April 3rd.

An open lecture by Victoria Kurchenko titled "Shevchenko and Pushkin" was held at the N.E.S. Community Center in Brooklyn. Everyone interested had the opportunity to attend and participate in the discussion, and also to learn many new things for themselves: specifically, how and when myths about great people were created in relation to the ideas of national identity. Getting to know the European image of Taras Shevchenko, who was also a professional artist (a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts, 1844), a student of Karl Bryullov, was unexpected for many. Both poets belonged to the era of Romanticism; Taras, following Pushkin, inherited the traditions of Byronism and wrote excellent poetry and texts in Russian, while actively participating in shaping the concept of Ukrainian identity.

Victoria Kurchenko is a historian, president of the Pushkin Society of America, author of literary and scientific texts, and a tour guide at the Metropolitan Museum.

January 22nd.

An evening dedicated to one of the founders of the original song, Yuri Vizbor, took place. Sofia Dranovskaya, who knew the poet and performer closely and was in the same tourist camp as a sports instructor at training camps in Pyatigorsk and the Caucasus, shared her memories of him. Sofia spoke about some episodes from the life of young singing athletes of those times. During the story, her eyes sparkled, and it was as if this period of time had not happened - more than 60 years. The future Borman, from the legendary film “Seventeen Moments of Spring,” was the soul of the party from his youth, could create a general mood in the group, comfort or make any member of the expedition laugh. Sofia remembered how some songs were created and sang them with pleasure. And the most famous people sang in chorus. There are many unpublished photographs in Sofia Dranovskaya’s archive; we will definitely post them on our social media pages and record a detailed interview with her. This year Yuri Vizbor would have turned 90 years old, how great it is that there are still people from his circle of friends.