Nigel Osborne in Ukraine

Nigel Osborne’s visits to Ukraine began shortly after the full-scale invasion. Through the initiative of Art Therapy Force, Nigel started meeting with students and teaching at various Ukrainian universities, conducting art therapy sessions for children and adults, visiting hospitals, children’s homes, art institutions, and engaging with doctors, art therapists, volunteers, military personnel, and displaced persons. Over this period, more than 100 lectures and meetings have been held. Nigel Osborne has worked in cities including Lviv, Uzhhorod, Ivano-Frankivsk, Cherkasy, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kharkiv. This page compiles information about Nigel’s activities in Ukraine over the past two years.

Nigel Osborne is a composer, art therapist, and expert in using music and art to support children traumatized by war. He developed his method during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) and later applied it in the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East, East Africa, Southwest Asia, and India. He was also been awarded the Freedom Prize of the Peace Institute, Sarajevo, for his work for Bosnian children during the siege of the city. Osborne has worked actively in human rights initiatives, Workers’ Defence Committee in Poland (1970–1989), Citizens’ Forum and the Jazz Section with Václav Havel in former Czechoslovakia (1987–1989), for Syrian refugee support organisations. During the genocide Osborne worked directly for the Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina. From 2012 until 2014, Osborne served as co-chair of the Global Agenda Committee for Arts in Society for the World Economic Forum.

2022

Throughout 2022, Nigel Osborne made regular visits to Ukraine. During his initial trips, he established collaborations with the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko, and the Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I.P. Kotlyarevsky. He delivered a lecture series titled “Music and Creativity in the Community” to students at these universities, which included practical sessions at a children’s homes in Lviv, housing about 65 displaced children, and at City Children’s Hospital No. 16 in Kharkiv. In these cities, Osborne also held professional meetings with doctors, war veterans, volunteers working with displaced children, and gave public lectures to a broader audience.

Additionally, Osborne began collaborating with the Cherkasy Professional Music College named after S.H. Hulak-Artemovsky. During his visit, he gave a lecture, met with the professional community of musicians and teachers, and visited regional and city hospitals in Cherkasy, where he met with wounded soldiers.

In the fall of 2022, Osborne also participated in two ten-day educational retreats, the Ukrainian Artists Camp, organized in Croatia for Ukrainian female artists and their children.

Overall, about 15 lectures and 15 practical sessions with children were conducted. In 2022, approximately 750 adults and 720 children participated in events involving Nigel Osborne and his colleagues (Lenka Udovički, Jonathan Walton, Clea Friend, and Ruaraidh Osborne).

2023

In 2023, Nigel Osborne continued and significantly expanded his activities in Ukraine through the Art Therapy Force project.

By the end of 2022, agreements were made with universities in Lviv, Kharkiv, and Kropyvnytskyi to include Professor Osborne’s lecture courses in their curricula. Throughout the following year, he delivered lectures on children’s psycho-emotional health and music therapy practices at the Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko, Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I.P.Kotlyarevsky, and Central Ukrainian State University named after V. Vynnychenko.

These lectures were often accompanied by practical sessions with children in hospitals, children’s homes, youth creative centers, music schools, comprehensive rehabilitation centers for children with disabilities, and with children of university staff who had been mobilized during the war. Students took part in these sessions, gaining hands-on experience with Professor Osborne’s methods.

During these sessions, children, alongside Osborne and the students, explored music from various countries and created their own musical and rhythmic compositions, such as Christmas songs and carols. A film, “Christmas Carol Festival with Nigel Osborne” was produced to document these activities.

Some workshops were centered around creating musical performances —“Monster Opera” and the video project “Vertep” at Lviv National University, and the play “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Afraid” at Kharkiv National University of Arts. Additionally, at the City Clinical Children’s Hospital No. 16 in Kharkiv, projects like “Musical Tales”, “Musical Mornings”, and the “Sound Laboratory” were implemented.

