The Taras Shevchenko Festival She.Fest was born in the wake of the Revolution of Dignity and as a response to the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014. Its organizers set out to "remove the fur hat and mustache from Taras Shevchenko", to present him as a genius, innovator, rebel, and an exceptionally educated and progressive person for his time. And they succeeded — for 10 years in a row, in the village of Morintsy in the Cherkasy region, thousands of like-minded people come to She.Fest from all corners of Ukraine and even from abroad to immerse themselves in the unique atmosphere of modern Ukrainian culture, cleansed of folk clichés and Soviet stereotypes.
In this article, we will tell you about the festival and its highlights, and we also invite you to visit it. After all, She.Fest will take place this weekend, August 17-18, 2024. To learn more, you can visit the She.FEST website, where you will also find information about logistics, accommodation, and other important needs for visitors.
Last year, the organizers of She.Fest turned to Cityhost with a request to provide free hosting for the site — we have a program according to which government institutions, volunteer, and charitable organizations can receive a free domain and hosting for their web resources. Of course, we did not refuse the volunteer festival, and for more than a year now, the She.Fest website has been hosted by us, which we are very proud of.
This cooperation became mutual — She.Fest supported our initiative to de-Russify domains and placed a banner near the Enlightenment Glade calling for the registration of correct Ukrainian-language domains. You can read more about this in this post.
Julia Kapshuchenko-Shumeiko, the founder and longtime leader of the festival, helped us write this article.
Yulia Kapshuchenko-Shumeiko is raising funds for drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces through the She.Bank.
The festival takes place in a location with great energy, a place of power where Taras Shevchenko was born. It occupies the entire center of the village of Morintsy and consists of 10 locations (the number may vary slightly from year to year).
An important and traditional spot is the Enlightenment Glade, where lecturers, writers, acoustic bands, and public figures perform. The Glade operates from 12:00 to 17:00, and there are always many spectators present.
Each year, guests of the Enlightenment Glade include storyteller Sashko Lirnyk, writer and public figure Larisa Nitsoy, writer Vasyl Shklyar, People's Artist of Ukraine Ruslana Lotsman, and many other figures who have much to share with the audience. A significant part of the program is dedicated to performances by Shevchenko scholars, who discuss little-known aspects of the Kobzar's life — Shevchenko as an archaeologist, artist, serviceman, his everyday life and beloved women, and his influence on contemporary art, which is still felt today. The most emotional event on the Enlightenment Glade every year is the She.Battle — a competition of poets, where the winners are chosen by the audience based on who receives the loudest applause, stomping, and cheering. The loudest response determines who advances to the next round.
Participants of the She.Battle on the stage of the Enlightenment Glade. In 2023, the well-deserved victory was won by a current Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier, poet Serhii Rubnikovych.
The main musical stage attracts the most people, where famous Ukrainian bands perform in the evening— Ten' Sontsya, Kozak System, Tsvit Nochi, Go_A, Kalush, Odin v Kanoe, OT VINTA, Shpylyasti Kobzari, and many others.
Kozak System on the She.Fest stage
However, the main stage also warmly welcomes more modest bands from different parts of Ukraine, some of which the organizers discover through the She.Pisnya contest.
It should be said separately about it — a song contest based on the words of Taras Shevchenko, the winners of which are awarded on March 9, Kobzar's birthday. The main condition for participation is writing a song based on the words of Shevchenko, and the important prize is the performance of the winner on the main stage of She.Fest. Thanks to this, festival guests were able to see many unique groups. For some of them, She.Pisnya became a stepping stone to the big stage. In particular, the Go_A group once became the first finalist of the competition.
To understand what modern and talented compositions can be created to the words of Taras Shevchenko, it is enough to listen to the song "Testament" by the rock group "Krutoy Zames", which became a finalist of the competition in 2023.
The festival features the Artists' Fair and the Artistic Glade, where you can join drawing master classes, the Children's Glade for babies, the Folk Stage, where folk choirs perform, and the Theater Stage, where you can see performances based on the works of Taras Shevchenko. The highlight of the festival was borscht with crucian carp, Taras Shevchenko's favorite dish, which volunteers have been cooking for several years.
