"At first, we thought our activity was irrelevant now," said Alina Marnenko, founder of the social enterprise Museum in the Dark "Three after midnight", last spring. The war changed our views, and almost everyone had a moment of doubt about the relevance of their work. However, that spring, realizing the challenges of the new reality, Alina's team resumed their work.
The Museum in the Dark "Three after midnight" is a social enterprise whose mission is to break down stereotypical attitudes towards blind people, provide them with jobs, and make art accessible to everyone.
In the spring of 2022, the team became one of the winners of the Grant program "Social Enterprises for Emergency", implemented by the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund and SILab Ukraine. Thanks to the provided support, the enterprise team was able to restore the operation of a location in Kyiv, conduct over 20 online interactive "5 Senses" sessions for children from vulnerable groups, and develop more than 10 tactile images. Furthermore, financial support was a significant contribution to the opening of a branch in Lviv and the recruitment of five more visually impaired guides.
"At first, we really thought our activity became completely irrelevant with the start of the full-scale invasion. In fact, everything except businesses that close basic needs seemed irrelevant. But we later understood that we have formats that can really help people. Already in March, we started to resume our activities, think about new formats, and how we can be useful to our society," Alina said.
On March 22, we were able to visit the new location of the "Third after Midnight" Museum in the Dark, located in Lviv. We saw for ourselves that the financial support from USVF, obtained last year, not only helped the enterprise to transform and adapt to the new reality but also to scale its impact.
Today, the enterprise has two museums - in Kyiv and Lviv. We sincerely recommend visiting both locations, as it is a fantastic opportunity to learn about the world that is invisible and unusual for most of us.
We would like to remind you that the Museum in the Dark "Three After Midnight" received support within the framework of the Grant program "Social Enterprises for Emergency", implemented by the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund and SILab Ukraine.
The program was made possible thanks to the Collaborate for Impact project, which is implemented in partnership with EVPA with the financial support of DG NEAR EU Programme.