President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that since the beginning of the full-scale war, art has greatly helped in promoting Ukraine abroad, but he wants the world to know about the country not only through the lens of war.
"There is very little cinema. There are very talented works that receive international recognition at various festivals, but in my view, there is still not enough Ukrainian content. At the beginning of the war, art, theaters, and concerts were very helpful, and certainly, Ukrainian culture and our people appeared abroad, but there is no mass presence yet," Zelenskyy said during an event launching the selection of projects for the Thousand Spring (Tysachavesna) initiative in Kyiv on Thursday, answering a question about what Ukrainian content is missing abroad.
The President emphasized that he wants people to know about Ukraine not only because of the war, noting that it feels offensive that "one must sacrifice life for people to pay attention to our state."
He also noted that Ukraine produces very talented exhibitions.
"But not many venues are utilized. You go to any international meeting, and a festival is held in parallel, but we are not represented everywhere. Money must be allocated for this, there must be more cultural diplomacy, and more work from our embassies and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All of this requires attention," he added.
Applications for the Thousand Spring program closed on June 4. A total of 2,634 applications were submitted for the project. The commission accepted 1,151 applications in seven categories totaling UAH 10.8 billion, 17% of which are debut projects.
The leading categories by the number of applications are: audiovisual shows and social media content (270 applications), feature films and series (238 applications), and non-fiction (documentary) films and series (180 applications).
A technical selection process will continue until June 12, during which competition commissions from the Ministry of Culture, the State Film Agency, and the State Agency of Arts will verify that documents for all candidates are filled out correctly. Projects that meet the requirements will then move to the second stage: expert evaluation.
Lists of participants who pass the technical selection and move to the second stage will be published on the websites of Thousand Spring, the Ministry of Culture, the State Film Agency, and the State Agency of Arts.
Expert evaluation begins on June 17 and will last until July 28. During this stage, over 120 government-approved experts will conduct a comprehensive professional assessment of the submitted projects.
The distribution of applications among experts in each category will be broadcast publicly. Each project will be evaluated by five independent experts based on ten criteria, including: relevance to the program’s theme; alignment of the budget with the creative concept; team professionalism; audience engagement potential; artistic and substantive value; originality of the idea; social significance and potential impact; inclusivity and accessibility; feasibility; and the team’s experience in implementing similar projects.
Based on the evaluation results, a list of participants moving to the next stage, the pitching session, will be formed.
Final pitches in a festival format will take place from August 12 to 16. Participants will present their projects to experts and competition commissions, who will determine the program’s winners.
As reported, the Ministry of Culture launched the submission of entries for the initiative to create Ukrainian cultural products (formerly "1000 Hours of Ukrainian Content," now "Thousand Spring") on April 3. Applications were accepted until June 4, with final pitching scheduled for August 12–16.
The 2026 state budget provides UAH 4 billion for the implementation of this program. According to Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture of Ukraine Tetiana Berezhna, a maximum of 80% of the UAH 4 billion, or UAH 3.2 billion, will be allocated to the Thousand Spring program this year.
Berezhna also announced that the ministry will propose including funding for the Thousand Spring program in the 2027 state budget. She added that there are plans to expand the project to books and online games next year.
