Showing 3239 results

Authority record
Corporate body · 1976-

The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) is a leading centre of Ukrainian studies outside Ukraine. It is an integral part of the University of Alberta under the jurisdiction of the Vice-President (Research). Founded in 1976, following joint efforts by Ukrainian community leaders and academics, to provide an institutional home for Ukrainian scholarship in Canada, CIUS is dedicated to the development of Ukrainian studies in Canada and supports such studies internationally. In addition to its main office at the University of Alberta, CIUS maintains a branch office at the University of Toronto.

CIUS fulfills its mandate by organizing research and scholarship in Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian studies: it publishes books and a scholarly journal; develops materials for Ukrainian-language education, mainly for western Canada's bilingual school program; organizes conferences, lectures, and a seminar series; and awards graduate and undergraduate scholarships, as well as research grants to scholars. CIUS also contributes to the cultural and educational development of community groups in Canada by providing specialists and resources for their activities. It fosters international links of mutual benefit to Canada and the world, especially with Ukraine, by initiating and managing major international endeavours, including Canada-Ukraine legislative and intergovernmental projects.

CIUS is financed in part from the operating budget of the University of Alberta. Other support comes from grants for specific projects and income earned from endowment funds.

To find out more about the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, please visit its website: https://uofa.ualberta.ca/arts/research/canadian-institute-ukrainian-studies

Corporate body · 1983-

The Ukraine Millennium Foundation (UMF) was incorporated in Toronto, Canada, as a not-for-profit corporation on November 2, 1983, at the initiative of Maestro Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, newly arrived from the Kyiv State Opera, and Luba Zaraska of Toronto. Its immediate objective was the recording of Dmytro Bortniansky’s 35 Sacred Choral Concertos to celebrate 1000 years since Ukraine’s adoption of Christianity in 988. The Foundation quickly drew members from all over the world and a Board of Directors was formed, with members from Australia, Canada and the United States. Its presidents have been Mrs. Zaraska, Bishop Yuriy Kalistchuk of Winnipeg, and Gordon Conway and Lilea Wolanska of Edmonton. UMF’s overall objectives are to support the identification, development, enhancement and appreciation of the Ukrainian musical arts: vocal, instrumental, choral, operatic and musicological. Its purpose is to promote Ukrainian musicians, assist in preserving Ukrainian culture and to disseminate Ukrainian accomplishments in the musical arts.

Aims and Objectives
In celebration of the millennium of Christianity in Rus-Ukraine and for the next millennium, to support the enhancement, development and appreciation of the musical arts;
To support and promote the appreciation and study of church, choral and orchestral music generally, and of Ukrainian church, choral and orchestral music in particular;
To assist in the establishment of choirs and choral societies;
To assist in the establishment of creative contacts among musicians, composers, conductors, music scholars, choirs and choral societies by promoting and organizing concerts, music conventions, choral and orchestral competitions, and lectures and seminars in the musical arts;
To establish and maintain programs in the musical arts intended to promote and enhance the study of music;
To establish and maintain a philanthropic and charitable program intended to support all of the above activities;
To receive, acquire and dispose of real and personal property;
To receive gifts and donations to be used for the above philanthropic and charitable purposes;
To create, provide and enlarge a fund for charitable and philanthropic purposes in conjunction with the foregoing.

Beginnings

The recording of Dmytro Bortniansky’s 35 Sacred Concertos was produced with artistic director, Wolodymyr Kolesnyk. A choir comprised of 64 members from across Canada and the United States was assembled to record the concertos. The total cost of the project was $800,000, and a set of 5 long-playing records was produced. After the project’s conclusion, interest in Toronto waned and UMF headquarters moved to Edmonton under President Gordon (Bud) Conway, who had been chairman of the Edmonton branch since the inception of the project in 1983. He was succeeded by Lilea Wolanska, who has been president since 2007. In 2002, UMF was granted a license by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, and its scope has changed in accordance with AGLC guidelines to focus on Ukrainian musical projects in Alberta.

