Russia is using methods tested in Crimea and the separatist republics to impose its control on the Ukrainian territories occupied since February 2022. Those who remain not only find their lives in ruin but must also make impossible choices in the broad spectrum between collaboration and resistance.
It started as “Shchedryk,” a song about a little bird that was first performed in the United States in 1922. Its enchanting melody has since been sung by Beyoncé and Barenaked Ladies.
The global arts industry, and the arts leaders entrusted to connect us with the truth and beauty embodied in art, are under unprecedented, widespread attack.
PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) today condemned the murder of the Ukrainian conductor Yuri Kerpatenko, who was reportedly shot and killed in early October by Russian soldiers after he refused to perform in a propaganda concert organized by the occupying regime.