The Lviv City Council has significantly updated the municipal programme to support young artists, which was approved in 2024. The programme, now titled “You, Here, Now”, covers a wider pool of participants and more artistic disciplines, and will recognise three winners with cash awards of 50, 30 and 20 thousand hryvnias.
Previously, the programme was focused mainly on students of art-related specialities and projects in the field of sculpture. Now young creators aged 16 to 35 — school pupils, students, graduates, young professionals and independent artists — will be able to enter the competition. Professional experience is not a mandatory requirement.
The competition is no longer limited to sculptors. Entries will be accepted in the fields of visual arts, architecture, design, interdisciplinary practices, as well as digital, sound, light, kinetic, interactive and other contemporary art projects. Within the programme, participants will be able to submit sculptures, three-dimensional spatial objects, installations, reliefs, as well as works in video format where these involve digital, sound, light or interactive art.
“We want to encourage young artists to engage in creative exploration, unconventional solutions and bold experiments with form, material and technology. That is precisely why the programme is now called ‘You, Here, Now’ – it is about the young creator, their view of the time we live in, and about Lviv as a space where this outlook can emerge,” said Marta Beshlei, Head of the Department of Culture of the Lviv City Council.
One of the key decisions was to introduce three prize-winning places with fixed award amounts. The competition commission will rank the submitted works: first prize will be 50,000 UAH, second — 30,000 UAH, third — 20,000 UAH. In this way, the programme aims to support several strong participants at once, whereas in the previous year only one winner was selected.
Authors do not have to link their project to a specific location in Lviv from the outset. At the same time, participants may propose a site for potential implementation — a square, a small park, a courtyard, a residential space or another area within the community. The competition commission may recommend one of the selected projects for further development with a view to possible implementation in one of the spaces of the Lviv community. This will require separate production work and the necessary approvals, and does not imply automatic realisation of the work.
The projects will be evaluated by a competition commission composed of representatives of the Department of Culture, the Department of Architecture and Spatial Development, the relevant council committee, as well as figures from Lviv’s cultural and artistic community. The works will be assessed according to criteria such as originality of the idea and artistic expression, conceptual integrity, innovation and experimental approach, technical implementation of the concept, interaction with the space and the quality of the submitted materials. The maximum score will be 30 points.
After the official announcement of the competition, participants will be able to submit applications through the Administrative Services Centre and its local branches, or as an electronic submission via the official website of the Lviv City Council. The application package will need to include a description of the artistic project and visual or technical materials (sketches, 3D visualisations, videos, models, etc., depending on the format of the work). Portfolios, information about previous activities and references may be attached where available.
The Lviv City Council adopted the programme to support young artists in March 2024 within the framework of the decision “On support for artistic and exhibition activities in the Lviv City Territorial Community”. In 2026 it was substantially updated and set out in a new version in line with the Strategy for the Development of Culture of the Lviv City Territorial Community until 2035.