Projects

In 1989, the Foundation completed the recording of Dmytro Bortniansky’s 35 Sacred Choral Concertos as a 5-LP set. In 1997, Wolodymyr Kolesnyk and an UMF Edmonton committee consisting of Maria Dytyniak, Lilea Wolanska and Gordon Conway initiated the reproduction of the recordings onto 4 compact discs at a cost of $10,000.

The UMF has also funded the annual Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta (UMSA) choral directing seminars held in Edmonton over two decades, directed initially by Maestro Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, with assistance from Zenoby Lawryshyn. Following Kolesnyk’s death in 1997, the seminars were directed by prominent conductors from Canada and Ukraine, such as Laurence Ewashko and Ivan Hamkalo. Participants have included choral directors from across Canada, the US, Europe, South America and Australia.

The book The World of Mykola Lysenko
In the 1960s Dr. Tamara Bulat of Kyiv, began her lifelong study of the life and works of Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. Fearing that much politically sensitive information would be lost under Soviet conditions, Dr. Bulat took on the burden of recording this information for posterity. She interviewed Lysenko descendants, who were assured of her pro-Ukrainian intentions, and researched archives in Ukraine, Russia and throughout Europe, uncovering unique archival information and photos.

In the 1980s her son, Taras Filenko, also a musicologist, joined his mother in compiling information from archives throughout Canada and the United States. In 1990 the authors approached UMF for publishing support. The album The World of Mykola Lysenko in its supplemented and enhanced English-language version was translated and edited by Lilea Wolanska and contained 450 photographs. It was printed in Kyiv in 2001. The album immediately received the Book of the Year award from the Publishers Association of Ukraine. The album was enthusiastically reviewed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, and a Ukrainian-language version was subsequently printed in 2002, which was officially proclaimed the Year of Mykola Lysenko.

Other Projects Funded

  • Artem Vedel': Divine Liturgy and 12 Sacred Choral Concerti, published by the Ukraine Music Society of Alberta

  • Kontrasty Lviv Annual International Music Festival, for two years.

  • Kyiv Philharmonic Symphony premiere of Valery Kikta’s oratorio Dnipro

  • The Lviv Ivan Franko State Opera and Ballet Theatre premiere of the opera Moses by Myroslav Skoryk

  • The Composers of the Ukrainian Diaspora, researched and authored by Dr. Taras Filenko, translated and edited by Lada Hornjatkevyc. Available online for research at the Bohdan Medwidsky Archives at the Kule Centre of the University of Alberta.

    • Ukrainian Art Song Project, Stepovyi CD recording, funded and premiered in Edmonton
  • The Ukraine Millennium Foundation Online World Library of Ukrainian Art Songs, administered by the Ukrainian Art Song Project and funded by UMF, which gives anyone with internet access the ability to download the scores of Ukrainian art songs free of charge.

  • St. Nicholas Mandolin Orchestra history and video

    • Resurrection Liturgy by Fr. John Sembrat, composition and recording
  • Sounds Ukrainian radio program on CJSR FM

  • University of Alberta Kule Centre Medwidsky Archive - two major projects

  • Artem Vedel sacred concerto cycle, concerts and CD recording by Luminous Voices and Spiritus Choir; CD publication (in progress)

  • Golden Harvest oratorio by Larysa Kuzmenko, conducted by Laurence Ewashko, printing of orchestral scores ($5000) for premieres in Winnipeg and Ottawa, 2015

  • Grant MacEwan annual bursaries and awards of $3000 each given to students in Ukrainian music research, composition and performance.

  • Dnipro Chorus, funding for choral workshops, CD recording

  • Akolada Ensemble, 4 concerts funded

  • Verkhovyna Choir funding

  • Kappella Kyrie, Vedel/Vivaldi concert and art song concert (in progress)

  • Ukrainian Bilingual Schools, purchasing banduras and funding bandura workshops

  • Ridna Shkola Ukrainian Heritage School, purchase of musical instruments

  • St. George Church Choir, CD recording

  • Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Edmonton Heritage Days, annual funding

  • Alberta Kontakt television program

UMF has financed numerous community concerts, such as Shevchenko concerts and others arranged by UCC, UMSA and other community organizations.

