It’s been 20 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, and while Ukrainians live with this inescapable reality every day, AIR Media-Tech is worried the rest of the world is beginning to forget.
For months after the invasion in February 2022, there was a surge of digital content posted about Ukraine–and that content helped draw attention to fundraising and aid efforts, plus taught people outside the country about Ukrainian culture and daily life.
But that surge has now waned. According to data from AIR Media-Tech, around 212,000 videos about Ukraine were posted on YouTube between February and July 2023. That’s a 70% drop in the number of videos posted from February to July of 2022.
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Hoping to inspire creators to make more, AIR Media-Tech (a Toronto-based creator services company founded in 2010 by Ukrainian co-founders Sergii Bielousov and Stepan Mikhaylov) is launching Brave Voices for Ukraine, a program encouraging content creation, fundraising, and especially for creators to visit Ukraine and create videos while they’re there.
AIR Media-Tech says it’s planning to have creators visit Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, later this year and in early 2024. Creators who want to attend a Brave Voices trip will have to pay their own way to Kyiv, but after that AIR Media-Tech will “take care of everything else […] including accommodation, a customized program, transportation, meals, and personal escorts.”
Creators will “have the opportunity to explore significant historical landmarks, immerse yourself in the vibrant energy of the modern city of Kyiv, discover hidden gems of its nightlife, savor the delightful flavors of traditional Ukrainian cuisine, and participate in engaging craft master classes,” AIR Media-Tech adds.
It says they’ll also meet with Ukrainian civilians, artists, businesspeople, fashion designers, and “high-level officials,” and will “be provided access to shooting in special locations, such as the remains of the world’s largest aircraft, Mriya, which was unfortunately destroyed during the Kyiv offensive.”
“Ukraine will die if it is forgotten”
While Brave Voices for Ukraine is the first time AIR Media-Tech is formalizing this visiting process, it’s been chaperoning creators around the country for some time, and (through its digital agency branch AIR Brands) has so far worked with 50 creators to either arrange trips and/or provide production resources for folks making content about Ukraine from outside the country.
Paul Barbato, who runs the YouTube channel Geography Now (3.2 million subscribers), joined AIR Media-Tech for a Ukraine trip in February 2023.
“I actually had no immediate plans to go there, especially because there was a war, but it was offered to me,” he tells Tubefilter. “They reached out to me and said ‘Hey, would you like to come to Ukraine? Don’t worry, we’ll take care of all the logistics and all that crazy stuff.’ So I was like, okay, I’m on board. Why not?”
Barbato was able to visit war-impacted areas and speak to civilians about their culture, and all that footage was poured into a 33-minute YouTube video:
“The most intriguing thing was I got to see the dichotomy between the beauty of Ukraine and the destruction of Ukraine at the same time,” Barbato says. “It was during winter time, and the moon had like this halo over it, and I took a picture of it in front of this golden dome church, and it was absolutely amazing. It is weird how even in amidst of destruction, you can see this crazy beauty in a city where the lights are shut off. It painted this image of beauty and hope in the midst of destruction, and that’s what I saw.”
Brave Voices trips are being arranged in partnership with UNITED24 Media, an English-language digital media created by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine shortly after Russia’s invasion.
Arranging trips is a major part of Brave Voices, but AIR Media-Tech also wants creators who can’t make the journey to continue making content. It’s offering up UNITED24 Media’s bank of footage from Ukraine, and says it can also provide general production resources.
The third branch of Brave Voices is a fundraising program, where creators can work with AIR Media-Tech to direct money to “trusted funds and charities involved in various areas in Ukraine,” including UNITED24 Media, The Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, Save Ukraine, UAnimals, and Nova Ukraine.
AIR Media-Tech says that overall, content creators are “crucial to keep Ukraine on the agenda and thus ensure global support in the fight for freedom and democratic values and in its efforts to rebuild and normalize life of millions of people. Ukraine will die if it is forgotten.”
Creators interested in working with Brave Voices can check the program out here.
