Dear friends, community and readers of Resident Advisor,

As a healthy amount of time has passed since the final minutes of ICKPA Festival, there are some things we would love to share with you. We are thrilled and immensely grateful for the feedback we've received from fans and artists. We can't stress enough how much we value the support and participation of the local dance music community. Kyiv gave us the warmest of welcomes. Words aren't enough to articulate how grateful we are to Veselka, 20ft Radio, Forma, Blackbox, Rhythm Buro, Kultura Zvuka, Planet B and every person and collective directly or indirectly involved in making ICKPA happen.

However, RA’s review of the festival by Tight Magazine editor and ∄ affiliate Maya Baklanova focused not on the three-day musical program but on minor infrastructural flaws. In response to the critiques, we would like to add some points the author missed and answer its closing question: Why does Kyiv need ICKPA?

ICKPA's musical program went for 72 hours straight, featuring live and DJ sets from over 50 artists, including Jeff Mills' first-ever performance in Ukraine. From a 1,505-word article, only about 250 touched on this unique musical program. The author didn't delve into one of the festival's major events, the Queer Cabaret, mentioning only that the Cabaret was delayed and saying nothing about what was performed or by whom. In the hour-and-a-half theatrical spectacle, actors and creators from the Ukrainian queer scene adopted a traditional cabaret format, portraying the role infantilism has played in the lives and work of the country’s LGBTQIA+ minorities.

Readers also wouldn’t have known that ICKPA featured a football tournament between eight teams from the Kyiv and Tbilisi club scenes, including the clubs and collectives Veselka, Rhythm Buro, 20ft, Kultura Zvuka, Forma, Planet B, ICKPA and Bassiani. The tournament, which comprised of mixed-sex teams, raised money for children in need and was a very unifying, community-oriented experience. We raised and donated 10,000 Ukrainian Hryvnias (the equivalent of 319 EUR) to Отчий Дім / Father's House.

The most important takeaway of the festival for most of us, however, was the panel discussion, which brought together speakers from Tbilisi, Kyiv, Belgrade, Baku and Moscow in a conversation around Eastern Europe’s emerging underground culture. This topic has recently garnered more attention in the media and in academic circles, and we have all been invited to write or speak about our experiences on numerous occasions. But the fact that these discussions have predominantly been held in or hosted by media outlets based in Western European cities never felt right. People who have moved Eastern scenes forward, resisted the status quo and championed liberal values have rarely been able to sit down and talk within their own communities.

Each of our post-Soviet societies shares critical similarities and sociopolitical challenges, including endemic poverty, civil tensions, and in some cases war, right-wing extremism, autocracy and rampant social inequality. All of these factors heavily influence culture and the underground, and need to be discussed in a safe space free from the politics of our home countries and the Western gaze, which can exoticize and sensationalize the East. This same gaze produces the discourse of cultural colonialism that, sadly, some institutions in our own scenes and cites only help to reproduce. We were there to challenge all of this by encouraging conversation and forming close connections between our communities.

These conversations and cultural bridges are why Kyiv needs ICKPA. The festival brought diversity to the city by curating novel artists and musical experiences, and by establishing an ongoing dialogue. We are here to stay and proud to play a humble role in making Kyiv a cultural centre that attracts, interests and excites musicians, dancers, thinkers and writers worldwide.

Kyiv has already established a fantastic dance music community and many great parties and clubs. We are convinced that by engaging in close cultural dialogue with scenes and communities that share a similar history and cultural context, we can create something never seen or experienced before.

Sincerely,
David Chikhladze and the ICKPA Festival organizers