May 18 is International Museum Day. The theme for 2026 is “Museums Uniting a Divided World,” announced by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), which emphasized the role of museums as spaces of memory, dialogue, and cultural understanding.
On May 19, the international exhibition Modern Freedom opens in New York City — a large-scale project presenting works by contemporary artists from Central and Eastern Europe who reflect on the experience of war, memory, trauma, and the struggle for freedom. The Pylyp Orlyk Foundation is a partner of the Ukrainian component of the exhibition.
Pylyp Orlyk Foundation representatives Natalia Omelchuk and Valeria Shapiro took part in Vienna Grand Forum 2026, held in Vienna on May 8–10, 2026, which brought together Ukrainian entrepreneurs developing businesses abroad.
On May 1, 2026, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine published a decree approving the plan of events for the 100th anniversary of the death of Symon Petliura. The Pylyp Orlyk Foundation has joined the implementation of the initiative.
An international educational event EdCamp Vienna took place in Vienna, dedicated to the development of Ukrainian education abroad. The theme of the gathering was: “The Power in Each and Every One: How to Build a Cohesive Ukrainian Education Abroad.” Natalia Omelchuk, educational programmes coordinator of the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation, took part in the event.
With the support of the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation, Kharkiv will host the educational and artistic project “Yellow Bus 2026: WORD” from May 18 to 24, 2026 — a seven-day film and journalism laboratory for teenagers aged 14–17.
This year, 556 students in Poland chose Ukrainian as their matura language — the national school-leaving examination required for university admission. It marks the first time in history that Ukrainian has officially become a matura subject as a foreign language, as reported by Polskie Radio dla Ukrainy.
On May 7, the exhibition “War. Made in Russia,” dedicated to Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and its consequences for Ukrainian society, opened in the Czech city of Hradec Králové. The opening ceremony took place in the Primátorský sál at the City Hall building.
On May 6, 2026, a landmark event took place in Poland: graduates sat the state exam — the matura — in Ukrainian as a foreign language for the first time. The exam programme was developed with the support of the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation and published with the assistance of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Poland.