On May 13-18, 2024, the O.O.Osmerkin Art Memorial Museum, on the occasion of the International Museum Day (May 18), held a traditional cultural and artistic educational event "Museum Guests", which this year is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of its opening of the O.O.Osmerkin Art Memorial Museum for visitors (June 21, 1994).
    The theme of International Museum Day in 2024 is "Museums for Education and Research". Museums are truly vital spaces where education and research come together to shape our understanding of the world. It is not for nothing that the logo of the world museum holiday this year is in the form of the letter "M", which symbolizes the word "Museum", and the bright colors with which it is depicted on a black background symbolize the diverse range of knowledge that museums convey to the world. The author of its design is the Swedish-Hungarian artist and graphic designer Gabor Palotai, known for his philosophy of avant-garde design. The abstract composition created by him is a visual metaphor for the huge storehouse of information stored in museums and waiting for research and distribution.
    The Oleksandr Osmerkin Art Memorial Museum is also a dynamic educational center that promotes the comprehensive development of creativity and art studies, especially among students. Such interaction of the museum and educational institutions is one of the priority areas of the institution's activity, and in the conditions of war it becomes even more relevant and meets the needs of society, which, overcoming suffering, pain and losses, rethinking the history and cultural traditions of the people, builds a new a consciousness full of values of free citizens of an independent country.
    On the occasion of the International Day of Museums, the team of the O.O. smerkin Memorial Art Museum organized a kind of art marathon during the week, during which they held interesting art events within the framework of traditional thematic headings.

    On May 13, in the "Museum art therapy" section the first event in support of the All- Ukrainian mental health program "How are you?" was held. It is known that art has therapeutic properties and helps us all become more aware of what we are all going through right now and go through the process of psychological recovery. Volunteers of the Kirovohrad regional organization of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine, Olha Krasnopolska and Yuliia Nesyn, as psychosocial support consultants, held an information session "Anxiety. Self-help", during which they told how to recognize anxiety in oneself and cope with it, as well as introduced museum workers to practical exercises aimed at being able to control stressful situations and act meaningfully in them.
    And the decoration of the art therapy event at the museum was a concert by students and teachers of Music School No. 2 named after Yulii Meitus, arranged at the initiative of the school's director Olena Nadutenko. "Music is the only phenomenon that cannot be doubted, does not need explanations, proofs, or theorems. It simply exists, pleases, illuminates our life. It is music that comes first as therapy and relaxation," said Olena Sokolenko, the lead teacher of the vocal class, at the beginning of the musical performance. The young musicians and their teachers masterfully performed the works of Ukrainian composers on the old museum grand piano, violin, saxophone, flute, guitar, and excellent vocal performances with childlike immediacy created an extremely warm and soulful atmosphere that emotionally healed all those present. At the end of the concert performance, the director of the museum, Vita Chernova, presented the school staff with a thank you and a sweet souvenir.

    On May 14, in the "Museum workshop" section hosted a traditional event - ART project "Art studios" on the theme: "Portraits of contemporaries on the background of war", during which artists continued to create a portrait gallery of Kropnytskyi artists and cultural figures. Olena Klassova, chief custodian of the funds of the Museum of Musical Culture named after Karol Szymanowski, laureate of the regional local history prize named after Volodymyr Yastrebov, well- known tour guide and author of presentation printed publications about the history of the city of Kropyvnytskyi and its unique architectural attractions of the historical center: a set of postcards "Legends of our city" (2017) and a guide catalog "1-2-3 days in Kropyvnytskyi" (2019).
    The studies this time were interesting and informative, because Olena Klassova was happy to tell the artists who painted her portrait about little-known facts about the history of the city and the lives of its talented artists - musicians, poets, painters, as well as about curious moments from her many years of experience as a tour guide and museum a scientist The memories of the opening of the Oleksandr Osmerkin Museum on June 21, 1994 were also pleasant, because Olena Adolfivna worked successfully in our museum as a senior research associate long before its opening, she was personally acquainted with the artist's widow, Nadiia Heorhiivna Osmerkina, she met with her several times during business trips, when she handed over to the museum paintings by Oleksandr Oleksandrovich Osmerkin, objects of creative work from his workshop, photos and documents from the artist's archive, which before the war were exhibited in the memorial hall, where, in fact, art studios took place. And at the end, nature and artists with their newly created portraits traditionally took a photo to commemorate the creative meeting.

