Starting from Soviet Union times, when things were tough, talented Slavic youth seeked to escape to Europe. First of all, to develop their future careers, but also to run away from instability and uncertainty.
It’s hard to imagine anything more unstable than war. Still, many creative people choose to stay in Ukraine nowadays. What makes them decide so?
Financial responsibilities and family
Young musicians and artists from Ukraine don’t have children to feed, and their wings are spread wide. With the new type of thinking, and their head in clouds, they are certainly full of hopes for self-realization abroad.
Most youngsters try it out, and even if reality in a foreign country is different from their expectations, they are ok with modest bohemian lifestyle.

But if they have reached their late 20s, the situation change. There is usually one kid already, a young family is getting less flexible, and other factors also play a big role.
Musical and artistic business is very specific. Although there is always an option to sing in a restaurant, or to draw tourists’ portraits on the main square, many creative people want more.
After reaching 25 years old, a certain kind of fame and social recognition are needed. Surely, they can be obtained in a virtual environment as well, as none of the modern artists would likely avoid TikTok or YouTube.
However, each true musician or artist knows, the taste of real-time appreciation in one’s hometown cannot be replaced with the digital analogue.
It’s one of the reasons why creative young people stay in Ukraine. To be able to provide and feed their families, they should keep on relying on their usual local target audience and long-term social circle.
Artistic families with many children
While Ukrainian men artists without families or with 1-2 children can make a choice to become soldiers and protect their homes from invasion, having 3 kids and more changes things.
By law, parents of three are officially released from military duties. Now, what about mothers? It’s the most logical thing for a young mom, to run away from a dangerous place for her children’s sake.

But having three kids and more makes her more dependent on her husband, parents, a circle of friends and neighbors.
Nataliya from Odesa, Ukraine is a talented artist and Facebook influencer with three kids. Leaving abroad for safety reasons would certainly keep her audience interested, but many would be disappointed, and others sad.
Selling paintings isn’t a problem, Nataliya shares. It can always be accomplished online, and delivery services work despite of war.
“I’m not saying that my mission here is huge”, Nataliya says. “But those 50-60 people who I can proudly call my regular customers, and 5000 subscribers do feel better having me here, in Odesa”.
Aside from selling paintings, a creative young woman is teaching small groups of amateurs how to draw, arranges well-being days for ladies, and even plays psychological board games with them.
All meetings are donation-based. The most important is that all those Ukrainian women are greatly supported and inspired by her bravery to stay home and wait for the victory.
“It’s not easy to inspire scared people who aren’t recently into meditation and art”, Nataliya says. “Many seek to escape as themselves and their children didn’t sleep many nights in row, with all those sirens and rockets”.
Nataliya’s business pattern and patriotic example are quite typical for Ukrainian female artists and musicians. Many of them choose similar ways to survive and remain popular in their area.
Artistic families with adopted kids
There is a patriarchal stereotype that artistic people can barely feed themselves. Even being very talented, they may remain too lazy and immature to reach success.
Well, both history and modern times prove it’s not true. Contemporary art folks are extremely ambitious and proactive.

Some of them are so fruitful and dynamic that they are not afraid to adopt children and bear all the responsibility involved. There are plenty of such stories in Ukraine.
Mirta Groffman is one of such phenomenons. A brilliant artist with her own unique style, she is also a happy mother of ten children. Six of them have been adopted.
Although both Mirta and her husband have artistic professions, they manage to feed their dependants with healthy and organic food only, and rent big houses in picturesque places.
They moved abroad all together much before war. But after the 24th of February, 2022 things obviously got more complicated.
When your target audience barely survives and thinks about safety only, they cannot desire elite paintings with deep philocophic meaning. While sponsors’ and philantropists’ means are addressed to less fortunate families and their urgent needs.
This is where the crisis of creativity begins. How to relocate to a promising and progressive European country while your head is busy with ten children’s survival and psychological adaptation? Ask Mirta.
When so many sacrifices should be made, and so many solutions found, so many new skills developed, it’s easy to loose hope and strength. But not for Ukrainian artistic women who are literally blessed with bravery.
Mirta keeps on studying, working hard, educating kids, and enchanting her husband as a true woman. All that in shadows of decreased sales and nearly absent income in general.

No doubt the thought of returning to Ukraine has came to her beautiful head more than once. But a hard challenge of being a migrant should be accepted, for the sake of all ten angels’ peaceful smiles.
Perspectives for Ukrainian artists as refugees
Speaking of thousands of Ukrainian students and young professionals in area of art, what waits for them after escaping abroad and becoming refugees?
Frankly saying, they don’t have as great and clear perspectives as doctors, lawyers, or builders. Musical and artistic education requires a lot of investment, with much postponed results.
The horizons are wider for those studying graphic design or architecture. All the others face the necessity to accept simpler jobs and survive hard.
This is where famous Ukrainian mentality helps. These strong and witty, cordial and empathetic people are adapting quickly and showing the best results even in a strange environment.
“A refugee is just a word”, a young saxophonist Yaroslav says. “We are still the same people we used to be before war, strong willers, achievers, and adventurous to the core”.
That’s probably why, exactly migrants of creative professions open their own businesses abroad more likely than their peers with down-to-earth and pragmatic skills. It’s inner freedom that helps you fly.

Let’s not judge those who didn’t feel empowered enough to leave their risky hometown, or who return there quickly. We are all different, with various missions and personal tasks.
What is more important, let’s welcome and greet those determined youngsters who decided to take a chance here in Europe. Our warm support, ideas, and actions is what brings them peace and stability.