered Charitable Society. In 1998 the Society had a membership base of over 120 people. In 2003 the Society formally changed its name to Friends of the Ukrainian Folklore Centre.