This Friday we invite you to our fundraiser organised for the victims of the war in Ukraine. Not only will the ticket proceeds of this evening be collected, we also want to ask you, the visitors, to bring as many resources such as clothing, food and medication to the club for those who currently need it most. With this action, we want to contribute by doing what they normally do best, enjoying an evening of music.
We also want to ask you to reflect on the incredible pleasure and privilege that tasting culture can bring, which is currently impossible for the Ukrainian population. Ampere has hosted many Ukrainian artists and employees in recent years, for example, last week Woo York, a duo from Kiev, was planned to perform but unfortunately never made it. Also Nastia, with whom we have close contact, had to flee to Poland with her daughter and leave everything behind. The owner of Closer Club, for example, sleeps every night in a bomb shelter from the Second World War while his city is being bombed and air alarms keep them awake. But on the other hand, Russian colleagues and artists who are arrested for demonstrating or their phones are checked on the street for messages they send to the outside world, and put behind bars.
Together with you, Ampere is there this Friday for Ukraine and for freedom.
The following list of relief goods (sorted and described) are very welcome:
– medication
– clothing
– Batteries and power packs
– food with a long expiry date
– thermal blankets and sleeping bags
– hygienic products such as soaps, toothpaste, etc.
– sanitary towels
– matches and lighters
OPEN LETTER
“Every day we take our carefree life for granted.
A hot shower, a washing machine and dryer, a quick visit to the bakery or a delicious cappuccino at your favourite coffee shop, a terrace, shopping, meeting up with friends or just lazing around at home with the heating set to 21 degrees and complaining a bit about things that are completely irrelevant.
What if you wake up and all these things are no longer there? And suddenly you have to leave all your comforts with one bag, and dress as warmly as possible to face the cold day and night for days or weeks and live in fear every second that you might be hit by bombs or bullets from an enemy who just wants to kill you for no legitimate reason. Not because that person wants to but because his leader tells him to and he can expect reprisals himself.
What if you have nothing tomorrow? What if you are separated from your partner and your children because he has to fight for his fatherland, and you can’t be reached. What if your family is looking for you and nobody knows where you are while you have been hiding for days in a cold damp cellar without warm food. What if you are cut off and stripped of everything you have built up? What if you know that your house has been bombed and all your memories and possessions have been reduced to ashes…
I got up this morning and took my children to school. Something I normally hated to do is something I now thoroughly enjoyed. My alarm clock rang and where I would normally turn over and let the snooze function do its work, I now quickly stood beside my bed and went straight into that oh so nice warm shower. I was well aware that this could be taken away from us one day. And that cold showers or even not being able to shower will no longer be possible for many friends, colleagues and inhabitants of Ukraine, if they still have a shower at all.
It is unreal but nevertheless the hard reality that there is a war going on in Europe.
A war that nobody wants and nobody expected but a megalomaniacal wish of a small paranoid person.
Me and my partner whom I met in the Ukraine and who is Russian herself, have had very nice times in both Ukraine and Russia and have made many friends for life and met the most interesting people who actually all always did not support the policy of their leaders. Free creative loving smart minds who we appreciated and who inspire us for the persons they are and the knowledge they share. And all of them friends for life far beyond any boundaries that did not exist for all of us.
What is happening in this world right now is very disturbing and will also change our world forever, not only ours but especially that of our children. It is time for all of us to stand up and realise how lucky we are to live in freedom and how grateful we all should be for the life we have right now. We all have our daily problems, but put yourself in the shoes of the people of a besieged city, where women and children are separated from their husbands and possessions, and they realise every day that this day could be their last.
We are not completely powerless. We have a voice and resources and we can all make that voice heard or do something. A box of paracetamol or cough medicine for children. A warm blanket or a sleeping bag. Long-life food or something that gives hope.
Or money to help those in need. And you can do that this Friday by just coming to dance for Ukraine, because this Friday Ampere is there for Ukraine, for our friends and for freedom. That is why we donate all proceeds at the door to charity and transport to Ukraine or the border posts where help is needed most. Because that is the only thing we can do now.
– Joachim Marijnen, creative director of Ampere
We hope you will dance with us in freedom while you still can.
Our thoughts go out to all the people on both sides who are losing their loved ones to this pitiful and cruel war.
Our thoughts go out to all the people who are being deprived of their freedom and freedom of speech.
Our thoughts go out to all the children and the elderly who do not know or realize what is happening to them.
Our thought and hope go to a world that can live in peace.
Dance with us this Friday.
AMPERE 4 UKRAINE”
– Team Ampere