The legal basis for Ukrainian-Dutch cooperation in the cultural sphere is the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Cultural Cooperation of 1 February 1996.
Over the past few years, cooperation in the field of culture has reached a qualitatively new level. The number of Ukrainian cultural and artistic events has increased, and active collaboration between Ukrainian and Dutch cultural organizations has been launched, which contributes to strengthening cultural exchange.
The Netherlands actively supports the Ukrainian cultural sector and the preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage, implementing a number of projects and initiatives in Ukraine to this end.
At the end of 2022, Ukraine was included in the list of priority countries for the Netherlands' international cultural policy. This enables Dutch cultural foundations to fund joint projects with Ukraine. In addition, to support cultural figures and artists from Ukraine temporarily residing in the Netherlands, the Dutch Government established a special fund in 2022 and 2024, administered by the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
As part of the initiatives of the First Lady of Ukraine O.Zelenska, four Dutch museums - the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Bredius Museum and the Escher Museum in The Hague—have already added Ukrainian to their audio guides. Ukrainian bookshelves have also been opened in more than 35 local libraries.
For many years, a number of local Ukrainian music and dance groups have been promoting the Ukrainian musical tradition in the Netherlands. These include the Lysenko Choir, the Utrecht Byzantine Choir, the Rusalka Folklore Ensemble, the Red Corals Vocal Ensemble, the Mriya Dance Group, the Makivka Choir, and others.
Well-known Ukrainian musicians and artists living in the Netherlands successfully present Ukrainian music and art on many international and local stages. Among them are Maksym Shalyhin, Anna Fedorova, Kostyantyn Napolov, Mariana Holovchenko, Alfred Momotenko Levitsky, Svitlana Azarova and many others.
Organisations such as Ukrainians in the Netherlands, Vataha, Oekraïense Club, the Dutch-Ukrainian Cultural Centre Kastanje, Haarlem4Ukraine, Lucht, the Nijmegen4Ukraine initiative, and others carry out information and image-building activities that promote Ukraine and Ukrainian culture. They also organize cultural and artistic festivals, concerts, recitals, etc.
A separate important mission of promoting Ukrainian culture is carried out by Ukrainian artistic groups established in 2022 with the support of Dutch partners. At the end of May 2022, a temporary residence for Ukrainian dancers, The United Ukrainian Ballet, was opened in The Hague to support Ukrainian ballet art. After two years of successful activity and tours worldwide, the residency ended in March 2024. At the same time, some Ukrainian ballet companies that were created on the basis of the residency continue to operate.
In September 2022, world-renowned Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova opened the Davidsbündler Music Academy in The Hague. The academy's faculty includes a number of well-known Ukrainian and international musicians. The institution provides scholarships for talented young Ukrainian pianists. The Academy's teachers and students regularly organize concerts at the Academy's premises and participate in numerous concerts and festivals both in the Netherlands and abroad, promoting Ukrainian culture.
Since 2022, the Dutch public broadcaster (NPO) has been running a Ukrainian-language online platform, Net in Nederland (Newcomers to the Netherlands), for Ukrainian displaced persons. The platform features stories about Dutch life, culture, and customs in Ukrainian. In addition, at the end of April 2022, the first Ukrainian radio station, https://www.radioukrainenl.com/, was launched in the Netherlands.