Festival organiser ArtPole'2009
Vinnytsia regional youth organisation "Our Podillya",
co-organiser: Vinnytsia State Regional Administration,
co-organiser and concept developer:
Event Agency ArtPole
Partners of the Festival:
The Polish Institute,
France Cultural Centre,
Festivals:
"Mykolaiky Folkovi" (Poland),
Villes des Musiques du Monde (France),
Nemiroff international brand,
Ukrainske Selo Restaurant and museum,
Zammler Ukraine.

12–18.07.2009
The First International Festival "ArtPole. Dimensional sound/action"

The global development has kicked off. ArtPole'2009 has been a multi-coloured, intelligent, kind, and, importantly - sincere event. Already a bit tired yet relaxed. A touch off-beat but back to civilisation, breathing in the city air, uploaded photos and videos, and back to the fields - to meet, to experiment, to create. We've searched together - sometimes in creative landscape, sometimes - in reality, and it seems the search is over. At least, for the direction of development. The ArtPole saw doubts, research, arguments (the latter - usually with oneself than with the outside world). We saw, heard and felt that every one of the masters-artists-musicians-producers-actors gave us everything they could. Our thanks to them, because this was the real art.
The International Festival ArtPole'2009 got together the participants from 10 countries: Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Georgia, Russia, Belarus, USA, France and Great Britain. The festival engulfed over 30 different workshops - from theatre- to trade-related, from traditional, such as lollipop making, to such that required the cutting-edge equipment, for example animation and VJ workshops - and the results were available immediately at the festival. For the week the ArtPole was visited by some 30,000 guests - both permanent "inhabitants" and people who came over just for the evening concerts.

Ukrainian discovery of the year at this year's ArtPole was Piss & Laugh (side-project of the Aesthetic Education group), Tatosh-banda (a project by the well-known to ArtPole visitors group the Burdon), and "The Schools of Song" by Natalka Polovynka, who seldom performs in front of large audience. Memorable performances by other countries included Georgia-based theatre of shadows Budrugana and Belarus-based Port Mone trio, who simply spellbound the audience of the Small arena, as well as NagUal group, which performed with gusto in the last day of the festival. The creative lab of the ArtPole gave birth to the unique projects, now in development. The brightest of these must be the joint work by the animation studio Novator-film from Kyiv and Belarus-based NagUal group, as well as another Belarus-Ukrainian duet - Port Mone from Minsk plus VJ group KUB from Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk. There was much to interest the public - singers, dancers, performers from the public added a graceful touch to the performances by Propala Gramota, or, say, Perkalaba. In everybody's opinion, the best master-project was created by Yarema Stetsik choir, which entertained the ArtPole visitors by the rehearsals run at the back of the lorry and in the last day of the festival singed before the headliners of the festival.