Translated material
Hunger of the Masters
The unemployed are taught how to forge iron, paint ceramics and carve wood. It is not yet very clear where the demand for the results of their creative work will come from.
Vladimir, a former financier from Moscow, does cross stitch. His whole house is covered in paintings that he embroidered with his own hands. Vladimir is even a member of the online community of embroidery lovers, but he asks not to give his last name - he’s embarrassed. “Friends laugh, saying that this is not a man’s occupation,” says Vladimir. “But I know several other adult family men with this hobby.” After he was fired during the crisis, Vladimir tried to make money from his hobby, but was not successful. He began selling his embroidered paintings on the Internet - and never sold a single one. After three months of unsuccessful attempts, he abandoned this idea.
And so the city authorities rushed to the aid of the former financier Vladimir. Now the mayor's office actively supports artisans. Their main stronghold in Moscow was the South-Eastern District. From December 2008 to July 2009, the number of enterprises engaged in folk crafts grew here by more than 30%. There are now 106 such firms in the district, and in the near future local authorities intend to double this figure. Craft courses will be open. It's not so much a love of folk art, but a desire to solve the aggravated problem of unemployment.
“We will teach Muscovites to embroider, knit, paint ceramics, carve wood, blacksmith and pottery, silk painting, leather working and other folk arts and crafts,” lists Irina Tuzlukova, head of the creative association of entrepreneurs “Golden Horseshoe”, which was organized by on the basis of the Small Business Development Center of the South-Eastern District of Moscow. Official employment centers do not take part in this, but the Golden Horseshoe does not hide the fact that they are taking on part of the program to attract the unemployed to business.
“Handicraft is a unique type of small business,” explains Stanislav Ivanov, director of the Small Business Development Center of the South-Eastern District. “After completing the courses, graduates will be able to get a job at an enterprise or open their own business.” Personnel officers confirm: in Moscow there is still a demand for blacksmiths, potters and woodcarvers. Moreover, a blacksmith can earn up to 70,000 rubles a month: a real craftsman will have a never-ending supply of customers, and construction companies are willing to hire them.
Potters earn less, but in times of crisis it is also quite decent. 23-year-old Muscovite Alina Sidorenko has been studying pottery for a month now and wants to become a professional ceramist. “When my friends find out, they laugh,” says Alina. “If I wanted to work in an office, it would not surprise anyone, and the profession of a potter, in the opinion of others, somehow does not fit in with the bustling Moscow lifestyle.” Although in Moscow potters are even more in demand than somewhere else in the outback. For example, some companies invite potters to corporate events and presentations: a master class for guests is an original, memorable entertainment.
Programs to teach people handicrafts are being launched throughout the country. For example, in Ugra, unemployed people are introduced to the traditional art of the northern peoples: they are taught to weave beads, embroider, knit, sew traditional costumes, and make toys. In order to employ future craftsmen, they are even planning to open a workshop for the production of wicker furniture in the village of Kyshyk, Khanty-Mansiysk region. They calculated that a wicker basket now costs from 500 to 700 rubles - a good income for an unemployed person. If, of course, you manage to sell this basket.
In Nizhny Novgorod, unemployed people will be trained to become photographers, videographers and editors. The creative profession can be mastered in intensive courses; students are paid a stipend in the amount of unemployment benefits. “The training will begin on November 23 and will last a month,” says Tatyana Glagoleva, deputy director of the Nizhny Novgorod Employment Center. “We are opening courses in creative specialties for the first time.” Participants in the program will also receive training on writing business plans and the basics of entrepreneurship. It’s not a fact that after these trainings the students’ business will go better, but there are many who want it. So far, only 13 people have been accepted to study.
“The prospects for finding a job for graduates of such courses are quite good,” says Sergei Smirnov, director of the Institute of Social Policy and Socio-Economic Programs at the State University - Higher School of Economics. This is about photographers. They will be able to work in kindergartens, schools or registry offices. Of course, it’s unlikely that videographers will be called to a film studio, but you can again film corporate events, weddings and private celebrations.
There is a risk that soon a crisis of overproduction will occur in folk crafts. Personnel officers warn: if residents of large cities en masse begin to exchange office chairs for handicraft workshops, the problem of unemployment will not be solved - the current master craftsmen will remain without work. “After all, creative specialties are not the most in demand on the market now, and there is no acute shortage of personnel in this area,” emphasizes Sergei Smirnov. Even videographers, he says, may be too many: “With the onset of the crisis, many began to save on photographs and video filming. For example, to save money, parents can film a children’s party with an amateur camera.”
Any creative courses are a good start, says Elmira Davydova, general director of the Profgid center for vocational guidance and career development. She explains that learning a new creative profession helps people find themselves in difficult times. But she considers relying on such courses in the fight against unemployment to be completely futile. “Now in Moscow, for example, there is a shortage of qualified plumbers and electricians,” says Davydova. “These are the professions that need to be taught more actively.”
Smirnov also believes that the main thing is to maintain balance. In addition, not everyone has the prospect of starting their own business, be it basket weaving or photography. “If a person has an entrepreneurial spirit, then he will never remain unemployed, and usually such people find something to do without the help of employment centers,” notes Davydova. Former financier Vladimir strongly supports the initiative of the capital’s authorities to support craftsmen. He himself has been working as an accountant for six months, and embroiders in his free time.
