Eugene’s own Eastern European non-profit ArtLinks hosted the 2020 Father Frost Winter Festival on Jan. 18 – 19.
ArtLinks, a nearly two-year-old non-profit, held its all-day multicultural winter celebration at the Wheeler Pavillion. The primary focus of the non-profit is outreach: educate locals on customs, practices and languages of Eastern European cultures from the Caucasus to the Black Sea and Slavic nations.
This festival was started to emphasize winter-themed practices from ArtLinks’ Eastern communities. Although the core representatives are mainly comprised of Slavic and Baltic descendancies, the Japanese, African, Jewish, Mexican, Indian and Scandinavian cultures were also present at the festival performing dances, teaching crafts and selling native goods.
In typical festival fashion there were vendors and food stalls from some of ArtLinks respective cultural groups: Taste of India, Dominican Delights, Uzbek Plov and Russian-Ukranian dishes to satisfy hungry guests. In between chowing down on Borsch and Pilaf, every hour block scheduled an interactive event highlighting some aspect of an Eastern European culture including puppet shows, salsa dancing and even Russian techno raves.
Clear highlights of the event list included a dance class and show from notable New York dance troupe Kaleidoscope, and a Zulu dance class taught by Cirque du Soleil dance prodigy Michael Moloi. Families and couples were seen leaning into South African dance one hour, attempting the Scandinavian Leikarrigen next, and off to something else, 1000 miles in the other direction. It was a cultural smorgasbord.
The executive of ArtLinks, Olena Borova, could be seen weaving in and out of the Taiko drums, Salsa classes and face-painted children greeting newcomers and urging those who sat idly by to join in on the fun. She donned a traditional Russian Venok, a type of Russian-Ukranian wedding dress. Borova explained the origins of ArtLinks and their desire to expand and explore. “ArtLinks is currently homeless,” Borova expressed, “and we are looking for a long term home in Eugene to expand our vision.”
Their vision includes language classes for all ages that teach Slavic and other rarely taught languages from Eastern Europe. It also includes arts and crafts classes to teach traditional styles of mask-making, Beregini doll making and other native crafts that are isolated to those of under-represented regions. ArtLinks has a detailed event performance list too: dance classes, birthdays, puppet shows, costume rentals and other exciting, stylized opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable in Eugene.
There are hurdles to clear. “Turn out this year was low. We have made no profit from this festival,” Borova stated. “But it is [a] great outreach for children and families. We have so much to offer.”
Since the non-profit relies solely on donations and volunteers, they are struggling to find solid footing in Eugene.
One particular way in which ArtLinks provides an avenue of cultural expansion is to LCC’s own community of students who are studying Eastern European languages and cultures. At each stall, different languages and lifestyles could be seen and heard. Volunteering for ArtLinks can provide a direct pipeline to immersion, and they are always looking for volunteers and opportunities to share their native practices with.
For now, ArtLinks is pushing forward, regardless of their current homelessness. The winter festival proved they can organize and provide fun, interactive experiences for Eugene locals to learn about the world beyond the States.
