HANDBOOK HOW WE STAY TOGETHER

We are glad to share news about printing our handbook, “How We Stay Together,” and also share the book itself, which you can get for free!

“How We Stay Together” is a guide to working with participatory practices, which collects the knowledge and approaches of artists who participated in the residency “How We Stay Together”, as well as the experience of experts from various fields: theater, literature, performance, visual art, body-oriented and art therapy, psychotherapy, sociology, history, oral history, curatorship.

This book will be useful for artists, curators, cultural managers, and anyone who wants to work with communities besides traditional artistic practices.

THE GOALS OF THE HANDBOOK

The handbook offers an overview of the approaches and practices of four artists who participated in the How We Stay Together residency at the Jam Factory Art Center in Lviv. It recounts their observations and illuminates small discoveries and big revelations. This publication aims to provide insight into how one can be sensitive to own conditions and reach out to diverse audiences and different age groups, expanding the understanding of inclusiveness.

The distinctive feature of the How We Stay Together project was the sincerity with which the artists and the participants shared their experiences, emotions, and states. During the interviews, the residents and curators similarly earnestly talked about their doubts, fears, discoveries, and achievements. The materials collected in this publication illustrate the project development and numerous collaborations that occurred along the way. This collection will be useful for artists, curators, and cultural managers who would like to work with communities in addition to traditional artistic practices. The publication is a guide to methodologies of participatory practices, which gathers expertise from various fields: theater, literature, performance, visual arts, body-oriented and art therapies, psychotherapy, sociology, history, oral history, and curatorship. It archives the knowledge on the work with communities produced within the How We Stay Together project and annotates the essential aspects to be considered in community-oriented activities.

Artists who wish to learn more about interaction with communities through artistic and non-artistic practices will find the interviews with the How We Stay Together residency participants instrumental. The residents share their understandings of the co-creation process, internal tasks, transformations of their states, and revisions that occur as a response to the group’s “climate” and external circumstances.

The curators and organizers of similar projects can consult this publication: it contains structured materials about the How We Stay Together actions sequence, goals, and general course. The handbook describes possibilities of combining different kinds of practices, namely, artistic, art therapy, and body-oriented. It will facilitate the creation of a multidisciplinary project with varied applications of different approaches that work effectively in synergy and assist in transferring the experiences into other contexts. This publication also offers materials in the format of conversations, ensuring a broader understanding of the subtleties and an elucidation of practices directly by the artists.

The Jam Factory Art Center has been working in the direction of sharing art with communities for over four years. Hence, for us, collecting knowledge in the form of publication is also the formation of institutional memory. This is a documentation of an institutional journey: how the organization learns, develops, and adapts the mentioned approaches to different projects and agents.

In addition, this methodological collection contributes to the MagiC Carpets platform knowledge framework bringing together 20 countries and 20 organizations, respectively, that work with local communities through art residencies. The experiences and approaches recorded in this publication will become available to international curators, artists, and communities. On a global scale, the task of this publication is to inform those who have not yet experienced community-focused practices and are interested in learning more about them.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• The Goals of the Handbook
• The How We Stay Together Art Residency

Jam Factory Art Center and MagiС Carpets Platform

General Framework

Tasks of the Residency

Community

The How We Stay Together Project Team

• Research

On the Research Stage

History. Iryna Sklokina

Oral History Recording. Andrii Usach

Psychotherapy. Solomiia Bura

Literature. Halyna Kruk

Sociology. Nataliia Otrishchenko

Nataliia Otrishchenko’s Conversation with Yurii Kruchak and Yuliia Kosterieva

• Methodology and Practices

Development of the Project Methodology. The Road Map of the Residency

On the Practices and Process

The How We Stay Together Residency Exercises

• Interviews and Conversations between the Artists and the Team

Nina Khyzhna Conversing with Yurii Kruchak

Nina Khyzhna Conversing with Mariia Shvets

Iryna Harets Conversing with Yurii Kruchak

Iryna Harets Conversing with Mariia Shvets

Yurii Kruchak Conversing with Mariia Shvets

Rostyslav Kuzyk Conversing with Yurii Kruchak

Liuba Ilnytska Conversing with Yurii Kruchak

Liuba Ilnytska Conversing with Mariia Shvets

Violetta Pedorych Conversing with Yurii Kruchak

Sofiia Korotkevych: A Comment for Anna Gaidai

Yuliia Kosterieva, Anna Gaidai, and Yurii Kruchak: A Discussion

Community Feedback

• Results: Tangible, Intangible, and the Process as a Result

Tangible Results

The Poem Сreated Together

The Process
Word Associations

• The How We Stay Together Project Summary
• Oleksandra Kushchenko, How We Are (Getting Tired and Recovering) Together? Analytical Article
• Afterword
• References and Useful Links

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Publication Curatorial Group

Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak, Anna Haidai

Art Residency Curatorial Team 

Liuba Ilnytska, Anna Haidai, Bozhena Pelenska

Authors 

Anna Haidai, Liuba Ilnytska, Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak

Narrators

Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak, Nina Khyzhna, Iryna Harets, Rostyslav Kuzyk, Liuba Ilnytska, Anna Gaidai, Violetta Pedorych, Sofiia Korotkevych, Viktoriia, Liudmyla, Kostiantyn, Mykola, Marharyta

Residency Art Review 

Oleksandra Kushchenko

Hosts of Documented Practices

Yuliia Kosterieva, Yurii Kruchak, Nina Khyzhna, Iryna Harets, Rostyslav Kuzyk

Editor
Anna Haidai

Program Executive Director

Bozhena Pelenska

Financial Executive Director

Tetiana Fedoruk

Management

Sofiia Korotkevych

Communication Management

Mariia Shvets

Financial Support

Liliia Bei

Transcription 

Maryna Khalymon, Valentyna Korol, Violetta Pedorych, Yuliia Kosterieva, Anna Gaidai

Proofreading

Iryna Shutka

Polina Baitsym

Reviewing

Nataliia Otrishchenko

Translation

Polina Baitsym

Illustrations and Visual Identity

Andriana Chunis

Photos

Olha Klymuk, Bohdan Yemets

Design and Layout

Maksym Zakrevskyi

Printed

“Kolo Print” Printing House

The How We Stay Together residency project and this handbook became possible thanks to the comprehensive support of the MagiC Carpets platform, the Creative Europe program and the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe, Dr. Harald Binder Private Foundation, the unparalleled endurance, strength, and professionalism of the Jam Factory Art Center colleagues; ideas, openness, interaction, and exchanges between the team of the residents and curators; and, of course, the trust of the Ukrainian families who embarked with us on this “journey.

PRESENTATION AND CONTEXT

The idea to document the methodology of working with participatory practices during the residency “How We Stay Together” came from the artist Yurii Kruchak and the artist Yuliia Kosterieva in the summer of 2022. To work with communities through art, it was necessary to rethink previous approaches and develop new methods based on the experience of living in a wartime society and on today’s needs. This idea was implemented as a printed handbook, “How We Stay Together”, which the Jam Factory published in August 2023 in a small edition in Ukrainian with an English translation. The handbook was presented at the “How We Stay Together” workshop on August 17, 2023.