On February 12, Carnivalia was held in the Blue Hall of the Kyiv’s Central Railway Station. The charitable masquerade ball raised money to support Ukrainian books for the fifth year in a row. More precisely, Tetiana Lohush’s international charity “Mystetska skarbnytsia,” the organizer of the event, refilled the funds of the capital’s libraries, gave presents to orphanages and large families. This year, according to Lohush, they intend to publish sports books to promote sport among children and adolescents. One can say the series has already been initiated: at the end of the last year Celebrities’ Success Stories gathered stories about the childhoods and adolescences of prominent sportsmen: Serhii Bubka, Denys Sylantiev, Hanna Bezsonova, Iryna Merleni, Vasyl Virastiuk, Andrii Husin and others.
This time the event combined nine balls and carnivals: the Vienna Redoute Ball, Ukrainian feast of Candlemas (it is celebrated on February 15), French cabaret, Argentinian carnival (with the indispensable tango), a Chinese New Year celebration, Indian Goa carnival, Brazilian carnival, Mardi-Gras of New Orleans, and, finally, the Venetian carnival.
A global tour full of incredible adventures and vivid impressions! But this vertiginous event didn’t prevent the organizers from gently reminding people about the goal of the event from time to time. Editions from previous years of the famous contest the Coronation of Word were sold at the entrance. Together with a romantic dinner for two or a trip to the Crimean coast there were works by Maria Matios, Larysa Denysenko, Maksym Kidruk, Iren Rozdobudko and other lottery prizes. In addition, there were lots (really good ones!): the Peresopnytsia Gospels from the Lohush couple; a stone icon of the 13th-14th centuries and a 1st-2nd century Roman crock from the owner of the gallery Rarity-Art Oleh Torhal; the picture Abstraction by Ivan Marchuk; a bag from Oksana Karavanska; sneakers from Savik Shuster with an autograph, and T-shirts from Kakha Kaladze (the soccer player sent them a day earlier from Italy), Oleksandr Shovkovsky, Serhii Rebrov and Andrii Husin. According to preliminary estimates, about 100,000 hryvnias were raised during the auction. In fact, this is not much. Since there were about forty lots and only eleven were purchased. In addition, Ihor Lohush himself bought one of them for a pretty penny. One can say that most of the guests were least interested in the art bidding. Having come to entertain themselves, they, unfortunately, didn’t think about how much money was invested to organize such an event, let alone the efforts spent! Yurii and Tetiana Lohush will promote Ukrainian book publishing anyway (as seen with Coronation of Word, which has been held for ten years already), but the annual holding of Carnivalia presupposes a patronage activity of its guests. Otherwise it appears that the end does not justify the means.
By the way, writers and publishers — those who personally create Ukrainian books — were invited to the event. It should be admitted that the ball be-nefited from it. It was not artificial or glamorous as similar activities where one comes to look at others and, of course, to show off. (For example, the so-called Diamond Ball which was held on November 27, when Ukrainians commemorated the victims of the Holodomor.) Instead, it united the guests around the idea of philanthropy. “Honestly, I don’t like carnivals,” confesses Iren Rozdobudko. “But I came anyway to promote books among the middle class or the bourgeoisie.” “I came here because I respect Yurii and Tetiana Lohush,” continues Vasyl Shkliar, who, by the way, is this year’s Shevchenko Prize winner. “Particularly, I honor them for their comprehensive assistance to Ukrainian culture. If they also undertook the support of Ukrainian movies! In addition, we, writers, mostly meet at activities like Carnivalia or the Coronation of Word.” “While some activities (and the figures embodying them) collect VIPs or awards, Carnivalia collects hearts, because here a thinking audience is gathered,” sums up editor-in-chief of the first National Television Channel Khrystyna Stebelska. “Carnivalia is, in fact, a very pragmatic form of communication between those who think not only about the present day but also about the future. Charity plays a real role. Provoking interest in patronage means not only teaching to rest but also to think what can be done together. What can be better than elegant ladies and gentlemen taking care of children’s education at schools, libraries or orphanages, publishing the best books by our writers? For while the state has problems with this, the Lohush couple consolidate people around the social demand for reviving charity.”
