Ukraine Fringe Festival Founder Alex Borovenskiy talks about this year’s festival, to take place from 30th August to 1st September at various venues and online

On Ukranian Independence Day (24th August), a nation reels 2 years post Russia’s invasion on 24th February 2022. A political issue stemming from 8 years of unrest between Ukrainian Government forces and Russia backed separatists, the Ukraine seeks to defend what’s theirs. Born out of the current conflict that impacts over 30 million people, Alex Borovenskiy has gone on to found the first Ukraine Fringe Festival – a showcase of the country’s rich cultural landscape, highlighting work from the often underrepresented. Ahead of this year’s festival – from 30th August until 1st September, Alex tells us more about the festival’s motto – “Steel Standing”, curating a 2nd year of the festival in light of ongoing conflict and the significance of ProEnglish Theatre of Ukraine, one of the festival’s host venues.

This year marks the 2nd Ukraine Fringe Festival to take place from the 30th Aug to 1st Sept at various venues in the Ukraine and online. How are you feeling ahead of the festival?

We feel empowered. It’s been 3rd year of a full scale war on Ukraine. To be able to put on a festival amidst it signals the message: we’re still there, we’re steel standing, this has become our motto this year and that’s how we feel.

This year’s motto is ‘Steel Standing’ – a representation of Ukraine – a country made of steel that overcomes any difficulties. How did you approach deciding this year’s motto?

The decision was in many ways inspired by Azovstal defenders who in the first months of the invasion wre protecting the city of Mariupol from the steel factory of Azovstal. Their heroic deeds changed the way we feel here now. Plus we’re big fans of Sir Elton John here and his song “Still Standing” kept us going through preparation process.

The 2nd Ukraine Fringe Festival will include performances and workshops – with performances created in collaboration with Ukrainian and US artists. The line up will include 5 performers in English, 2 workshops by the festival’s creator and 2 opening and closing parties. What can be expected from this year’s line up?

As every Fringe festival Ukraine Fringe offers a variety of genres and approaches. We will have a stage reading of young playwrights and by young I mean 14-16 year olds, a transgender drama, a refugee stand up comedy, a story of a man turning into whale and English Songs as comedy. Ukraine Fringe has it all to every spectator and the workshops with Allen Blackwell and Alex Borovenskiy will allow the audience to become active participants of the stage.

The Ukraine Fringe Festival was created in response to the ongoing war, with the first festival taking place just a year after the war’s beginning. How did you approach producing the festival at such a troubling time?

Fringe One and Fringe Two had quite different appeoaches and strategies. Whilst in 2023 our main goal was to attract as many foreign acts to Kyiv and we had nine of them in 2024 the festival is mostly a showcase of Ukrainian acts in English in collaboration with international artists. We’re steel standing and the world is to see who those “we” are.

What responses/feedback did you receive during/after the festival?

After the first fringe we received a tremendous response from the local audiences and international partners. The first claimed that they’ve never experienced a festival of a kind in Kyiv with the true Fringe atmosphere. Our friends from abroad complimented the lineup and the initiative itself. We hope that Ukraine Fringe will inspire more future interactions of Ukrainian and international artists.

What would you like for audiences to take away from this year’s festival?

Mostly we want the audiences to get the comforting feeling of the theatre as the safe space where everything is possible and everything is safe. In the early days of invasion ProEnglish Theatre of Ukraine served as the bomb shelter for those in need. This year it is chosen as the main venue for Ukraine Fringe and becomes an art shelter for the time of the festival. We want the audiences to feel that art is possible even at times of war and this is an inspiring feeling.

Interview by Lucy Basaba.

This year’s Ukraine Fringe Festival takes place from Friday 30th August until Monday 1st September. To find out more about the event, visit here…