Key conclusions
Attempts to “cancel” Russian culture will make it even more attractive around the world
“Our current external circumstances create a need to use all the latest ways of communicating information. If there is a siege, and we went through sieges more than once, then we must find ways of speaking and being heard outside the siege. For this we have a "cloud", and we need to use it in order to show what we have. Cancellation is a thing based on noise rather than on deed, and we have gone through these cancellations many times. <...> If something is cancelled, it becomes even more attractive. This means that everything that we create can become even more attractive if we show it,” Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director, The State Hermitage Museum.
“The forbidden will cause even greater interest. In any case the Russian culture has always been “on the top of the wave”, has always been of interest to the world community, and everyone understands what value it represents. That’s why I am sure that all opportunities and solutions will be found, it’s just that we are now at some new stage of development, and this will stimulate the creative industries within the country,” Fatima Mukhomedzhan, Director, The Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation.
Russian creative industries found themselves in preferential conditions due to sanctions
“Today, we see a huge opening for opportunities in all creative industries. We have 14 creative industries, we can take each one and see that there is a new field for opportunities. <...> If a year ago we were talking about the need to support our national champions in Internet technologies, because they compete with Instagram, Facebook [banned in the Russian Federation; belong to the Meta corporation, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation. – Ed.], and TikTok, now, due to circumstances VK [social network VKontakte. – Ed.] has found itself in a privileged position in our national market. <...> The same can be said about cinema and the production of web series,” Sergey Novikov, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects.
“Last year we chose a strategy to dramatically increase the production of our own content. So last year we produced more than 5 thousand hours of our own content, which we can show in all media – digital, television, etc. And from this point of view, it is clear that there are a lot of new possibilities. Creative people need to understand where these opportunities are,” Svetlana Balanova, Chief Executive Officer, National Media Group.
PROBLEMS
Western countries create artificial barriers to cooperation
“We have the largest number of foreign performers at the Mikhailovsky Theatre and the Novosibirsk Theatre. There were 27 people at the Mikhailovsky and more than 18 people in Novosibirsk. Of course, they all called back, and their countries simply demanded that everyone leave. <...> They returned to their countries, stayed there for a couple of weeks, saw that there was no work for them, and everyone came back to us,” Vladimir Kekhman, Artistic director, Mikhailovsky Theatre.
“There was going to be an international exhibition of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, planned to open on 3 March. <...> It was supposed to be a large-scale, very interesting project that took several years to prepare. A day before the opening, the museum administration received notifications from different countries that they were forced to withdraw their exhibits. <…> At first it was a shock, but very soon the organizers found a way out – they made the same exhibition using the exhibits they found in our country,” Fatima Mukhomedzhan, Director, The Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation.
Modern creative industries lack professional staff
“We used to consume more Western content, now we will obviously consume a little less of it. To fill the gaps that have appeared in cinemas in terms of premieres of western content on television, of course, this will require a lot of effort. And it is obvious that we need help from the state, so that the number of people who can produce this content grows very quickly, among other things,” Svetlana Balanova, Chief Executive Officer, National Media Group.
“We need people who combine different professions... who can combine all the latest technologies with a humanitarian approach and humanize them. <...> This is a sort of combination that can be cultivated only in young people – this must be taught, we must work on this,” Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director, The State Hermitage Museum.
“In the creative industries, there are A huge number of new professions appear in the creative industries... Mixed reality designer is one example. We could not imagine that such a profession would appear. But they don’t train them anywhere. <...> The same, for example, with sound designers. We train sound engineers for mass events, but this is completely different,” Sergey Novikov, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects.
SOLUTIONS
Large-scale cultural events in Russia will inevitably attract the attention of the whole world
“There are events that a person who loves art cannot miss. For example, the first opera festival will be held in Sochi in August. This is going to be a grand event against the backdrop of Krasnaya Polyana. And people all over the world who love opera cannot miss this event. In this way, we are doing everything so that this cancel culture dissolves by itself,” Roman Karmanov, Chief Executive Officer, Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.
“There is a famous choreographer from Spain in St. Petersburg now. He is a world star who is working with the company – we are going to Crimea from 23 July to 7 August. <...> What is going to happen in Chersonesus now is a sensation, because I don’t even remember anything like that. It is probably going to be on the level of huge festivals in Paris, when they build a stage at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower for a concert once a year. That’s the kind of scale we are talking about,” Vladimir Kekhman, Artistic director, Mikhailovsky Theatre.
State support of cultural initiatives creates social lifts for talented people
“We can see an increase in funding, from the Presidential Grants Fund, the new Cultural Initiatives Fund, and the Internet Development Institute, which has already invested three times more in content creation than the Cinema Fund. <...> This is public money that was allocated according to the decisions of the President of Russia. In this case, we are not even reactively looking at the situation, but proactively – all these institutions have already been created, they are just now increasing the amount of funding, which will definitely help the leaders of Russian creative industries,” Sergey Novikov, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects.
“More than 3,000 projects have already been supported, they are being implemented in all regions. There will be 4.5 thousand projects totalling more than RUB 7.5 billion in September. Financing for next year is already clear – RUB 10 billion. <...> This means that representatives of the creative industries should take this form of state support very seriously. It is at least four or five waves of grants until the end of 2024, where you just need to want to make the journey. It is competitive, one in eight projects received the support,” Roman Karmanov, Chief Executive Officer, Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.
For more information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical System at roscongress.org/en
