On Sunday 16 August, a series of events to mark International Youth Day will take place in Lviv’s Stryiskyi Park. The organisers are inviting city residents to spend the day in the spirit of an “analogue life” — with children’s street games, face-to-face conversations and without constant smartphone notifications. The celebrations will culminate in an acoustic evening with Sviatoslav Vakarchuk.
Throughout the day, participants will be able to join a charity fun run, discussions on mental health and social media, poetry readings, art therapy, open-air cartoon screenings and first aid training. All activities will be held in Stryiskyi Park and admission is free.
The festivities will begin at 10:00 with a charity fun run to mark Youth Day in Stryiskyi Park. At 11:00, a youth liturgy will take place in the Garrison Church. The main part of the programme will run from 15:00 to 21:00 across several themed areas.
The “Return to Yourself” zone will be open from 15:30 to 18:30. From 15:30 to 16:30 it will host a panel discussion entitled “Time That Belongs to You” about an analogue lifestyle, mental health, the impact of social media and childhood habits. The conversation will be moderated by Angelina Chuhuievets, host of the podcast “Vsidaitysia Zruchnishe” (“Make Yourself Comfortable”). Speakers will include Darina Zarzhytska, director of Sebto Media and host of the podcast “Rankove dopio” (“Morning Doppio”), clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Yaryna Hudz, as well as media entrepreneur and Youth Ambassador for Lviv as the European Youth Capital 2025 Maksym Sysa.
From 17:00 to 18:30, the same zone will host open-air poetry readings “Poems from the Drawer” in cooperation with the organisation “Prostir Svobody” (“Space of Freedom”). Nearby, the “Memory Zone” (15:00–19:00) will invite participants to share their warmest childhood memories.
From 16:00 to 19:00, the park will screen favourite cartoons in the open air — the organisers suggest revisiting the stories people used to watch after school. In the “Courtyard of Your Childhood” area (15:00–19:00), sports activities are planned, including the game “Kozaky-rozbiynyky” (“Cossacks and Robbers”) and the team game “Friendship Will Win”.
In the “Khalabuda” zone, from 15:00 to 19:00 there will be a space for rest and rebooting. A chill-out area will be available, and from 17:00 to 18:30, with the participation of UNBROKEN Art, there will be an art therapy session. Separately, a “Become a Superhero” block (17:00–18:30) will offer practical first aid training, where participants will be able to master basic skills for dealing with critical situations.
The evening part of the programme, titled “A Date in Stryiskyi Park”, is scheduled from 19:30 to 21:00. Sviatoslav Vakarchuk will perform an acoustic set on stage. Guests are promised live music, songs by the band “Okean Elzy” and other pieces in the atmosphere of the park at nightfall.
All activities are free of charge, while the event also has a charitable purpose. The organisers are calling on people to contribute to the “TVORY for the Armed Forces” fundraiser together with the “Come Back Alive” foundation to purchase ground robotic systems for Ukrainian soldiers.
The event’s general partner is ATB-Market, and the title partner is the KredoBank Foundation. The event is also supported by the company “Halytska Svyzhyna”, the “Namynaka” brand and the “Podorozhnyk” pharmacy chain.
The organisers of Youth Day are the youth organisation “Tvory” and the Office of the European Youth Capital within the structure of Lviv City Council. “Tvory” is a Lviv-based organisation founded in 2020 that focuses on youth self-fulfilment and the development of youth policy. The organisation’s team was one of the key driving forces behind preparing Lviv to implement its European Youth Capital 2025 title and initiated the nationwide events “Molodvizh”, “Dysarium” and OL Science and Tech Fest.
The Office of the European Youth Capital at Lviv City Council coordinates the city’s youth policy, organises events, implements municipal programmes and grant opportunities, develops partnerships and involves young people in Lviv’s civic life. During the year of holding the European Youth Capital 2025 status, around 100 youth projects and events have been implemented in Lviv, new international partners and Ukrainian businesses have been engaged, and almost 4 million hryvnias have been raised to support the Ukrainian armed forces.