The Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute with the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, runs artistic residency programs for representatives of creative professions related to theater in Ukraine and Belarus.
We decided to initiate the residency program in 2021 because of the repressions against theater creators in Belarus (including actors, directors, set designers, dancers and playwrights). The armed invasion of Ukraine by Russia made us urgently expand the residency program to include artists from Ukraine. An increasing number of Ukrainian refugees are coming to our country and they are being offered spontaneous help from the state, public institutions, humanitarian organizations and private persons in the terms of adressing their basic needs. There are also theater artists among them. We have decided to launch long-term assistance for them to provide employment opportunities and help in organization of their lives in Poland. We also do not forget about Belarusian artists, repressed by the Lukashenka regime, for whom a residency program was originally designed.