A Weekend of Ukrainian Pride & Community 🇺🇦

What an incredible weekend at the 30th Annual Toronto Ukrainian Festival! Our UMCO tent was a hive of activity all weekend long — welcoming familiar faces and new visitors, sharing what’s happening at the Museum, and celebrating Ukrainian art and culture together. As North America's largest celebration of Ukrainian heritage, the Toronto Ukrainian Festival is a joyful reminder of the strength of our community — a chance to lift spirits, celebrate our heritage proudly, and keep Ukraine close to our hearts and top of mind.

A huge Thank you – Дякуємо!! to everyone who made the weekend such a success:

The festival volunteers and organizers, whose incredible work brings this celebration of Ukrainian culture to Toronto year after year.💙💛
Our extraordinary volunteers, who spent the past few months planning how best to showcase UMCO at the Festival — and then gave so generously of their time all weekend long, from morning to night: setting up, packing up, representing the Museum, welcoming visitors, and leading activities and demonstrations. Thank you for bringing so much love, energy and enthusiasm to the weekend. We truly appreciate everything you did to make UMCO’s presence at the Festival such a success. 🫶
Everyone who stopped by our tent — members, supporters, friends and visitors from near and far. Thank you for supporting the Museum, catching up with us, shopping the Boutique and Baba’s Treasures, and joining in our activities: vytynanky, Hearts for Ukraine keychains, and Kosiv-inspired ceramics. Special thanks to those who kept our hard-working volunteers nourished and fuelled with hot coffee and treats, especially Brant County Garlic Co. for sending our volunteers home with garlic! 🧄
Last but certainly not least, our staff and students — Tamara, Olena, Sophia and Mykola — who kept everything running smoothly behind the scenes and at the tent throughout the weekend. Your hard work, dedication and good humour made the entire weekend possible. We are enormously grateful — and could not have done it without you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ❤️

Events like this are an important opportunity for UMCO to connect with the wider community and share the work we do to preserve, celebrate and share Ukrainian cultural heritage. Thank you to everyone who helped us make the most of it!! Scroll down to see some highlights from the weekend…👇

Meet the Creatures of Kosiv Bazaar

We launched something new at the Festival: UMCO’s very first zine! Inspired by our Kosiv Bazaar exhibition, this playful little publication features the whimsical creatures found on Kosiv ceramics — from birds and bears to deer and other imaginative animals. It’s a fun, accessible way for visitors of all ages to learn a little more about this distinctive Ukrainian ceramic tradition. Pick up a copy at the Museum for just $5, or look for it in the SVI Ukrainian Zine Library.

What’s On at the Museum?

This fall and winter, get hands-on with Ukrainian folk art at our workshops that explore traditional techniques, materials and creative practices. From vybiika block printing, motanka-making, batik art, straw angels and macrame goats – each workshop is a chance to learn something new, and connect more deeply with Ukrainian cultural traditions. The series begins this Wednesday evening with Traditional Stamping: Vybiika, co-presented with Ucrainica Research Institute. Spots are filling up quickly – register soon! Explore our Fall/Winter program at umcontario.eventbrite.ca

Final Weeks for Testament • Zapovit

Only one month left to visit Testament • Zapovit: Ihor Rodion Dmytruk at UMCO before the exhibition closes on October 17 and returns to Saskatoon. If you’ve been meaning to come by, now is a wonderful time to visit the Museum, spend some time with the exhibition, and see it in person before it leaves Toronto.

2026 FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

CURRENT EXHIBITION

Testament • Zapovit
Ihor Rodion Dmytruk
Until October 17, 2026

Testament – Zapovit is the first retrospective of Ihor Rodion Dmytruk (1938–2021), a Ukrainian Canadian artist whose life was shaped by war, displacement, and rebuilding. Born near Lviv, Ukraine and forced to flee Soviet persecution as a child, he later settled in Alberta, where he established a long career as both an artist and influential teacher.

This exhibition displays Dmyruk’s work alongside the material culture that inspired him, drawn from the permanent collection of the Ukrainian Museum of Canada – Ontario Branch. Together, these pieces explore post-WW2 Ukrainian immigration to Canada and aspects of Ukrainian culture that have endured despite russian efforts to erase them.

Organized by the Ukrainian Museum of Canada (National), Testament – Zapovit premiered in 2024 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and is presented in Toronto by the Ukrainian Museum of Canada – Ontario Branch.

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The Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch is a member of the
Canadian Museums Association and the Ontario Museum Association,
and is located inside St.Volodymyr Institute.