    On May 15, the "Museum Treasury" section presented the thematic exhibition ""Kobzar" from the library of Oleksandr Osmerkin" for the 210th anniversary of the birth of Taras Shevchenko from the "Secrets of the Museum Collection" series. The exhibition featured unique original items from the museum's collections, handed over by the artist's widow Nadiia Osmerkina, books from Oleksandr Osmerkin's personal library: "Kobzar" by Taras Shevchenko (1932) with a gift signature of the artist's father, and the research work of the famous writer and literary critic Marietta Shaginian "Taras Shevchenko" (1946) with the author's signature, as well as a newspaper All- Russian Academy of Arts, where Oleksandr Osmerkin worked as a teacher, "For Socialist Realism", No. 9 (110), March 10, 1939 with articles dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of Taras Shevchenko. The exhibition was complemented by photographs of painting professor Oleksandr Osmerkin from different years of his life, starting with the Yelisavetgrad period, as well as during his creative work and successful teaching activities.
    All his conscious life Oleksandr Osmerkin lived abroad, but he always remembered his homeland with a twinge in his heart. That is why he so carefully kept these books about the great poet and artist Taras Shevchenko, whose anniversary we are honoring this year. By the way, on the title page of "Kobzar" of the rare Kharkiv edition of 1932, there is a gift signature of the artist's father Oleksandr Pavlovich Osmerkin in Ukrainian: "My child! Remember our life with you in Moscow from May 5, 1931 to March 28, 1932. I hold you tightly in my arms. Your father." This book is also unique in that one of its editors was Iieremiia Aizenshtok from Yelysavethrad - a famous literary critic who was at the origin of the establishment of the Taras Shevchenko Institute in Kharkiv in 1926. It was thanks to I. Aizenshtok, who held the position of academic secretary of this institute, that Taras Shevchenko's belongings were returned to Ukraine from Moscow and Leninhrad - the poet's letter to Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko, the autograph of the poem "Mariana the Nun", five paintings Kobzar and his eighty drawings. It is noteworthy that the book collection of the outstanding scientist-philologist, which is currently kept in the National Library of Ukraine named after V. I. Vernadskyi, proposed to be included in the State Register of the National Cultural Property of Ukraine. This is how the destinies of the natives of our city - the artist Oleksandr Osmerkin and the literary critic Iieremiia Aizenshtok - united by Taras Shevchenko's "Kobzar" were intertwined in such a strange way.
    It is symbolic that the first visitors to the exhibition were colleagues from the Ivan Karpenko-Karyi Literary and Memorial Museum, the director of the museum Larysa Khosiainova got acquainted with the exposition with interest and noted that the rare edition of "Kobzar", the circulation of which was only 25 thousand, is a rarity in the fund treasury of the Oleksandr Osmerkin Museum.

    On May 16 in the "Museum Cinema Hall" section, the short feature film "Doll" was shown for all who visited the museum, which was filmed by the director Kateryna Murovana from Kropyvnytskyi in the halls of the museum from October 13 to 20, 2017, based on the famous play by the French playwright of Romanian origin Matei Vishnek "Adventures of panda bears, which was told by a saxophonist who had a girlfriend in Frankfurt." By the way, this is the first screen adaptation of the play, before that there were only theatrical productions, the phantasmagorical plot of which unfolds as a philosophical and mystical parable about human life. The main roles in the film were played by the Kyiv actress Tetiana Krasnikova and Yevhen Skrypnyk - the leading actor of the Kirovohrad Academic Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after Marko Kropyvnytskyi. Cinematography was performed by Mykola Golovko and Illia Zelonkin.
    At the beginning of the event, the director of the museum, Vita Chernova, presented photos of the filming process in the museum and an impromptu exhibition of printed materials and publications in local newspapers about the presentation of the film at the "Portal" cinema on February 27, 2018. You can learn about how the filming process of the film took place in the museum and what mystical stories accompanied the creative team from the interview that the producer of the film Olena Kvasha gave to the correspondent of the electronic publication "Depo.ua" https://kr.depo.ua/ukr/kr/vishukane-kino-yak-u-kropivnickomu-gotuyutsya-ekranizuvati- istoriyu-odniyeyi-lyubovi-20171104670252 And at this link you can watch the video plot of the regional TV channel "Kropyvnytskyi Public" about the presentation movie in the "Portal" cinema https://youtu.be/XpSiSos_dIg?si=_4RBSefNe9B74EWD After watching the film, everyone present emotionally discussed what they saw for a long time, and some had a desire to read the literary original - the play.
    A pleasant surprise for the museum employees during the event was the presentation by the director of the museum, Vita Chernova, of thanks for many years of conscientious work, exemplary performance of labor duties, achievements in scientific foundation, scientific research, exposition and exhibition, publishing work, and for the preparation and holding May 13-18, 2024, of the cultural and artistic educational campaign "Museum Guests", dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the opening of the O.O.Osmerkin Art Memorial Museum to visitors, to the International Day of Museums during martial law in Ukraine.

