Culture Quest's Ukraine TV special

It's been nearly a year and a half that

Ukraine has been at war with Ru.

And even among the destruction

and the chaos there,

you can always find bits of hope and beauty.

And there's a show that looks at life

through the lens of the world's artists.

It's called Culture Quest,

and they recently went to Ukraie

to film a one hour special.

And you can see it.

On TPT, Ian Grant from St.

Louis Park is the executive

director of the show.

We welcome you to

our show this morning. Yeah,

thanks a lot, man. I'm happy

to be here. It's great.

We were just talking off camera

about some of your escapades and

some of your journeys to find a.

Let's talk about Ukraine.

Why do you want to go to

Ukraine in the middle of a war?

To sort of document art.

You know, the the show in geners

about how art and artisanship can express

what's going on, not just in the past,

but I I find it really important to talk

about how art and culture can evolve.

So we like to meet with people and and see

how they're using art in a proactive way

to express something in a modern culture.

Ukraine, of course,

there's no more impactful moment in in in.

It's one of the most impactful

moments in life.

You're in the middle of the war.

Getting shelled, worrying about your future,

your children's future,

your country's future and art.

And in in a very broad sense,

right that music, art, sculptur,

literature is such a great way

to be able to express that.

So I saw that going on and saw art coming

out of bomb shelters and musicis

playing in in bombed out places and to huge.

Stadiums, raising money.

And I thought, man,

we we got to go there.

This is what this show is about.

Well before I ask you any other questions,

let's let's watch a clip to give people

a taste of what the show's lighn

concrete blocks and welded toge.

Steel I beams used to obstruct and derail

tanks are scattered around the y

ready to be pushed into the str.

And below the independence

column in Maidan Square,

in the center of the city,

is a little grassy Knoll filledh

Ukrainian flags with the names f

the dead from the war written on

them. Geesh. I mean,

you're a journalist at heart.

You're not just a documentary filmmaker.

You're telling the story of a

war-torn country in the thick o.

Yeah, absolutely.

How is art impacted right now?

I mean, you talked about the

catalyst that war can provide

for deep human emotion, but.

How is it impacting the

art you saw in Ukraine?

Yeah, in in a very in a in a big way.

I mean, a lot of the artists

we met with talked about.

They went back to the basics immediately,

to literally pen and paper,

pencil and paper.

There was this guy,

and he was one of the main reass

I sat up and said we got to go.

He was in a bomb shelter

for four months sketching.

This other family that was down there

with them just drawing them andt

somehow got out on social media

and we we talked again on camera

about our issues with social me.

But in this case,

social media was able to get his

message and the larger Ukrainias

message out into the rest of the world.

So that to me was a great

evolution and great use of of at

in a critical moment in time.

What what's one thing

you want people to know about this episode?

Yeah, one thing, boy,

there's there's so many things,

but it's about how Ukrainians are so willing,

so willing to do whatever it ta,

whether it's on their own or

with the rest of the world.

And they're so they're so gratel

for the help of their neighbor.

That's literally helping

them dig out of the rubble.

And to the kid on the other sidf

the world that gave their allowe

to some Ukrainian organization,

I mean they and they're hopeful.

I I want. I want people to know that they.

There are a lot of different

emotions but ultimately it all s

directed towards a free Ukraine.

Well Ian, I I just personally,

on behalf of the show and I

think everybody's watching,

want to thank you for a your bry

and commitment to going over toa

war-torn country in the middle t

and documenting something like .

I can't wait to watch it. Yeah.

I appreciate it man. Thanks.

Yeah. Nice to meet you.

Yeah. So

you can watch Culture Quest loc.

It's on TPT and this episode is

also available on YouTube. And

there's social channels again, the love hate

with social media. You can

watch it there.

We have all the links you need.

Just go to kellerand.com.

Be right back.