Civic Organisations
Public Organisation “Adult Learning and Education Center ‘South’”
A leading role in the keeping of Tavrian painting is played by the Public Organisation “Adult Learning and Education Center ‘South’” (PO “ALEC ‘South’”). It is thanks to consistent, professionally planned work that the “blue-eyed pearl of the Mykolaiv Region” became an element of national recognition.
The organisation was created in 2014 as a community of possibilities and prospects for those who wish to learn, to develop and to be part of an active community. Until 2025 it was headed by Viktor Sikalenko, who gathered around himself a friendly team of like-minded people. The principal activity is concentrated on initiatives in adult education, psychosocial support, the development of entrepreneurship, and the study and sharing of the identity of the Mykolaiv Region, including its cultural heritage. The institution gives particular attention to questions of historical and spiritual roots, and so it is no accident that Tavrian painting came into the field of view of the enthusiasts.
It all began in 2021, when within the project “Mykolaiv: a City that Learns and Teaches” the express course “Tavrian Painting: a Triptych of Colour in Contemporary Art” was introduced, taught by Liubov Paraniuk. As a result, 12 graduates became the first ambassadors of the unique painting. The experience was so successful that, on the initiative of project manager Ruslana Sikalenko, the training courses began to be held regularly and were directed toward particular categories: preschool teachers, schoolteachers, teachers of vocational education, masters, and all who wished. Hundreds of listeners became bearers of the painting, which guaranteed its life and further development. Eight separate training courses were also designed, with the aim of attempting to carry motifs of Tavrian painting into other kinds of decorative art: embroidery, ceramics, jewellery in an ethno style, and the like. This led to the creation of souvenirs and to the forming of a brand of the Mykolaiv Region on the basis of ornaments of the old wall painting.
An important step was the opening in 2024 of the Workshop of Tavrian Painting as a social enterprise of the NGO, which became a centre of gravity for the Mykolaiv community. Masterclasses and meetings are held on its base; a standing exhibition works there; the annual December fair “Tavryka Unites!” takes place regularly; here one may buy handmade souvenirs and learn everything about the ICH element.
In order to share the painting with as wide an audience as possible, over the last five years a number of events have been organised and held, among which one should single out “On a Wave of Beauty,” “Tavrian Painting in the Context of War: of Boundless Love and Eternal Values,” the festival-fair “The Blue-Eyed Pearl of Mykolaivshchyna,” and others. In cooperation with the NGO “Cultural and Artistic Association ‘Art-Temptation’,” solo and thematic exhibitions of masters of Tavrian painting take place on different platforms of the city. The displays In the Blue of Sky and Sea, On the Waves of Sea and Steppe, Tavrian Painting: Life Despite the War and Territory of Painting have long remained in the memory of the people of Mykolaiv.
Exhibition “The Territory of Painting,” 2026
The practical and theoretical work of PO “ALEC ‘South’” has found reflection in the issue of specialised literature. In 2021 the educational and methodological book Tavrian Painting by L. Paraniuk and R. Sikalenko appeared, and was republished with additions twice. There is the series Embroidery Based on Motifs of Tavrian Painting, devoted to Mykolaiv women’s and men’s embroidered shirts and rushnyky. Catalogues of souvenirs, booklets and presentation materials are printed continually.
For a wide acquaintance with the painting, the creation of video content in cooperation with local media is also initiated. Thus in 2024, within Ruslana Sikalenko’s project “Identity of the Mykolaiv Region: Past, Present and Future,” a fine video about the painting, The Blue-Eyed Pearl of Mykolaivshchyna, was released, filmed in cooperation with the television and radio company MART.
The team has more than once presented the region beyond its borders: at the all-Ukrainian ICH festival “Living Culture — Living World,” in the media space (including the programme Breakfast with 1+1), at all-Ukrainian forums (the 14th Forum of Civil Society Development), and also abroad — at a fair in Switzerland, in Georgia, at a conference in Romania, and beyond.
Significant attention is given to the recording and scholarly grounding of the tradition. In 2024–2025, together with partners, a large-scale study began, with the aim of gathering and analysing all materials for the compilation of the record card of the element of intangible cultural heritage “The Tradition and Practice of Spatial and Utilitarian Decoration in the Mykolaiv Region: Tavrian Painting.” More than 200 people connected with the painting (in Ukraine and abroad) were surveyed; video memories of Yevhenia Bondarenko were filmed, and more. On 12 November 2025, by Order of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine No. 915, “Tavryka” was entered in the National List of Elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine.
For the institution this is a great victory — and at the same time a great responsibility for the further advancement and spread of this kind of art.
