BRAMA, December 11, 2000, 9:00pm EST

The Ukrainian Museum Receives Major Gift to Begin Construction of New Building

NEW YORK CITY, December 11, 2000 - The Ukrainian Museum today announced that it has received a gift of $3.5 million to begin construction of a new museum building and exhibition facility in lower Manhattan. $1 million of the gift was designated as a challenge grant that will match, dollar for dollar, any additional gifts or grants received by the Museum before the end of 2001. The Ukrainian Museum in New York, founded in 1976, is the world's leading institution in the West devoted to collecting, preserving, presenting and interpreting objects of artistic or historical significance to Ukrainian life and culture.

The new Ukrainian Museum building will be located at 222 East Sixth Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, with construction scheduled to begin in early 2001. This new facility of over 17,000 square feet of useable space, designed by the firm of SawickiTarella Architecture+Design P.C. of New York, will provide state-of-the-art museum accommodations, equipment, meeting and exhibition space for the Museum's growing collection of more than 40,000 objects of fine art and other material. The Ukrainian Museum has previously raised over $3 million from its members and other donors in the United States and Canada specifically to support construction of a new Museum facility.

"Our dream of creating a modern, representative museum of Ukrainian culture, that would reflect the spirit of Ukraine and the proud heritage of its people, may now be realized," said Olha Hnateyko, president of the Board of Trustees of the Ukrainian Museum. "This donation is the ultimate gift to all those who have worked with tremendous dedication for many years to build this institution, to safeguard its welfare, and to provide for its future."

The $3.5 million gift to the Ukrainian Museum comes through the generosity of Eugene and Daymel Shklar who are also the founders of the Eugene and Daymel Shklar Foundation, a charitable organization incorporated in California, whose mission is to support and promote Ukrainian studies and culture and to support outcome-based educational, cultural and health-care programs in Ukraine, Puerto Rico and other areas of the world. Mr. Shklar is a prominent entrepreneur, investor, co-founder and former executive of several successful high-technology companies including Siebel Systems and Keynote Systems.

"Our gift will help provide a new, more-accessible setting for this important cultural gem," said Eugene Shklar. "At its new location, the Ukrainian Museum will attract a much wider audience for its exhibitions of Ukrainian art and culture, not only among New Yorkers, but also among the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to New York from around the world each year."

About the Ukrainian Museum

The mission of the Ukrainian Museum, located in New York City, is to collect, preserve, interpret and present the rich cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. Through interpretive exhibitions, scholarly study and documentation, educational programs, publications and community-related events, the Museum shares the remarkable scope and diversity of the Ukrainian culture with its public.

The Museum's collection numbers over 40,000 objects in the key areas of fine arts, folk arts, antique maps and prints, photographs, documents and rare books. Its folk art collection of over 8,000 objects (such as embroidered and woven textile, ceramics, woodwork and metal work pieces from the 19th to the middle of the 20th century) prides itself on being one of the all-inclusive Ukrainian folk art collections in North America. The fine arts collection includes works of such noted artists as Alexander Archipenko and Alexis Gritchenko. It boasts of a large grouping of paintings by Vasyl Krychevsky, who pioneered a distinct Ukrainian style of architectural expression and brought innovation to the art of book design in the early 20th century. The Museum is proud of its collection of works by Nikifor of Krynytsia, the world renowned naive painter, and the works of Jacques Hnizdovsky, a celebrated Ukrainian American artist. The one hundred year and more history of the Ukrainian immigration to the United States is recorded in photographs in the Museum's archives. Photographs, documents, personal correspondence of noted individuals, playbills and posters, through which the life of the Ukrainian community is recorded, are contained in the archives.

The Ukrainian Museum was founded in 1976 by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, Inc. and now functions as an independent nonprofit organization governed by a board of trustees. The Museum received a permanent charter from the Education Department of the State University of New York in 1982.

For more information about the Ukrainian Museum, or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact the Ukrainian Museum at 203 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003, telephone 212-228-0110, email UkrMus@aol.com, or visit the Museum's web site at www.ukrainianmuseum.org .

The Ukrainian Museum 203 Second Avenue (bet. 12th & 13th Sts.) New York, NY 10003 Wed. thru Sun. 1-5PM (212) 228-0110 e-mail: UkrMus@aol.com * www.ukrainianmuseum.org

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