We are open for 4 years already! What were we doing for all this time?

Can you believe it has been 4 years? It sure was a rollercoaster to exist in the world since 2021, especially when you get to witness all the stories that our community and friends bring. But it is also an opportunity to take a step back and think what we were able to make with the beautiful building we have, with all the incredible support we get, and the beautiful humans we’ve met. So we’re sharing some plain facts with you - but behind every line there are our team members, colleagues from other organisations and initiatives, people from our community, our friends and allies, our partners, and we are just so grateful for this vibrant scene we find ourselves in.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS

  • More than 800 events: concerts, book presentations, workshops, classes, exhibitions, movie screenings, etc.
  • Yearly festivals: Belarusian culture week, All Saints day, Christmas, Easter, Museum night.
  • Belarusian weekend school: dozens of classes every weekend for children aged 3-15
  • The largest Belarusian public library in Lithuania (ca 4000 books)
  • Therapy and legal support for Belarusians and violence victims
  • Lithuanian, English, Polish, Belarusian classes
  • Community clubs: women’s craft club, book clubs, teenagers club, parents club
  • Summer camps for children

RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Transcription and big data analysis of the interwar Lutskevich Museum’s guestbook
  • Oral history project “(Un)seen”: collecting and publishing life stories of Belarusian women activists
  • Compiling and publishing a guide to the museum’s archives
  • Electronic publishing of Francis Skorina “Canticum Canticorum” and “Ecclesiastes”
  • Solo excursion booklets: “Vilnius folklore” “Stories of Vilnius publishing”, “Wladyslaw Syrokomla’s paths”

PROJECTS OF OTHER ORGANISATIONS IN OUR CENTRE

  • Monitoring violations in the Belarusian healthcare and judiciary systems (Zubr.in)
  • Media center coordination (Zubr.in)
  • Therapy and coaching services (Center of Immigrant Business)
  • Establishment of a craft center (Center of Immigrant Business)
  • Mentorship and education programs for women entrepreneurs (Center of Immigrant Business)
  • Development of online courses for Belarusian teachers and educators (Center of Teacher Education)
  • Curriculum consulting for Belarusian teachers and educators (Center of Teacher Education)
  • Therapy and legal support (“Spring” Human Rights Organization)
  • Monitoring human rights violations in Belarus (“Spring” Human Rights Organization)
  • Human rights workshops (“Spring” Human Rights Organization)
  • Monitoring human rights violations in Belarus (United Nations)
  • Dance evenings organized by Valoshka Social Dance Club and the Lithuanian Ethnic Culture Society
  • Human rights awards and public events organized by the B. Zvoskau Human Rights House
  • Literary festivals and award ceremonies organized by the Belarusian PEN Centre
  • Conferences and events organized by Politsfera (politology research institute)
  • Exhibitions and events of the European Humanities University
  • Youth educational programs by SILBA
  • Exhibitions of the Analogue Photography Festival by Kirtimų Kultūros Centras
  • Exhibition by the Warsaw Belarusian Museum
  • Children’s education programs by the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education

CURRENT COMMUNITY PROJECTS

  • Mentorship and support program for women activists, including bi-weekly classes and workshops, therapy and coaching, as well as leisure clubs
  • Belarusian weekend school
  • Lithuanian, English, Polish, German, and Belarusian classes
  • Belarusian culture Festival
  • Therapy and legal support
  • Belarusian public library
  • Community clubs

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Digitisation project as part of the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme: digitising and publishing all museum objects dated up to 1950
  • Transcription and publication of Ivan Lutskevich’s notebooks
  • Article on the life stories of Belarusian women activists collected during the “(Un)seen” project
  • Oral history recording on Belarusian culture in Vilnius during the 1980s–1990s
  • Textile catalogue preparation for the museum collection

Here is to 4 more years (and hopefully some more after that). Again, we are so grateful for every single human that came to visit us, helped to create these experiences and programs, supported us or was interested in the cause for democratic Belarus. We literally couldn’t make any of it without you all.

Love you. Mean it.

Yours,

Belarusian Community and Culture Centre team