“Our goal is for people to perceive museums as something alive and relevant to the present.”

“Our goal is for people to perceive museums as something alive and relevant to the present.”

The Common Heritage project is a three-in-one package: a convenient channel for anyone to donate historical items to a museum, a community of like-minded people who volunteer to search for old Ukrainian items for sale, and crowdfunding that buys these items and replenishes museum collections to preserve and promote Ukrainian culture.

The project currently cooperates with the National Center for Folk Culture “Ivan Honchar Museum” in Kyiv. In its first year of operation, Common Heritage rescued and donated to the Ivan Honchar Museum more than 40 items of folk costumes, folk paintings and icons, old photographs, and towels from different regions of Ukraine.

“The preservation of national traditions and identity usually happens thanks to the efforts of caring people,” says Alina Bozhniuk, the project’s founder. We asked her in more detail about the community’s activities and the principles of uniting people who care.

Background

I’ve been interested in antiques for a long time, and I’ve been building my own collection. I once donated some of my items to a museum and found out that they were missing many things, because the state museum’s funding is used to maintain existing collections and other needs, not to purchase new exhibits. So researchers do not search on auctions or platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

However, it is me who does it. And if I used to buy items for myself, now I’m interested in finding and buying them for museum collections. But I quickly realized that it was simply impossible to provide the museum with everything it needed on my own. So I came up with an idea – we can do it together!

About the project

The Common Heritage project aims to bring people together to buy or donate things to museums.

Previously, people who owned antiques could not evaluate them, and the museum could not buy them. Now we act as an intermediary between the museum and people: we help owners to evaluate their items, raise funds, and coordinate the purchase or donation.

Our project promotes interaction with museums, brings them closer to people, and thanks to this interaction, people become more interested in Ukrainian culture and history. I want museums to be perceived not just as places where things are stored on shelves, but as something alive and relevant to the present.

The Ivan Honchar Museum has always positioned itself as a public institution open to various artists, businesses, and anyone interested in culture. In our activities, we support their mission to make the museum accessible to everyone. Through us, people can feel that they are contributing to the preservation of their history.

How to search for cultural heritage items

The museum has a strategy for replenishing its collection, a document with a list of items that are missing. These can be either specific items, such as aprons for a particular costume, or categories of items, such as children’s embroidered shirts or Bukovyna icons on glass. There may also be a need for items from certain regions, such as Slobozhanshchyna or Zakarpattia.

We look for items based on this strategy in the first place. For example, at the museum’s request, we found a shirt from Zakarpattia, and now we plan to complement it with a skirt and an apron. Another example is a Hutsul coat and a tsurkanka (an elongated cap), which were also very desirable for the museum.

However, we are already quite familiar with the collection of the Ivan Honchar Museum, so we can offer things that are not on the list, but they seem valuable to us.

Not only the items themselves are valuable, but also the information about their origin and the circumstances of their creation. For example, we found and offered the museum items from Bakota, a village flooded during the construction of the Novodnistrovska hydroelectric power plant. These are obviously rare items from a historically significant place.

We monitor the sales and offer the museum appropriate items. To do this, we have a chat with the museum’s researchers, where we share descriptions, condition, and value of the items we find. Then they consult with each other and make decisions.

The museum officially accepts these items as a gift, although in reality they realize that they were purchased with people’s money. That is why they are very responsible in selecting items, accepting only those that are really needed and will go to the main fund or become the museum’s business card.

The value of Common Heritage is that we can replenish the collection with exactly the items that the museum lacks, closing gaps in their collection. And while we realize that buying things online is no substitute for ethnographic research, it is an effective way to get the items you need when an expedition to get a particular apron is obviously impractical.

Sometimes people themselves want to donate certain things to the museum: these can be family heirlooms or things they once bought and now want to give to a better place. Or someone can find an interesting item for sale on the Internet, and if the museum is not ready to buy it for joint funds, but considers it valuable, the person can offer to buy it on their own and donate it to the museum. In such cases, the museum assesses the artistic value and condition of the item. If there are already many similar items, the museum may refuse the gift, but in most cases it accepts them.

photos: https://spadok.foundation/

We look for things at auctions, in various groups where there are sellers who buy things from villages, as well as collectors who sell their collections. A lot of things are now sold on Instagram, although it’s often a resale of things already bought on other platforms. However, there are also sellers who find these things on their little expeditions. We have not yet tested foreign auctions where you can find Ukrainian items, but potentially you can search there as well.

