Our Story
We find inspiration in every our turn
Abandoned Artists CIC was founded in October 2023 by Ukrainian-born, Scottish-based research artist and curator Alena Rogozhkina.
The inspiration behind the project originated from Alena's strong personal passion for connected to her family situation. Since 2014, with Donbass occupation, it has been difficult to visit her closest family members including her parents.
When Russian invasion of Ukraine escalated in 2022, Alena started to volunteer at Edinburgh Airport to be a first point of contact for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. Alena felt that establishing some form of support platform for displaced Ukrainian artists to transform their broken lives will help to transform her own pain. Although Abandoned Artists might be only a drop in the ocean to deal with this humanitarian disaster, our team have chosen this way to contribute to Hope, by doing what we are most capable of.
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​At the core of Abandoned Artists mission is the belief that creativity can be a transformative force for individuals and communities.
Since we established, we delivered more than 90 Creative Spark Time art and wellbeing sessions, 15 Artists Circles and more than 50 1:1 mentoring sessions to 106 displaced individuals. As our participants provided feedback, these activities help them to gain the confidence, access creative opportunities and empowering them to pursue their artistic careers.
Our timeline