In 2023, Nigel Osborne also participated in the International Scientific Conference “Art in Times of Crisis: Education and Therapy” (Lviv National University), the 5th International Scientific and Practical Conference “Art Education Space in the Context of Modern Education Paradigms” (Central Ukrainian State University), and the International Conference “War. Trauma Psychotherapy” (Ukrainian Catholic University), where he delivered talks on the role and impact of music during crises and its potential as a therapeutic tool for preventing and treating the negative mental and physical effects on children affected by war.

At the end of the year, we began a collaboration with Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. At the Educational and Scientific Institute of Arts, Nigel conducted a lecture and workshop on the topic “Art as a Means of Psychological Support for Children: Theory, Practice, Experience”. About 100 people attended the event.

A total of 34 lectures were held in 2023, attended by over 500 people. More than 35 music therapy sessions and workshops were conducted with 535 children. Additionally, Osborne participated in three Kids Art Retreat Projects, where he led music therapy sessions for children and teenagers (over 1200 children) and gave lectures for internally displaced persons in the Family Art Retreat Project. These and other lectures for university students are available for viewing in the “Lectures” section.

Over 700 university lecturers, school teachers, volunteers, researchers, specialists, and other interested individuals attended events in Kharkiv, Lviv, and Kropyvnytskyi during Nigel Osborne’s activities in Ukraine in 2023.

2024

In 2024, Professor Nigel Osborne continued his educational mission in Ukraine, delivering lectures, seminars, and music therapy sessions in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kharkiv. His work continued to center around the use of art as a powerful tool for social adaptation, therapy, and support for those affected by the war.

In Lviv, Professor Osborne presented three lectures to 35 students and faculty members at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and spoke at the international conference “Art in Crisis: Education and Therapy.” Beyond his academic activities, he regularly visited St. Nicholas and St. Panteleimon hospitals, conducting 19 music therapy sessions in total—12 for children and 7 for military personnel. He also worked with children at a shelter, conducted classes at the Tempo Music Development Center, and collaborated with the “Razom z toboyu” psychological support center. Furthermore, he gave a lecture for educators who work with children on the autism spectrum.

In Ivano-Frankivsk, Professor Osborne partnered with the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, where he held four lectures over the course of the year for 36 participants, including 20 students enrolled in the “Art and War: Pedagogy and Practice” course. The practical segment of the course involved working with students and engaging 10 children with Down syndrome. The professor also conducted several sessions for 13 children from military families and internally displaced persons, where they collaboratively developed characters for an upcoming children’s musical.

In Kropyvnytskyi, he continued his collaboration with the Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University named after V. Vynnychenko, delivering 11 lectures and 2 seminars to 35 students in 2024. He also worked at the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center for Children with Disabilities, where he led four sessions for 90 participants. Additionally, he ran workshops for children whose parents were killed or wounded in the war and conducted a series of sessions at local music schools. The culmination of these activities was the premiere of the children’s musical How the Monsters Saved Ruthenia, a project created by the children in collaboration with Professor Osborne.

In Kharkiv, Professor Osborne delivered 11 lectures for students at the Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I.P. Kotlyarevskyi, conducted workshops for doctors, and led sessions for children with cerebral palsy and sleep disorders at Kharkiv Children’s Hospital No. 16. He also worked with children at the Kharkiv Children’s Home and participated in the Kharkiv Art Therapy Day-2024.

2025

In 2025, Nigel Osborne continued working with Ukrainian students of arts disciplines, teaching art therapy and trauma-informed arts, while also providing hands-on support to children and veterans in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, and Kropyvnytskyi.

At the beginning of the year, Nigel met with participants of the Victory Beats project, which develops music therapy for people affected by military trauma, including those living with disabilities or who have survived captivity. The project is based at the Superhumans Center, where regular music sessions take place.

Over the course of the year, Nigel facilitated four such sessions for around 25 patients of the center and, in parallel, shared his experience in music therapy with the musicians who initiated the project.

