“Search for additional sources of funding for regional media: grants, internships, partnership with European Community structures” was actual topic of the online educational seminar of the UTRPI for managers and creative workers of regional media (October 19, 2023) gathered more than 70 participants from all over Ukraine.
The event was held with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, State Committee for Television and Radio-Broadcasting of Ukraine, International Media Support (IMS) and Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative 4 (UCBI4).
The civilized world, showing solidarity with Ukraine, helps our state and society to endure and overcome the challenges of wartime, in particular, to help the Ukrainian media to tell the truth and fulfill their extremely important mission, – noted the moderator of the event, Liliya Kavetska, head of the press and internet media department of the UTRPI.
Addressing the participants of the educational online seminar, the director of the Department of Information Policy and Information Security of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Hanna Krasnostup, referring to a sociological research on the budgets of regional and local mass media conducted by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, noted the extreme importance of the UTRPI`s event, which will introduce how the media can take advantage of the financial assistance of partners, which is very necessary for the media today. Hanna Krasnostup provided information that 60% of interviewed media don’t have the funds to pay salaries and taxes, only 17% can pay employees only the minimum salaries and taxes.
For the second time during the war, the UTRPI is holding a seminar on obtaining grant support for the media, – said Bohdan Chervak, First Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Television and Radio-Broadcasting of Ukraine. – And the current event will differ from the previous one in that it will be about the restoration of the newspapers publishing in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine, which means that Ukrainian statehood, language, and identity have been restored in these areas.
Acting Director of the UTRPI, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Secretary of the National University of Ukraine, Honored Journalist of Ukraine Glib Golovchenko expressed hope that the topic proposed to the participants of the online seminar will be revealed during the training, the trainees will get knowledge and skills in creating grant applications, will be able to establish effective partnerships with donors and thanked everyone who showed interest in the event.
Roman Kifluk, National Advisor for Ukraine of the International Media Support IMS (European media project grantor), told to the audience how effectively use European support opportunities for media.
He familiarized the seminar participants with additional sources of information about grant and partnership projects that exist today in Ukraine, told about the procedure for obtaining funding, the principles of grant and partnership preparation documentation. Roman Kifluk told about the approaches and philosophy, the logic of the grantors’ requirements for determining the subjects of financial support, answered the questions of the event participants, and provided his contacts for further cooperation with the media.
Lilia Kavetska, a senior lecturer (head) of the press and internet media department of the UTRPI, told the audience about the legal and organizational issues of preparation grants in general and during wartime, in particular. The media trainer informed about a number of active financial partners, sponsors, various foreign and Ukrainian funds, the information of which should be methodically monitored in order to develop skills according their requirements for getting grants, as well as to establish partnership relations. Lilia Kavetska showed her colleagues step by step how to work with applications, what to pay special attention to, which projects might be interesting for potential partners.
The seminar participants were particularly interested in the terms of the Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative 4 (UCBI-4) grant, which was presented by Vira Kostenko-Kuznetsova. She shared information about grant opportunities for media from the frontline and occupied territories from the project “Strengthening Public Trust”. The speaker noted that every six months the organization updates the topic. Therefore, the creative ideas proposed for consideration by UCBI-4 must correspond to the defined topic. Vira Kostenko-Kuznetsova told about a number of media that managed to get help and implement their creative ideas that are in demand by society together with their partners.
Kostyantyn Hryhorenko, the chief editor of the newspaper “Obrii Izyumshchyny” shared an example of a successfully implemented project of support for the newspaper at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war by IMS. In his opinion, the key to success is clear documentation, creative media projects, which can become convincing arguments in favor of financial support for the newspaper, internships for journalists, etc. Mr. Hryhorenko notes that the experience of local European editions of newspapers and magazines proves the need for their financing on the basis of agreements with local communities. In addition, Kostyantyn Hryhorenko initiates the creation of a fund for financing local media in Ukraine. He also noted that the large amount of information received by listeners from media trainers needs detailed processing. And this opportunity is provided by the UTRPI by sending all presentations to the participants of the seminar.