Member of the organizing committee, military serviceman and musician Igor Dvygalo cooks Shevchenko borscht with crucian carp
This festival brings together people of all generations — children, youth, adults, and the elderly. Here everyone will find something of their own and interesting. No wonder She.Fest is considered not only artistic and patriotic, but also a family holiday, to which even babies come.
Games on the Children's Lawn
Especially since the alcohol-free festival is a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol at the local government level for the three days it is held throughout Morin.
She.Fest operates entirely on a volunteer basis — only once in 10 years, when the team received a grant from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, did the organizing committee receive a salary. Everything else is driven by the enthusiasm of the festival's organizers, the support of concerned partners, and the assistance of artists, many of whom perform for free. The festival started as a volunteer initiative and continues to be one.
Read also: Stories of Our Users: How the Charity Fund '99 PROBLEMS' Helps People with Multiple Sclerosis
In its first year, 2014, the organizing committee set a modest goal — to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko by making a pilgrimage to his homeland and raising funds for a thermal imager for his fellow countryman who was serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the time.
— The first festival was very challenging for us because it was really done 'on the fly', without any money or resources, says the festival's founder Yulia Kapshuchenko-Shumeiko. "Everything seemed to be against us. The beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, everyone was in shock, the post-Maidan period, the turmoil in government circles. One by one, partners who were initially interested in cooperation started to decline and then disappeared. In the end, we miraculously managed to organize the stage, sound, and artists. And in an amazing way, last night, people who were ready to support us appeared and provided funds for organizational needs. It wasn’t easy — first, there was an idea, and then the opportunities followed.
I can't say that much has changed over these ten years; in fact, the approach is still roughly the same. There's an idea around which some opportunities are found, and that's how the festival develops. We started with a very small stage and relatively unknown artists. Over the years, the level of the artists grew, and they themselves grew on our stage, up to the finalists and winners of Eurovision. This includes Go-A, who started with us as a little-known band and performed on the She.Fest stage every year, as well as Kalush, who performed with us in 2021 and went on to win the crystal microphone in 2022. Since then, we've joked that to win Eurovision, you first need to perform at She.Fest because our stage is lucky.
— The biggest festival in all these years took place right before the full-scale invasion in 2021, continues founder Yulia. That year, we managed to scale up for the first time and attract funding from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. Scaling up meant expanding beyond the space of Morintsy and bringing festival events to four more cities — Irpin, Brovary, Odesa, and Pervomaisk. About 14,000 people came to the festival in Morintsy. It was considered one of the most successful She.FESTs in all the years.
Over the 10 years, there were two summers when She.Fest did not take place — during the coronavirus pandemic and in the first year of the full-scale invasion. In 2023, the organizing committee recovered from the shock, gathered their strength, and held a renewed festival. This year, the organizers did not take money from the state or local authorities, trying to do everything with volunteer efforts to avoid diverting funds from the country's defense. The festival was intentionally made more intimate — with a smaller stage, less advertising, and fewer participants. And despite all the concerns, it was still successful and once again gathered many people.
Now, this is She.Fest during a full-scale war — many soldiers attended (often long-time participants who went to defend the country after 2022), and military personnel were present on stage and at all locations. A fundraiser for the Ukrainian Armed Forces was held — during the festival, 220 000 hryvnias were raised.
The military orchestra of the 40th Separate Artillery Brigade named after Vytautas the Great, "Art Military Band", on the main stage of the festival.
One could say that She.Fest has returned to its roots, as it was first held as an event to raise funds for the front.
— This year is the second festival to take place during the full-scale invasion, and we are carefully considering many things. Firstly, we understand the importance of She.Fest, but at the same time, we understand that the festival needs to attract a reasonable amount of money and resources. This festival will be similar in spirit to last year's — we will focus on the universe of Taras Shevchenko and tell stories about everything that surrounded him.
She.Fest has its own spirit and atmosphere — everyone who has ever attended becomes a lifelong fan and returns again. There are stories where participants first came as children with their parents and later grew up to volunteer at the festival. An entire generation of concerned pro-Ukrainian people with an active stance has grown up here — and this is one of the most important goals for which the organizers, volunteers, artists, and the entire She.Family work.
Like the article? Tell your friends about it: 
