The State Agency of Ukraine for the Arts and Art Education has admitted 283 out of 314 performing arts applications to the next stage of the Thousand Spring cultural product support program competition.
The submission of applications for participation in the Thousand Spring program concluded on June 4. In the Performing Arts category, 314 applications were submitted.
Following a technical selection, the State Arts Agency published a list of 283 participants admitted to the second stage of the arts competition.
"During the meeting, the competition commission reviewed the results of the check of documents submitted for participation in the arts competition for compliance with the terms of the competition and formed a list of participants admitted to the second stage of the competition. Also, in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations on the Organization and Holding of Arts Competitions, a draw was held to distribute projects among the experts of the competition commission for carrying out the expert evaluation at the second stage of the competition," the agency said in a statement.
The expert evaluation will last until July 28. At this stage, a comprehensive professional evaluation of the submitted projects will be carried out by more than 180 experts, the list of whom was approved by the government.
Each project will be evaluated by five independent experts according to ten criteria, including: compliance of the submitted project with the theme and the competition, compliance of the budget with the creative concept, professionalism of the team, potential to attract an audience, artistic and meaningful value, originality of the idea, social significance and potential impact, inclusiveness, barrier-free access, and diversity, feasibility of implementation, and the team’s experience in implementing similar projects.
Based on the evaluation results, a list of participants who will continue to participate in the next stage of the competition – pitching – will be formed. The final pitchings in a festival format will take place from August 12 to August 16. Participants will present their projects to experts and competition committees, which will determine the winners of the program.
The tentative funding by areas is: feature films and series – UAH 1.9 billion, non-fiction (documentary) films and series – UAH 240 million, animated films and series, films and series for children – UAH 490 million, contemporary music – UAH 300 million, performing arts – UAH 400 million, visual arts – UAH 300 million, audiovisual shows and videos for social networks – UAH 260 million.
As reported, the Ministry of Culture launched the submission of contest applications under the initiative to create a Ukrainian cultural product (formerly "1000 Hours of Ukrainian Content," now "Thousand Spring") on April 3. The acceptance of applications lasted until June 4, and the final pitching of the project will take place on August 12–16.
Some UAH 4 billion is provided in the state budget for 2026 for the implementation of this program. According to Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy – Minister of Culture of Ukraine Tetiana Berezhna, a maximum of 80% of UAH 4 billion, that is, UAH 3.2 billion, will be allocated for the Thousand Spring program this year.
Berezhna also reported that the ministry would propose to include funds for the Thousand Spring program in the state budget for 2027. According to her, next year the project is planned to be extended to books and online games.
