The Bettter.Community aims to bring the startling creativity of Ukraine to the wider world. And keep their businesses going
See our recent Alternative Editorials for our evolving position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But we also want to highlight instances of creativity and hope in this situation. And it’s hard to be more joyful than the phenomenon of Bettter.Community.
As the screen grab of their site suggest above, Better.Community is a kind of brokerage between Ukrainian creatives, whether in or out of the country, and possible clients and collaborators throughout the world.
As Dazed and Confused explain:
The brainchild of designer and former Vogue Ukraine editor-in-chief Julie Pelipas and Anna October, the Bettter.Community platform is a way of bringing the country’s brightest talents to the world.
“Kyiv has the most amazing creative scene and culture, everything from music, to fashion, to art. People have long called it ‘the new Berlin’,” Pelipas explains from Paris, where she landed after a brief stop in Greece. “Now, the young creatives that call the city home need help and support, whether they’ve left Ukraine or stayed in the country and continue in with their work.”
Across the last few weeks, Pelipas and October put out a clarion call for applicants, with over 400 young creatives applying to be listed. Launched yesterday, the Bettter.Community platform aims to showcase Ukraine’s brightest creatives to “international media, agencies, public institutions, and many more”.
From there, its founders hope to secure those on their roster full-time or freelance jobs, access to legal advice, and cold hard cash grants designed to secure safe accommodation and support their businesses.
“People have had to leave everything they have behind, but despite this many are still working and still have to work,” says Pelipas. “One of our team members, a graphic designer, has fled his home and was working from a desk in a bunker. Cash donations will go towards ensuring he and others like him have somewhere safe to work, while job offers and grants will ensure they have a vital ongoing cash flow.”
The Bettter.Community website is but stage one of a far more expansive project, however – which is even more impressive when you consider it’s been less than four weeks since Pelipas and October left Ukraine and made their first moves to set the initiative up. Two hotels in Austria that the designers had been in talks with recently confirmed a free three month-long residence for Ukrainian creatives, with the space acting as a kind of arts hub where they can live and work.
When those three months are up, Pelipas reveals plans for an exhibition and sale, again to raise funds for Bettter.Community members and more working and living spaces across Europe.
Right now, however, she’s intent on signing up as many creatives as possible and shining a spotlight on Ukraine’s undeniable talent. “It’s important to me that the world doesn’t see Ukraine’s people as victims,” she explains. “I am so proud of our creative scene and the people that are part of it, and I want the world to see that too.”