Club seminar for Aspen-Community: how to talk about diversity in Ukraine
On March 29–30, 2025, the Aspen Institute Kyiv held a two-day club seminar for members of the Aspen Community dedicated to cultural diversity and identity. Participants from Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and other cities came together in a shared space to reflect on the advantages and challenges of multiculturalism in contemporary Ukraine. The seminar focused on the strength that emerges from diversity and the search for common ground despite differences.
Participants explored liberal and conservative perspectives on multiculturalism, mechanisms of “othering,” and cultural interaction in today’s Ukraine. During group work sessions, they developed policy proposals on decolonization, integration of Ukrainians, and labor migration to address diversity challenges. A creative task — theatrical sketches inspired by Ivan Franko’s translations — allowed community members to model intercultural and intermental interactions in Ukrainian cities.
The seminar’s guest was Anton Drobovych, Head of the Human Rights and War Memorialization Centre at the Kyiv School of Economics and former Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (2019–2024). Anton shared his perspective on the role of culture and national identity.
Andriy Kulakov, Program Coordinator of the Aspen Institute Kyiv Community, moderated the seminar. Tetiana Lymar, Administrative Coordinator of the Aspen Institute Kyiv, coordinated the event.
We thank all participants for their sincere and meaningful dialogues. For many, it was an opportunity to see familiar topics from a new angle, calibrate their positions, make new friends and partners, and get inspired for future initiatives.
For reference, Aspen Institute Kyiv conducts club-style seminars for members of its community, which is comprised of active and proactive alumni united by their commitment to the common good. A distinctive feature of these dialogues is the atmosphere of trust, where participants sincerely express their views without asserting them as absolute truths.