    On May 17,in the section "Museum Poetry Club", the final chord of the cultural and artistic educational campaign "Museum Guests - 2024" was a creative meeting with poets "Poetry - as an emotional reflection of war". Moderator of the event, leading researcher of the museum, artist and poet Olha Krasnopolska, invited the young writer, journalist and editor-in-chief of the literary and artistic magazine "Olexandriiskyi Lighthouse" Alina Shevchenko to participate in the event, who presented the seventh issue of this all-Ukrainian magazine.
    Alina is an extremely creative person. She is the author of three published books "Flower of First Hope", "Melody of Silence", "Heavenly Confession", creatively collaborates with regional and all-Ukrainian newspapers, in 2023 she became the "face of the cover" of the Kyiv magazine "JOURNAL UA". He heads the artistic community with the publishing workshop "Pantheon". He successfully studies at two universities at the same time - he studies his native language and literature at the Faculty of Ukrainian Philology, Foreign Languages and Social Communications of the Central Ukrainian State University named after V.Vynnychenko in Kropyvnytskyi and is studying social work at the National University of Bioresources and Nature Management in Kyiv. And also works in the regional children's library named after T.G. Shevchenko, where she founded the children's literary studio "Yasnytsia".
    During the creative meeting, Alina Shevchenko told an interesting story about her publishing project. The independent literary and artistic print magazine "Olexandriiskyi Lighthouse" was published in the summer of 2022 under the name "Olexandriiskii bells", five issues had the status of an almanac, and in November 2023, the magazine was registered as a periodical printed mass media publication by the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting. The magazine is published quarterly, in addition to poetry and prose, it has sections: pages of world classics, translations, theater, interviews, debut (for authors up to 18 years old), word of the master, creators of the community "Pantheon. Literature and Art", and the "Workshop of the Oleksandriiskyi Lighthouse" section presents the works of modern artists. Among the authors of the magazine are representatives not only of the Kirovohrad region, but also of various regions of Ukraine.
    The museum event was attended by poets, writers, literary experts from Kropyvnytskyi, Oleksandria, as well as from Cherkasy region, whose works were published in the presented magazine. The head of the Kirovohrad regional organization of the National Union of Writers of Ukraine, candidate of philological sciences, Nadiia Harmazii, who, by the way, is a member of the editorial board of the publication, gave a welcome speech. The co-authors of the seventh edition of the literary and artistic magazine "Olexandriiskyi Lighthouse" Nataliia Fomina, Viktor Brykulskyi, Dina Horbenko, Vasyl Levytskyi, Serhii Manukian, Svitlana Nikolaevska read their poetic and prose works, most of which are dedicated to the war, the events that we are all experiencing now. The performance of tenth-grader Veronika Denysenko, who was not afraid to read the author's poems in the presence of older fellow poets, was also original. Andrii Denysenko, making music on the guitar, emotionally performed songs based on his own verse, as well as poetry by Nadiia Harmazii and Yurii Andruhovych. The artists enthusiastically communicated and exchanged ideas about their creative plans, and with pleasure left their autographs on the pages of the magazine "Olexandriyskyi Lighthouse", which Alina Shevchenko donated to the museum's funds. It is noteworthy that this autograph session continued the next day, May 18, on the International Day of Museums, when designer and writer Serhii Tuzkov visited the museum to put his signature on the page of the magazine, where his, according to the author's definition, nanotexts were published. He was prevented from being present at the creative meeting for good reasons, but upon entering the museum, he immediately remembered with pleasure his participation in the museum art project "Art Studios" on the theme: "Portraits of contemporaries against the background of war" in March of this year.
    It was not without a pleasant surprise - for all those present at the very beginning of the event, a concert performance of music school No. 1 named after Heinrich Neuhaus took place. A piano duet consisting of students Iryna Tyurina and Viktoriia Kholodovska, young teachers-pianists Denys Chub and Mariana Vykhryst, flutist Iryna Rusina and accompanist Natalia Sveshchynska, violinist Oleksandr Romanchenko and accompanist Olha Tereshchenko performed the works of modern Ukrainian composers - "Svyatkova" by Pavlo Zakharov, "Prelude" by Vasyl Barvinsky, "Nocturnes" by Oleh Polovyi and Zhanna Kolodub and the extremely emotional "Melody" by Myroslav Skoryk. The director of the school, Yevheniia Maliavkina, congratulated the museum staff on the International Day of Museums and presented a symbolic souvenir - a decorative doll "Berehynia", which now decorates the exhibition of the art exhibition "INVINCIBLE" within the ART project "Art Studios" on the theme: "Portraits of contemporaries on the background of war". And the director of the museum, Vita Chernova, presented thanks to the school team for many years of joint creative work and organizing artistic events with patriotic themes during the war.

    During the cultural and artistic educational campaign "Museum Guests - 2024", the thematic sections "Museum Photo Salon" and "Museum Gallery" were successfully implemented, in which museum visitors and participants of art events had a unique opportunity to take a selfie near the 120-year-old memorial grand piano. Bluthner", touching the keys of an ancient musical instrument, and with pleasure got acquainted with exhibited by the art exhibition "INVINCIBLES" within the ART project "Art Studios" on the topic: "Portraits of contemporaries on the background of war". On these days, free admission to the museum was established for visitors of all categories and free sightseeing tours of the art exhibitions presented in the four halls of the museum were held.
    And in these days, the museum employees were participants in two regional events - the 2nd Regional Museum Forum "Museums of Central Ukraine: Challenges of Time", organized by the Central Ukrainian Regional Museum of Local History on May 15 on the occasion of the International Day of Museums, and the XXVth Kirovohrad Regional Reporting and Election conference of the trade union of cultural workers on May 14 in the Federation of Trade Unions of the region, at which the head of the trade union committee of the museum Iryna Tokmanenko received the Certificate of the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Cultural Workers of Ukraine for her significant work in defending the socio-economic rights and guarantees of workers. By the way, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, charitable financial assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been constantly transferred from the union contributions of the primary union organization of the museum.