The Ukraine Millennium Foundation expresses its thanks to Alberta Gaming for permitting use of gaming funds to support Ukrainian music in Alberta.

Corporate body · 1955 - now

After WWII, when displaced people found their new homes in the West, a necessity to change the structure of the Shevchenko Scientific Society appeared. On March 30, 1947, Naukove Tovarystvo im. Shevchenka (NTSh) was restored in Munich through efforts of full and ordinary members then residing in Austria and West Germany. With the permission of the General office, three new NTSH divisions emerged, namely, the American division in New York, 1948, the Canadian division in Toronto, 1949, and then the Australian division in Sidney, 1950. The European division was founded after the relocation of the NTSH General office to Sarcelles in France in 1952.
Edmonton branch of the NTSH Canadian division emerged on December 3, 1955, with the initiative of Ivan Nimchuk to keep NTSH members of Western Canada connected. In 1961 at a general meeting of the NTSH Canadian Division, Edmonton Branch, a new executive was elected: Dr Basil Laba, honorary president; Volodymyr Mackiv, president; Bohdan Bociurkiv, vice-president; Olexander Maslianyk, secretary; Vasyl Kunda, treasurer; Orest Starchuk, member of the executive.

Corporate body · 1996 -

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.

Romankiw, Lubomyr
Person · born 1931

Lubomyr T. Romankiw was born in Zhovkva, Ukraine on April 17, 1931. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and his master's and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Romankiw joined IBM in 1962, where he remains today as an IBM Fellow and Researcher at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

He is recognized for his research with magnetic materials, reflective displays and copper plating. Romankiw is listed as the inventor or co-inventor on over 65 US patents, including magnetic thin-film storage heads (co-invented with David Thompson in the 1970s). He has also authored over 150 articles and edited numerous volumes of technical symposia.

Several organizations have recognized and awarded Romankiw's work such as the Electrochemical Society, Society of Chemical Industry, and the IEEE. In 1994 he received the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, and in 2012, he was an inductee in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Cherwick, Brian
Person · born 1960

Brian Cherwick (B. Mus. – Brandon; M.A. – Alberta; PhD. - Alberta) is a specialist in east European traditional music, diaspora cultures, ethnic identity, music industry, material culture and oral history. He was born in Winnipeg into a family that had settled in Canada a couple of generations earlier. Three of his four grandparents were born in the western Ukrainian province of Galicia, from two villages, Chornokonetska Volya and Burdiakivtsi, near the city of Ternopil. Brian’s father’s family were early settlers from the first wave, immigrating to Saskatchewan in 1903, while his mother’s family came to Manitoba during the interwar immigration in the 1920s.

Brian had music on both sides of his family. His father’s father, John Cherewyk, left the farm to become a harness maker and later a meat cutter in the town of Yorkton, Saskatchewan. But on the side, John played fiddle in a trio with his two brothers — one playing tsymbaly and the other adding a second violin. John was additionally trained as a cantor in the Ukrainian Catholic church. Brian learned the cantorial art from his grandfather (as well as other cantors) during church services each Sunday and would come back with him and hear him fiddling at home. Brian holds a position today as a cantor in his church and is active in teaching liturgical singing to fellow congregants. On his mother's side, Brian's great-grandfather was a fiddler and his grandmother even played the small bubon in the band until she was old enough to marry (it was not respectable then for mature women to play music). Brian's uncle Mike Klym played drum kit with the D-Drifters, one of the most famous Western Canadian Ukrainian bands. The D-Drifters were especially known for providing backup to Mickey and Bunny, a famous singing married couple, and for recording country western music with English and Ukrainian lyrics. Their biggest hit was a Ukrainian translation of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," and the disc sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Uncle Mike was only fifteen years older than Brian, and so Brian grew up going to practices of the D-Drifters.

