A Winter Night for St. Nicholas

When 11-year-old Sashko Milchenko was painting a wonderful wintry night, he probably did not expect that the bidding for his work would reach 4,000 dollars at an art auction. That is the amount paid by Anastasia Spektr, the wife of a Kyiv businessman. She liked the children’s paintings so much that she bought a few more. Approximately 30 paintings by children attending boarding schools in Kyiv were sold at a charity auction organized by Vlada Lytovchenko, the president of the charitable foundation Talented Children Are Ukraine’s Future, and Tetiana Franchuk, the owner of the Kiev.FineArt Gallery. The proceeds from the auction (30,700 dollars) will be spent on buying St. Nicholas gifts for gifted orphans and children from underprivileged families.

“The main goal of our foundation is to ensure that talented orphans and children from underprivileged families don’t become part of the so-called lost generation only because their parents don’t have enough money to educate them properly. Tetiana Franchuk and I announced the painting competition for the children of Kyiv’s Boarding Schools Nos. 23 and 3 and the Brovary Children’s Village Boarding School. Many were eager to take part in the contest, and 500 works painted by children between the ages of 5 and 12 were submitted for the jury’s consideration. Of course, not all the paintings ended up in the exhibit and the auction, but every little artist will receive presents on St. Nicholas’s Day. In November our foundation awarded each of these three educational establishments 50,000 hryvnias to develop the children’s creative talents,” Lytovchenko explained.

As Lytovchenko explained, she and Tetiana invited all their friends, acquaintances, and various wealthy people who care about the fate of gifted children to take part in their charity auction. They also invited well-known Ukrainian show business celebrities, but most of them ignored the event.

“We have plans to open a children’s school of arts in Kyiv, which will offer free tuition to children from underprivileged families. We will also be organizing various master classes for schoolchildren, as well as competitions and festivals. I believe that the introduction of named scholarships will be a key feature of financial support for our idea,” Lytovchenko added.

“Why did you decide to pay so much money for this painting?” this reporter asked one of the auction’s participants, who was seen doggedly bargaining for a seemingly ordinary children’s painting featuring autumn scenery. He was the successful bidder only after the price hit 2,000 dollars. “Because I believe that its creator will become a great artist in 10 years, and then even more money will be paid for his works,” the man answered, refusing to identify himself at The Day’s request, saying that “true charity has no name.”