
The Ukrainian Field Notes blog published a comprehensive article about our project – EnterDJ, a recreational DJing course that helps veterans, people with complex mental health conditions, and anyone who wants to relieve stress and improve their mood with simple musical exercises.
We are publishing excerpts from an interview that Jeanmarco del Re conducted with CEO Yevhen Skrypnyk and curator Andreas Bosch in early June of this year.
— Could you introduce EnterDJ?
Andreas Bosch: I wasn’t in the project from the very beginning, but I joined thanks to our mutual friend Vlad Fisun. Once he said, “There’s a music therapy project with a friend in Lviv,” and I went to see Victory Beats. I attended two or three sessions with veterans, and then I was like switched on — I realized that it really works. I thought we need to launch it in Kyiv. Well, actually, in many places, but the first thing that came to mind was HVLV. Because HVLV is not just a bar or a music venue, it’s a cultural hub. It was a project that I wanted to work on for a long time. Everything is based on music therapy. It was very convincing, and we found a format. We made a presentation. The idea is not only for veterans, it is suitable for anyone with PTSD, depression — which is currently affecting 90% of the population of Ukraine. In general, EnterDJ is not just a DJ school, it is something completely different. It is about developing the mind.
When I was at Superhumans in Lviv with Victory Beats, I realized that there is much more to this project than just DJing. I became very close to the veterans who participated, and the results were nothing short of impressive. There were also scientists who supported and explained what exactly music does to a person. For me, it is an exciting project. I am not a practicing musician, I collect music. But since I’m involved in the entire cultural program of HVLV, I realized that we should spread this throughout Ukraine, ideally.
Zhenya Skrypnyk: I was also invited to this project by Vlad Fisun. We met in Sloviansk, and for Vlad, DJing has always been something more than just music. I heard from him about music therapy back during COVID, when he developed a small program for people who were going through difficult times at home. So, Vlad had been thinking about this project for a long time, and when he invited me to EnterDJ, a lot had already been done there by him and Vova Nedogoda from Victory Beats. They already had results — and they were incredible. When veterans shared their impressions at the presentations at HVLV — those were the moments that brought tears to my eyes. This is something special — DJing as therapy, as a journey into music that allows you to forget about pain.
The full version of the interview is here.