Mykhailo Poplavskyi

Born to a peasant family in the Kirovohrad Oblast of Soviet Ukraine, Poplavskyi studied at a technical school in Horlivka, graduating in 1968. He later worked as an electric locomotive driver on a mine in Kirovske and served in the Soviet Army. In 1971 Poplavskyi finished his studies at an arts school in Oleksandriya, and during the following years headed village houses of culture in his native region. In 1980 Poplavskyi was appointed deputy manager of the Republican House of Folk Arts. Starting from 1985 he worked as a lecturer of the applied culturology department at the Kyiv State Institute of Culture. He was appointed to head that institution in 1995, after two years of serving as its acting rector, During his leadership in the institute, Poplavskyi introduced new educational directions, establishing the chairs of show business management, singing, bandura and kobzar arts, sports dancing, public relations, modern and folk choreography etc. In 1998-2000 Ukraine's first chair of ancient and chamber music functioned at the institute, and in 2000 a cinema and television institute was created. In 2006 Poplavskyi headed KNUKiM's chair of hotel and restaurant service. In April 2023, 30 years after first heading the institute, Poplavskyi declared his intention to step down from the post of KNUKiM's rector. On 10 February 2026 education minister Oksen Lisovyi confirmed, that Poplavskyi had left the post of rector following the end of his contract. ==Musical career==

Known as the "Singing Rector", Poplavskyi has achieved success as a performer of songs in the style of Soviet estrada. His repertoire includes songs by Mykola Mozghovyi, Volodymyr Ivasiuk and Iryna Bilyk. He has also cooperated with songwriter Yuriy Rybchynskyi. In February 2012 Poplavskyi took part in a benefit concert in Moscow, organized with the support of the Ukrainian embassy and cultural organizations in Russia and involving Ivo Bobul, Natalia Buchynska, Iosif Kobzon, Natasha Korolyova, Tatyana Ovsiyenko and Aleksander Serov. ==Media career==

Poplavskyi has served as a creator and producer of several music projects in Ukraine, including the children's contest Krok do Zirok ("A Step to the Stars", since 2000), the TV show Nasha Pisnia ("Our Song", since 2004), the annual concert "We are your children, Ukraine!", dedicated to the birthday of Taras Shevchenko (since 2008), Mother's Day celebrations in Palace "Ukraine" (since 2008) and the contest Ukrainian Song of the Year (since 2010). Poplavskyi's projects have been broadcast live by the Pershyi television channel. In 2012, in cooperation with the National Television Company of Ukraine, Poplavskyi organized a Ukrainian folk music television marathon, which lasted for 110 hours and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the longest media event of that type. The marathon, dedicated to the popularization of Ukrainian song in the world, was broadcast by media agencies from 155 countries, including Reuters, CNN and BBC World. ==Political career==

In 1998 Poplavskyi ran for Verkhovna Rada as a candidate in a single-mandate constituency in his native Kirovohrad Oblast, but failed to get elected. On 16 January 2014 Poplavskyi voted in support of the anti-protest laws in Ukraine. As a result, in July of the same year he was legally barred from heading establishments of higher education along with other deputies who had supported the laws. However, in 2017 the changes to the educational law which introduced the ban were overturned by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. ==Other activities==

During the early 2000s Poplavskyi established a number of restaurants and a network of petrol stations on the highway Kyiv-Odesa. In 2015 he sold two stations to a company owned by former energy minister Eduard Stavytsky. Poplavskyi was elected head of the charity foundation "Gifted Children of Ukraine". In 2004 he became head of the international civic organization "Union of Ukrainians of the World". Since 2008 Poplavskyi has been active in farming business. His son Oleksandr is the owner of Yatran meat factory, specializing in production of sausages. In 2009 Poplavskyi issued his own brand of horilka, and in 2016 registered two brands of sausages under his own name. In 2018 Poplavskyi opened a milk farm in his native village of Mechyslavka. ==Controversies==

Accusations of vote buying Following Poplavskyi's election to the Verkhovna Rada in 2013, journalist investigators from TVi channel claimed to have registered cases of vote buying by his representatives. Poplavskyi was also accused of acting in the intersts of the Party of Regions and Cherkasy Oblast governor Serhiy Tulub, as his chief opponent had been a representative of the oppositional Batkivshchyna party. Content of songs Poplavskyi's songs, many of which are dedicated to dishes of traditional Ukrainian cuisine, have attracted accusations of primitivizing Ukrainian culture and leading to a decline of modern trends in Ukrainian music during the 2000s. His artistic creativity has been characterized as a classical example of kitsch. Private university In 2015 prosecution dropped a case against Poplavskyi and his son Oleksandr on the accusation of irregularities during the educational process in the Kyiv University of Culture, a private university established by them on the base of KNUKiM. Cambridge book presentation In October 2018 Poplavskyi published an Instagram post with photos from a presentation of his book of memoirs, which he claimed to have taken place at Cambridge University in the presence of one of its professors. However, a Ukrainian researcher at the university claimed that the presentation took place in a rented building at the university's territory, and had no relation to the educational establishment, with the alleged "professor" meeting Poplavskyi being a local chiropractic. Harassment allegations In February 2025 a former KNUKiM student claimed, that in January 2021 Poplavskyi had offered her to engage in a game of billiards in his country villa, marking each scored point with a kiss. When she refused, Poplavskyi supposedly boasted with his experience in sexual harassment. Poplavskyi himself did not comment those accusations. ==Quotes==

• Golden Feather award (2000) • Diploma of the festival "Schlager of the 20th century" (2001) • Golden Art Olympus prize (2002) • Muse of the Olympus award (2006) • Person of the Year in the category "Artist of the Year" (2009) ==Sources==