This collaboration culminated in the concert “Renaissance”, held on July 13 at the Ludkevych Concert Hall of the Lviv National Philharmonic. The performance featured a chamber string orchestra and Ukrainian Armed Forces veteran Oleksandr Ivanko. The orchestral score was composed by Nigel Osborne and was based on musical material that emerged during therapeutic sessions with military personnel at the Unbroken rehabilitation center. The concert was conducted by Nataliia Kyrychuk, with Oleksandr Ivanko performing on a MIDI controller.

In Lviv, Nigel also continued his work at the Unbroken rehabilitation center and St. Nicholas Hospital, where he facilitated one session for military personnel and three sessions for children from the rehabilitation and neurosurgery departments. In addition, he worked with six teenagers from the Vechoria Theatre Studio within the Women’s Leadership in Trauma-Informed Arts project, delivered a presentation at the International Scientific Conference “Arts in Times of Crisis: Education and Therapy”, and gave four lectures for 20 students of the Department of Musical Arts at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, as well as seven faculty members.

In Ivano-Frankivsk, Nigel met with music students of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, for whom he had taught the course “Art and War: Pedagogy and Practice” the previous year. Together, they conducted sessions for 16 children with Down syndrome from the NGO Sunny Children of Ivano-Frankivsk Region. Throughout the year, under the supervision of Associate Professor Iryna Novosiadla, the students independently and regularly facilitated music therapy sessions for these children. The work culminated in a joint concert with musicians of the Ivano-Frankivsk Philharmonic in early June. We are glad to see students applying their knowledge in practice and that Nigel’s work leads to lasting impact.

In Kharkiv, a similar form of collaboration developed through a partnership with City Clinical Multidisciplinary Hospital No. 25. This year, Nigel joined two sessions at the hospital, including those held within the Women’s Leadership in Trauma-Informed Arts project, as well as one session at the GreenLandia NGO space for children supported by the Ostrivets Dobra Charitable Foundation. In total, 25 children took part.

In Kropyvnytskyi, Nigel delivered two lectures for 15 students of the Musical Arts programme at Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State University, where he has been teaching a course in art communication and trauma-informed arts for the past two years. This year, by decision of the University Academic Council, he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of the University, for which we are sincerely grateful to the university leadership.

Nigel also spoke at the Forum of the Unbreakable, held on April 4 at Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs and dedicated to best practices in psychological support for representatives of the security and defence sector. During his visit, he also facilitated a session for 20 children at Music School No. 1 named after H. H. Neuhaus and led a workshop with veterans at the Svoi Veterans’ Space.

Despite challenges related to physical visits to Ukraine this year, we were able to maintain key partnerships and implement all planned educational and practical activities. Nigel continues to deliver online lectures for students of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I. Kotliarevskyi, and Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State University; to work with children and veterans during his visits; to contribute to the Kids Art Retreat Project; and to develop new areas of work.

One such new direction was his public lecture “Art, Music, and the Body: Working with Trauma Through Creativity,” delivered for 30 educators and psychologists at the Mental Health Center of Ushynsky University in Odesa.

We are deeply grateful to our coordinators: Svitlana Saldan (LNU named after I. Franko, Lviv), Iryna Novosiadla (PNU named after V. Stefanyk, Ivano-Frankivsk), Yulia Nikolaievska (KhNUM named after I.P. Kotlyarevskyi, Kharkiv), Anastasia Shiroka (UCU, Lviv), Alla Rastrihina (CSDU named after V. Vynnychenko, Kropyvnytskyi), and Natalia Borodinia (ONPU, Odesa). Our thanks also extend to all the representatives of our partner organizations, including hospitals, rehabilitation centers, veteran hubs, shelters, and other institutions.

Nigel Osborne’s activities in Ukraine are initiated and coordinated by Art Therapy Force, with financial support from the Terre des hommes foundation.