In December 2025, the Ukrainian Association of Music Events (UAME) completed the third edition of its Music Ambassadors Tour, hosting 10 music industry professionals from 9 countries for a four-day journey across Kyiv, northern Ukraine, and de-occupied territories in the south. The initiative gives festival directors, bookers, music managers, and cultural professionals firsthand insight into how Ukrainian culture continues to function, adapt, and rebuild under full-scale war. The delegation’s journey is now documented in a new film, available here: Watch the film.
The tour began in Kyiv, where visitors witnessed the stark contrasts of daily life: Christmas lights and public squares alongside memorials to fallen defenders, destroyed Russian military equipment, and the constant reality of blackouts and rumbling generators.
Traveling north to Chernihiv, the delegation visited Fabrychna 12, the cultural space developed by Nata Zhyzhchenko (ONUKA) and Yevhen Filatov (The Maneken), experiencing a model of living cultural continuity. At the Peremoha Centre, participants saw 3D-printed sopilka and ocarina models, preserving traditional music practices through contemporary and digital approaches.
The most challenging visits took place in southern Ukraine, in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, where guests witnessed destroyed arts schools and frontline-affected communities. In Velyka Oleksandrivka, students performed a small concert despite their school being destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile during occupation. In Davydiv Brid, no building remained intact, and in Snihurivka, the local arts school continues to operate in unsafe conditions. These experiences highlighted the destruction of cultural and educational infrastructure as an attack on identity, continuity, and community futures.
“Until you come here, you don’t really understand the scale of the destruction, the courage of the people, and how resilient they are. I want to take this experience back with me.” — Pavla Slívová, Head of Booking & Artist Liaison, Colours of Ostrava
“This is a completely different experience from watching it on TV and standing inside a building destroyed by a missile. What struck me most was how people in small towns and villages still come together and somehow keep hope alive.” — Robbie Tolson, Founder, Turn The Tables
The tour concluded in Kyiv with a public event bringing together international guests and the Ukrainian music community. Discussions explored music’s role during crisis—as a force for unity, a response to populism, and a tool for recovery, inclusion, and resilience. Initiatives such as EnterDJ, which uses DJing to support veterans and war-affected communities, were highlighted.
“What Russia is doing to theatres, schools, and cultural centres has nothing to do with war. It is terrorism.” — Mikko Niemelä, CEO and promoter of Ruisrock Festival, YOUROPE board member
“What shocked me most was how much the world still does not see. I discovered many things I had never heard about before, which means that many of these stories are still not reaching international audiences.” — Ivan Milivojev, Co-founder of EXIT Festival, YOUROPE honorary member, and ESNS Exchange Ambassador
For UAME, the aim of the Music Ambassadors Tour is not only to host international guests in Ukraine but to cultivate long-term advocates who carry the experience back to their festivals, institutions, media platforms, and professional networks across Europe.
“This tour cannot be reduced to a programme of visits. What matters to us is that people do not simply see Ukraine, but carry this experience back into their own countries, events, and professional environments.” — UAME | Music Saves Ukraine
The newly released documentary extends this mission, making the tour and its lessons accessible to a wider international audience.