Brian formed his first band with friends at age 14, and began playing violin at weddings at age 15. Instrumentation has changed with the tastes of the community, and modern bands often feature accordions, keyboards, saxes, electric guitars, basses and drum kits (such adaptation is not a new phenomena — grandfather John Cherewyk also performed on the Hawaiian-style lap steel guitar which was a rage in the 20s and 30s). At age 16, Brian acquired a tsymbaly from his brother who had gotten it from a church group. As a young musician with an entrepreneurial flair, Brian saw tsymbaly as a way to differentiate his band and their advertisements would promote the fact that they played the old tunes on traditional instruments as well as in more modern arrangements. Brian learned tsymbaly from watching the old-timers play at weddings (with over 100 first-cousins, there were plenty of family celebrations throughout the year). He also listened to regional Canadian-Ukrainian commercial recordings featuring tsymbaly-- bands such as those of the Alberta fiddlers Metro Radomsky, Bill Boychuk, and Manitoba fiddlers Jim Gregorash, Tommy Buick and Peter Lamb, as well as the Interlake Polka Kings.

Brian entered Brandon University (about 100 km west of Winnipeg) to study in its well regarded music program. Though tsymbaly was not offered, he enrolled as a pianist and percussionist. After graduating, Brian spent four years teaching music and conducting choirs at a seminary in Roblin, Manitoba, a tenure that was interrupted mid-way by an opportunity to study music for a year in Ukraine. Brian had received an invitation from the Society for Relations with Ukrainians Abroad. Based at the Kyiv Conservatory, Brian took classes in cimbalom, the piano-sized concert version of the tsymbaly that had developed in Hungary at the end of the 19th century and was taught in conservatories in Hungary, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Moldova. Adapting from tsymbaly to cimbalom requires learning a completely different tuning system, sticking technique and use of the cimbalom’s damper pedal, which is similar to that of a piano. Though his assigned teacher was Gyorgi Ahratina, who played cimbalom with the national folk orchestra, Brian learned more from Vasyl Palaniuk, an ethnic Hutsul from the Carpathians who was the senior cimbalom student at the conservatory and is today recognized as one of Ukraine's leading players. While Palaniuk played cimbalom in the conservatory ensemble, Brian would play percussion alongside of him as they accompanied highly choreographed folkloric dance presentations.

From Roblin, Brian moved to Edmonton to enroll in the University of Alberta's graduate programs in Ukrainian folklore and ethnomusicology. His doctoral dissertation focused on the influences of social conditions and popular music on the development of Ukrainian traditional music in western Canada. He is currently researching the ethnic commercial recording industry in Canada. Dr. Cherwick is Adjunct Professor of Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland, has taught at the University of Alberta and Athabasca University. He has worked as a researcher for the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village in Alberta and for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He is also active as a performer, composer and music educator and has appeared in performances and conducted seminars and workshops throughout North America and Europe.

Yanda, Doris Elizabeth
Person · 1905-2005

Doris E. Yanda, community leader and author, was born on March 16,1905 in Gimli, Manitoba to Anthony and Anna Konashevich, Ukrainian pioneers who arrived in Canada in 1900. The family moved to southwestern Saskatchewan and Doris completed her secondary education in Saskatoon where she attended the P.Mohyla Institute. Throughout her life and career, she continued her education at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta.

She began to write at an early age and wrote poems, articles and stories under the names of Dorothy Yanda, Elizabeth Young and Daria Mohylianka. She was editor of the Women’s Page in the newspapers, Ukrainian Voice and Ukrainian Farmer. She was also on the editorial committee of the Ukrainian Voice.

In 1923, she was one of the organizers of the Ukrainian Ladies Society of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and she held various executive positions including vice-president and president. n June, 1926 she married DmytroYanda, a lawyer. In 1926 she was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada (UWAC) and held various executive positions at the local, provincial and national levels for many years. In 1933 and 1934 she was National Vice-President and Provincial President of Alberta and in 1935 and 1936, she was National President of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada. She convened the Ukrainian National Handicraft Exhibit in 1935. In 1952, Mrs. Yanda was honoured with an honorary life membership in the UWAC. She was also active in the National Council of Women and the Women’s Council of Canada.

