Cultural cooperation between Western Ukrainian cultural and leisure centers with European countries

The purpose of the article is to study and clarify the main forms of cultural cooperation of Western European cultural and leisure centers with European countries. The methodology. The descriptive method and the systemic approach were applied, the review references of the National library of Yaroslav Mudryi “On cultural cooperation of Ukraine with foreign countries” for 2017–2020 and numerous Internet sources were worked out. The results. It was found out that cultural and leisure centers, including the ones in Western Ukraine, take an active part in intercultural cooperation between Ukraine and European countries. As European countries have for a long time involved culture as a factor in humanitarian development, and leading European countries allocate significant funds and attract the best professionals to implement large­scale cultural projects and to increase their presence in Ukraine, so the increase of the number of cultural projects, programs, European culture days, printed and electronic publications, media product will justify themselves as the means of increasing the interest of the Ukrainian public in Europe. By cultural and leisure centers we mean various forms of cultural institutions that are part of the basic network of cultural institutions, including libraries, museums, galleries, reserves, exhibition halls, theaters, philharmonics, concert organizations, art groups, cinemas, film and video distribution enterprises, associations, palaces and houses of culture, other club establishments, educational establishments in the field of culture, art schools, studios, parks of culture and recreation. These institutions carry the lion’s share of all art exhibitions, projects, events and other cultural events taking place in Ukraine. In Western Ukraine, cultural and leisure centers are one of the main subjects in the process of cultural development of the country, without which it is impossible to achieve the strategic goals of Ukraine’s development in the field of culture. Among the events that promote European integration of Ukraine there are international festivals with European representatives, exhibitions, concerts, thematic events, master classes, workshops, trainings, training courses, creative laboratories, scientific cooperation — conferences, forums, seminars which take place in Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano­Frankivsk, Volyn, Rivne regions in offline and online formats. The scientific novelty: the article attempts to study the role of cultural and leisure centers of Western Ukraine in the formation of a single European socio­cultural space. The practical significance. The analyzed practical experience of European cooperation of cultural and leisure centers of Western Ukraine can be borrowed by the institutions of other regions.