What Maria Solomina learned as a TV and cinema producer in Kiev should prove to be a real key qualification for the 38-year-old in her new Bavarian homeland: the fine art of organization. When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Gorod/Gik cultural center on Arnulfstraße, which she and a team manages, suddenly becomes one of the largest contact points on the Isar for refugees from Ukraine.
“First friends and relatives called, we cried a lot and then it quickly became clear: we’re going to the border to Poland and see what we can do.” The native Ukrainian, who has been living in Munich since 2017, talks about large collection and fundraising campaigns, food, donations in kind, what people need who have to leave everything behind when they are fleeing bombs at home. “People called and said we have 100 buses, you can have them for transport.” Instead of a hundred people who were involved in the cultural center every day, there were suddenly a thousand buzzing through the hallways and rooms. To help together.
On Tuesday evening, the Lichterkette association, the state capital of Munich and their migration advisory board honored the “enormous commitment to emergency aid for Ukraine, as well as the importance of the cultural center as a meeting place for people from a wide variety of backgrounds” and awarded the non-profit organization Gorod/Gik the Munich Lichtblicke 2022 sponsorship award The award honors initiatives, projects, schools and individuals who oppose xenophobia and racism and who work in an exemplary manner, as they say, for peaceful coexistence of people of different origins in Munich.
More than a thousand Ukrainian high school graduates took their matriculation exams in Munich in 2022
In the beginning, Gorod, which was founded in Munich in 1998 and is the Russian word for “city”, offered native language classes for Russian and Ukrainian children. Since then, the network of offers has expanded continuously, as has the name: the abbreviation Gik stands for Society for Integration and Culture in Europe. The association makes its premises available to other initiatives in Munich via the “Room Exchange”.
For many refugees from Ukraine, the association has been the navel of their improvised world since February 2022: “In the beginning we arranged apartments, we still help with the bureaucracy today, write e-mails to the job center, organize Ukrainian food markets once a month, are connected to 7,000 people in Munich via a Telegram channel,” says Maria Solominas, and her long list goes on: in August of last year, the large Gorod/Gik team made it possible for more than a thousand Ukrainian high school graduates to take part in the Isar to take their matriculation exam online. The second year is just over.
The world at a glance: The “Kino Asyl” team shows films from the country of origin of young refugees.
(Photo: Max scratches/ oh)
Working with refugees is also the core of the “Kino Asyl” festival, which was also awarded the Lichtblicke Prize in the Old Town Hall. In the cinema series, young people with refugee experience who live in Munich present films they have selected. Project manager Linus Einsiedler from the Institute for Media Education describes the approach: “It can be a children’s film that someone knows from home or that shows something completely unknown from their country of origin. It’s a very personal choice.” The Lichtblicke jury honors “Kino Asyl” for its “creativity, its participatory character and its exemplary contribution to mutual understanding and exchange at eye level in Munich’s urban society”.
Exemplary action against racism: Hamado Dipama.
(Photo: Khrystyna Jalowa/ oh)
Anyone who has ever dealt with campaigns against everyday racism in Munich knows him: Hamado Dipama. Born in Burkina Faso in 1974, he has lived in Munich since 2002. Dipama is not only spokesman for the Bavarian Refugee Council, he was also instrumental in the abolition of racist drink designations in Bavarian restaurants and revealed how much racism prevails in Munich’s nightlife. People of different skin colors had tried for two nights to gain access to clubs.
Dipama received the Lichtblicke-Prize 2022 as an individual. The jury praised him for his commitment to combating racism far beyond his many honorary posts. She honors his “exemplary commitment” as an activist and as a person who repeatedly holds up a mirror to urban society.
Welcome: the traveling exhibition about Munich’s Sinti and Roma.
(Photo: Andreas Tobias/oh)
Finally, at the award ceremony in the Old Town Hall, two initiatives were praised and awarded: The touring exhibition “You’re welcome – Conversations with Munich’s Sinti and Roma”. Eight people give a very personal insight into their lives and their faith. The jurors praised the project because it creates more awareness of the Sinti and Roma community and the audience “goes home with new images in their heads”. The traveling exhibition was conceived by Sabine Böhler, Fabian Brüder and the photographer Andreas Tobias.
Growing together while cooking: the idea of the “Cooking outside the box” initiative.
(Photo: Cooking beyond the box eV/oh)
Finally, “Cooking outside the box” brings people with and without refugee experience into conversation with each other through cooking courses, picnics and cooking meetings. The jury explicitly encourages the actors to continue with their work and to bring Munich residents together at the table, wherever they come from.