Nearly all design professionals in Ukraine are currently without work. No developers, government agencies, or individuals are investing in new work or completing existing projects in the nation. Significant numbers of Ukrainian design professionals have been displaced from their homes and find themselves in uncertain conditions.

The Architectural League is helping to raise awareness for Hire Ukrainian Designers, an initiative led by a team of Boston-based architects and designers helping Ukrainian design professionals in the fields of architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, and visualization find work opportunities with US firms—a critical and urgent lifeline for those whose livelihood has been jeopardized by war.

The project is based on the success of a grassroots initiative organized by the Houston, Texas, office of the international firm SWA, whose team has successfully matched over 40 Ukrainian design professionals with US-based design firms since March.

Volunteers from the initiative will provide candidate introductions, as well as pre-screening, skill set vetting, contract templates, and help with remote work troubleshooting and language barriers.

In this online information session, participants will hear from the initiative’s organizers, as well as firm principals and Ukrainian designers who have already created successful working relationships through this initiative. The presenters will guide participants through an overview of each step of the hiring process, with time reserved for an audience Q&A at the end of the program.

The presenters will include:

Kinder Baumgardner, managing principal, SWA Group;
Alina Nazmeeva, co-initiator of Hire Ukrainian Designers;
Angelina Stelmakh, co-initiator of Hire Ukrainian Designers;
Doug Suisman, principal, Suisman Urban Design;
John Wagner, co-initiator of Hire Ukrainian Designers.