Sidedoor: A Culture in Crisis

Ukraine has scores of museums, cemeteries, archeological sites, and places of worship where Ukrainian history and national identity are memorialized. But when bombs are exploding, who’s pulling a sculpture from the rubble? Enter the Smithsonian Cultural Heritage Initiative: a team flung together by a deadly earthquake in Haiti that grew through trial and discovery into an international network of professionals devoted to protecting the world’s treasures from threats by humankind and mother nature alike.

Guests:

• Hayden Bassett, director of the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab at Smithsonian affiliate Virginia Museum of Natural History
• Olsen Jean Julien, project director of the Cultural Conservation Center at Quisqueya University in Haiti
• Cori Wegener, director of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative
• Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large, co-founder of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative
• Ihor Poshyvailo, director of the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity (Maidan Museum) in Kyiv, Ukraine

Listen now:

Acknowledgments:

The work of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative would not be possible without the collaboration of countless partner organizations and collaborators, among them:

• The US government, including the Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee, the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security and Justice, the FBI, Institute of Peace, FEMA, and the Heritage Emergency National Task Force;
• Agencies of other governments like the Ministry of Culture in Haiti, the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq, and the Ministry of Culture in Ukraine;
• Other organizations, such as
  • UNESCO,
  • the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, International Council of Museums,
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science,
  • American Institute of Conservation,
  • US Committee of the Blue Shield,
  • Penn Cultural Heritage Center and the University of Pennsylvania Museum,
  • Virginia Museum of Natural History,
  • University of Maryland,
  • Prince Claus Fund for Cultural Emergency Response,
  • FOKAL in Haiti,
  • Mosul Museum,
  • The Heritage Emergency Rescue Initiative,
  • National Center for Research Restoration, and
  • The Kosciuszko Foundation for Ukraine.

SCRI’s work is made possible with the support of funders like the United State Congress, Department of State, Bank of America, ​Mellon Foundation, ALIPH Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Brad Freeman, the Broadway League, the Stiller Foundation, and the Roberts family.

Related posts:

How Ukrainians are defending their cultural heritage from Russian destruction Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage in Times of War The Smithsonian stands with Ukraine: Our efforts to preserve cultural heritage in a war zone What it’s like to evacuate a museum in a natural disaster