Andy Yankovskyi — Interview about Junction Fundraiser and UNight Kyiv

On March 15th, 2024 Clubcomission Berlin and UNight Kyiv come together for a Creative Community Summit, which is dedicated to promoting cooperation between Ukrainian and Berlin club culture. UNight (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is the first Nightlife Advocacy Association in Kyiv, founded to position Ukraine as a cultural hotspot and to promote exchange and cooperation between Ukrainian and international club culture. Club owners, promoters, and artists from Kyiv and Berlin will develop strategies for strengthening connections and supporting Ukrainian institutions. the bRAVEs Berlin spoke (first published on Mar 13, 2024) with Andy Yankovskyi, co-founder of UNight Kyiv, about the fundraising night event “JUNCTION” with a huge b2b line-up happening on the same day after the summit in the RSO, but also about their goals, the cooperation with the Clubcommission Berlin and the b2b idea behind the line-up.

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the bRAVEs: Andy, you are the co-founder of UNight Kyiv. Next Friday, March 15th, UNight, together with many other collectives like Bass Resistance (Si apre in una nuova finestra), DRIFT Kyiv (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Worn Pop (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Nowa (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Polygon (Si apre in una nuova finestra), is organizing the fundraising event JUNCTION (Si apre in una nuova finestra) at the Berlin club RSO. What is Junction and what does it mean?

Andy: Junction — is the action or fact of joining or being joined, as it’s described in the dictionary. Or a place or point of meeting. This description perfectly describes the essence of our event — it’s a unique party where not only the audience meets and mixes, but

the stage itself becomes a point of junction.

The concept we designed is deeply rooted in the core values of UNight that are visible through our name itself — we want to bring people, organizations, venues, and collectives together. Thus for this fundraiser, we are bringing together major Ukrainian collectives that have established themselves in Berlin over the last 2 years and we pair each act with a local artist to create a truly unique experience.

I am a big fan of the b2b format myself and this event is sort of a gigantic b2b experiment. Some pairs have already some history together but others Never performed even in the same room.

So the result will be unexpectable but certainly legendary.

the bRAVEs: How did the cooperation with Clubcommission Berlin come about?

Andy: We are very happy with this project in general. The Clubcommission team has been very supportive and helped us a lot with negotiations with the venue, as well as promotion and production None of our organizations are promoters, we have other goals and focuses. Moreover, Clubcommission doesn’t really make collaborative parties in general. So this is also a new experience for both of us, but we came from the club scene so we know “something” about partying, right?

the bRAVEs: What kind of music can the guests expect from the DJs at RSO?

Andy: Well, we tried to showcase various collectives that have their unique soundscape. So there will be something for everyone’s taste, I’d say — techno, ambient, dark disco, UK garage, Bass and even some Jungle.

It’s gonna be truly a musical journey.

the bRAVEs: Did the DJs choose their B2B partner themselves?

Andy: Yes, that was very much the idea of it. We sent the word out and asked each promoter to suggest a b2b pair from their collective that would showcase their unique style in the best possible way. And we are very happy with the result we received. We would love to invite even more collectives to the stage, but unfortunately, our party is long yet limited in time, so we were forced to make sacrifices here.

the bRAVEs: The money raised will go to the art residency ‘Fantazery (Si apre in una nuova finestra)’. How did you choose this organization?

Andy: We needed something that would fit both our own and Clubcommmission’s agenda, so this unfortunately can’t be anything militaristic (like drones or weapons). So we looked into humanitarian projects and decided together that it would be great to support this art residency. At UNight we had a project in mind to organize art therapy sessions for people affected by the War and since there is already a similar initiative we all agree that it would be a great fit for this fundraiser.

the bRAVEs: Why is it important to organize fundraisers?

Andy: Well, I think at this point in time it should be self-explanatory —

the War is not over,

our people are fighting, dying, and suffering and I think it’s everyone here in the rear to support those in the front. Personally for us — UNight is a non-profit association and not a promoter, we never planned to organize parties since our members are doing that and we are here to represent Kyiv’s night scene and help to develop it. But since we decided to make an afterparty for a conference it was a unanimous decision to make the best out of it and raise money for a good cause.

the bRAVEs: Are there any further plans from UNight Kyiv?

Andy: In Kyiv, we have a lot of projects in mind and their execution will depend on the funding we would be able to acquire. But we are looking into a very productive year filled with various projects both domestically and internationally.

Thanks a lot for your time, have a great party and raise a lot of funds!

Line-Up Fundraising Club Night:
10:00 PM — 11:00 PM: Paarl b2b Obskurant
11:00 PM — 12:00 AM: Heinali LIVE
12:00 AM — 03:00 AM: Dagga b2b Pledov b2b Special Guest
03:00 AM — 05:00 AM: Jensen Interceptor b2b Ewa Nomad
05:00 AM — 07:00 AM: Charlie b2b Bellis
07:00 AM — 09:00 AM: NKK b2b Travis or Alice
09:00 AM — 11:00 AM: Egregore b2b Olha

Date: Friday, March 15, 2023
Time: Starting at 1:00 PM
Location: RSO, Schnellerstraße 137, 12439 Berlin

This Event is part of the Clubcommission project International Club Exchange part of the program for Internationalization by the Senate Department for Economy, Energy and Enterprises of Berlin, co-funded by the European Union.

UNight Kyiv
Website (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Clubcomission Berlin
Website (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Andy Yankovskyi
Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

the bRAVEs — Electronic Music Berlin
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