As part of the joint project “Russian Newsweek” and Livejournal “Live Opinion”, bloggers answered the question of whether the professions of blacksmith, potter and other artisans are in demand in Moscow. The discussion developed in the opinion.ru community.
It’s a show off, they never let the artisans work, much less they never helped them, but every few years there is a show-off company. I know this from my own experience. This is not the first and not the last time this ostentatious show is staged.
We did not know about such an action by the capital’s authorities. And we started self-teaching the craft :). The craft that interests us is painting on ceramics. In the future we plan to open our own business. I consider the authorities’ idea to be quite sound and useful. Nowadays there are almost no people who can do something with their own hands, although many have both talent and desire, why not help people realize themselves. Russia has a rich history of folk crafts and has always been famous for its folk craftsmen (even if he is Lefty, but he shod a flea :)) Folk crafts and traditions are all very good for the development and personal qualities, and if you’re lucky, it can even become a matter of life . There has always been a demand for handmade items and I am sure there will be a demand, because the soul of the master is invested in these things. I hope there will be people who will really benefit from this program.
A clay bowl costs the same as 5 Luminarc plates. Clay bowls and other baubles are loved mainly by poor hippies. They don't even have money for one Luminark plate. The average unemployed "talent" can only produce clay bowls. All those who, one way or another, can produce high-quality products have already learned this a long time ago at home, and have occupied their niche in production. Moral: retraining secretaries to become potters is a thankless job.
The idea is not bad at all and has stood the test of time. In Germany, for example, craftsmen are willingly supported by the state and the meaning of this support is that a person does not receive unemployment benefits, but EMPLOYMENT. And he no longer spends his evenings in the bar, where he leaves that same unemployment benefit. A craftsman is a creative person, he needs to decide a lot on his own, there is no one to ask, so he no longer spends his energy on destruction, but on creation. Agree, these are different things. As for what artisans produce, Moscow is full of shops selling Chinese lanterns, Thai fans, etc. There is a demand for this all over the world. As with Orenburg down scarves. This is also a craft.
In fact, if you approach the matter without showing off and seriously, you can make a candy out of the topic. Souvenir products are in demand - Moscow, after all. If you make sales points on Arbat and other similar places, you can develop it. But there is a fear that a formal approach may stifle the living. Because no one wants to work with their hands today. Everyone is eager to become managers and economists. But what can you manage if there is no one to work in production?
I think until we have established small businesses, it will be difficult to employ these people further. But it’s high time to make the base!
I think the idea is very good. Because it allows a person who has been engaged in mental work all his life to try himself in a completely different niche, where he can personally observe the results of his work. It is no secret that it is the inability to evaluate one’s contribution to the development of the company that leads to numerous stresses among its employees. On the other hand, these courses will not fundamentally solve the problem of unemployment, because in order to achieve success in the field of crafts, a person will have to make efforts to achieve good quality, study the market, and create demand. That is, the same efforts as when creating any business, not just crafts. And, given the fact that in our country the opportunities to become an employee and do something with your own hands are not so great, another part of the people who understand that they are not able to organize their own business legally will be eliminated. Therefore, if we treat this project as a small one, which is not a panacea even for several thousand (in the conditions of Moscow with a population of millions), then it can well be approved, in my opinion. Because it’s better to try and change something than to sit flat on your butt.
We are slowly and surely moving towards a slave-owning system. There, in a bright future, poor, illiterate Russians will definitely need people who will carve a spoon out of scrap material to slurp up empty cabbage soup. And blacksmiths to use iron shoes to tamp down the shoes that were falling apart. But the Moscow government would be better off completely abolishing quotas for migrants from Central Asia, and sending those who have already settled here home. Although a couple of artisans from among them should be left. But, of course, this is a pipe dream; the 5,000,000 migrants who have come to us over the past 5-6 years will never want to leave and will remain here forever. (Nowhere in the world, even the United States and Mexico, is there such a difference in the income and level of comfort of working migrants as in Russia. On average, a guest worker, so poor and unhappy, as they keep telling us, works 5-6 hours a day with 2 or 3 days off, and at the same time sends money home, which feeds a family of 20-30 people, has a mobile phone and drinks beer in the evening. Mexicans in the states work 12 hours a day) They give birth to children, the Moscow government will help them give birth and go to school and. then....See the beginning of the story.
Such products will not find sales in ordinary cities - only in small tourist places or in places like Lengor or Arbat in Moscow. Or study and move to America or Germany - there manual labor is valued, and everything natural is almost worth its weight in gold. BUT! In our country, cheap Chinese crafts will have value, because the love for foreign goods is still strong. Also, due to cramped living conditions, there is not much space for souvenirs - where should I put this stuff? Surely there won’t be people made of clay bowls until the end of the world... Unless for commodity exchange - you give me a picture for the wall, and I give you a flower pot painted with my own hand? No, such products will not find sales anywhere except the old Arbat, where they sell for foreign tourists... and there the competition is already strong, they will not allow newcomers into the market.