She was a member of the Canadian Authors’ Association since 1934. She has published numerous articles including books of poetry, in Ukrainian and in English. She has published twelve books on various literary subjects under several pen names.

During the Second World War, she was very active in voluntary war work in Edmonton. She was involved in numerous organizations such as Red Cross, War Savings Stamps, Regional Advisory Committee of the Wartime Price Control Board and others.

In 1948 she was involved with the British Columbia Flood Relief Fund and she also wrote on this disaster for the popular press.

She was also active in the Local Council of Women in Edmonton. Through her work she facilitated the immigration of many Ukrainian Displaced Persons and Refugees to Canada. In 1949 she visited over twenty Displaced Persons Camps in Germany with her husband for three months and they made speaking tours on their return to Canada. She was also involved in voluntary work to assist the newly arrived Ukrainian Displaced Persons.

She was widowed in 1969 and then married John McMullan. She is recognized as a master weaver and taught weaving in Edmonton and organized courses at the Banff Centre - School of Fine Arts from 1976 to 1987.

During her life, she received many awards and distinctions from various national organizations and from the Ukrainian community including the Taras Shevchenko Medal.

Lupul, Manoly
Person · 1927-2019

Lupul, Manoly (14 August, 1927 in Willingdon, Alberta - 24 July, 2019 in Calgary). Historian, educator, and community leader. A graduate of the University of Alberta, the University of Minnesota, and Harvard University (PH D, 1963), he taught educational foundations and Canadian educational history at the University of Alberta from 1958. He became a leading figure in the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation and played a major role in the establishment of the Ukrainian-English bilingual program in Alberta schools (1974) and the creation of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS). The Institute's first director (1976–86). He also was prairie regional chairperson and national vice-chairperson of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism (1973–9) and a key member and first chairperson (1982–3) of the Ukrainian Community Development Committee.
(Source: Danylo Husar Struk. “Lupul, Manoly.” Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CL%5CU%5CLupulManoly.htm)

Nemirsky, Theodore
Person · 1869-1946

Theodore Nemirsky, 1869-1946, was born in the Ukraine and came to Canada in 1896. He settled in the Wostok area of Alberta. In 1986 he married Katherine Mariancz and they had six children. The next year he was appointed postmaster and also served as guide to help settlers locate their land. He helped establish the Wostok school and acted as interpreter for many local citizens.

Lesiv, Mariya
Person · born 1978

Mariya Lesiv was born in Horodenka, Ivano-Frankivs'k region, Ukraine. Her father is a TV journalist, and her mother is a visual artist who teaches at an art college in Ivano-Frankivs'k. Mariya did her undergraduate studies at the Lviv National Academy of Arts, and graduated with a specialist degree in Fine, Applied and Decorative Arts in 2001. In 2001-2003, she did her post-graduate studies in History and Theory of Art, at the Lviv National Academy of Arts.

Mariya came to the University of Alberta to study Ukrainian folklore in 2003 where she received her MA (2005) and PhD (2011). Her doctoral dissertation is devoted to Ukrainian Paganism, a new religious and political movement that strives to revive old rural folklore while creating an alternative vision of a present-day Ukrainian nation in both Ukraine and the diaspora.

Mariya worked for the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore, University of Alberta, where she taught and was actively engaged in fieldwork and publication projects dealing with various aspects of Ukrainian diaspora culture. She married Brian Anthony Cherwick in 2008.

Mariya received a job as an assistant professor of folklore at the Memorial University, Newfoundland in 2011, and moved to St. John's with her family. Her research interests include diaspora studies; folklore and national/ethnic identity building; material culture; folk religion; new religious movements; ritual, belief, and spiritual culture; as well as modern Paganisms (Western and East European). Her first book The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism As an Alernative Vision for a Nation was published by McGill-Queen's University Press in 2013.

Mariya's new research project focuses on new diaspora communities established by recent immigrants to Newfoundland from the former Socialist block.