In fact, the entire Internet is available to us for searching. But unfortunately, we are faced with rising prices for cultural artifacts due to speculation. When the price is too high, we refuse to participate in order to use the funds raised responsibly and be able to purchase more items.

photo: https://spadok.foundation/

Project team

We have a team that works on the project on a volunteer basis. Initially, it was us, Alina and Anya, and two other people: one created the website and the other created the visual style. Now three more people have joined us. One of them is constantly searching for things and communicating with the museum, and I join in when I have time or need to. Another new person develops the community and works with Ukrainians abroad to engage them and their foreign friends in supporting the project. We also have a designer.

We also communicate about the history of things and talk about new interesting and important objects that appear in the museum through our joint efforts.

Patrons

The project team also includes 41 patrons who donate money through Patreon on a monthly basis. We have several contribution levels: $5, $10, $25, and $50. The vast majority donate $5-10.

We received the majority of patrons at the time of the project launch. Back then, the media wrote about us, and we made several joint posts with the museum. Now it is quite difficult to attract new patrons. It’s good that we have a monthly donation system that allows us to plan purchases.

We have found a way to make the process of adding to the museum’s collections interesting and enjoyable for our community. For example, we started holding meetings where you can look at the items you’ve purchased, talk to other members, and take part in workshops. This helps to create a sense of community and involvement.

We also send small bonuses, such as recognizing our patrons in reports and on social media, which makes them part of our community. It’s not the main motivator, but it’s a nice compliment that helps them feel their role in the project.

Many of our patrons are Ukrainians abroad who want to be useful to Ukraine not only through donations to the army, but also to culture. They often have more financial resources than Ukrainians in Ukraine.

This year, we plan to work more with Ukrainians abroad and engage people around them.

Cooperation with business

We tried to involve businesses in supporting the project. For example, one brand has made stickers in collaboration with us and donates the profits to the project. Another collaboration was with a scarf brand, and we jointly created a scarf inspired by the images from the rescued embroidered shirt. Another designer created a poster inspired by an embroidered painting we purchased for the museum, and all profits from its sale also go to the project. In total, we raised about UAH 10,000 as a result of these collaborations.

We are very open to such initiatives from brands. But there is a nuance here: we take care of all the coordination, but the brand must sign an agreement with the museum, as the items do not physically belong to us-they are immediately transferred to the museum.

We have not approached large corporations or stores and do not plan to do so yet, because the idea of Common Heritage is about a common cause, small donations for something bigger. It is important for us that people feel the value of their contributions, regardless of their size. This contributes to the formation of a community of people who want to preserve and spread culture.

But if a business wants to buy something for the museum, it’s very cool. They can indicate how much they want to buy, and we will help with the search or coordinate the details with the museum. However, the format of monthly large donations from companies does not quite match our values.

The best result

Perhaps our greatest achievement is the creation of an active community of like-minded people. In terms of specific items, one of the most significant acquisitions was a collection of items embroidered by the daughter of a Sich Rifleman during her exile in the Irkutsk region of Russia and in Kazakhstan. This collection includes drawings, an embroidered painting and a blouse, which are of great historical value.

Recently, we also acquired the oldest and most expensive exhibit – a one-meter wooden icon that is about 100-150 years old. The museum’s director, who also searches for interesting things on the Internet, saw this icon but could not buy it because of its high price. We bought it and gave it to the museum.

Development prospects

Our mission is not only to preserve things, but also to create knowledge about them, including what embroidery looks like, what is depicted on them, and what techniques were used. We want to make this information available so that people can interpret it and be inspired to create new things based on the traditions and techniques they see.

In addition, we want to popularize our culture around the world, not just in Ukraine.

Ideally, the project should turn into a collaboration with international institutions and designers who would be in contact with the museum.

And we also have plans to cooperate not only with the heritage we find for the museum, but also with family heritage.

Because now we buy things for the museum so that they don’t disappear. However, instead of being sold, these things could stay in families, and scientists would organize expeditions from time to time to study them.