"They were offended at the state expense." New principles of art financing

The events around the victim for the “Tanniger” of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater were first perceived as a farce, now - as a drama. Theater figures fear that to protect "traditional values" the Ministry of Culture will introduce financial censorship. Material of the magazine "Kommersant-money".

Taiga.info publishes a note “Theater of Opera and Budget” with significant reductions. The full version can be found on the website of the publication.

Closed season

Last week, the new director of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater Vladimir Kekhman entertained the audience with comments on the criminal case of fraud related to the fruit company JFC. At the end of the week, the fate of the theater again became the central topic. It is closed for repairs - unexpectedly, in the middle of the season.

At the end of last week, Vladimir Kekhman said that he found a general partner who was ready to spend 150 million rubles. For the repair of the hall, opera rehearsal classes and make -up artists, the restoration of the foyer, the reconstruction of the buffet and the dining room for artists. Given that ten years ago the Novosibirsk Theater survived the reconstruction, which cost more than 1.5 billion rubles. Budget money, by the end of the season with a new repair, probably could wait.

The terms of work have not yet been determined, but the May performances in Ngatoib will definitely not take place (the theater team is promised vacation and premium). Among the abolished productions is the opera "Prince Igor" director Timofei Kulyabin. It was his “Tangaiser” who promoted the chain of events, which led to the dismissal of the former director of the theater Boris Mazhrich, who led him since 2011 (and before that-in 2001-2008), and the appointment of the odious “banana king”.

On March 29, after holding a public hearing, the Ministry of Culture announced the resignation of Mezdrich “For failure to fulfill the instructions of the founder”, which, as Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky later said, came down to three main postulates: “First, it is necessary to explain such productions. This is not an experimental scene, but an academic theater. The second - they asked to make reasonable changes to the scenography, in those elements that are considered the most provocative and cause irritation. And the third is to apologize. ” In the same interview, the minister said that some opponents of the production wanted more: “They expressed claims to the Ministry of Culture - why the production was completely funded by the state, demanded that the theater’s budget be removed to the edification of others.”

In an interview with Money magazine, Boris Mezdrich, however, said that from an ideological plane to a financial dispute in a personal conversation with him, the minister himself, who threatened to reduce subsidies to the theater in the next season, in which the state cost Tanniger. The production budget is unknown - this is the object of the financial audit initiated by the Ministry of Finance. Vladimir Medinsky says that the theater could not present the necessary papers and that "the amount floats from 12 to 35 million rubles."

Boris Mezdrich claims that the ministry has all the documents, but refuses to name the amount before officials share their own version. “My departure in this whole story is a trifle,” says the interlocutor of “money”. - I won the courts, received support from a huge number of different people and I am not going to grieve. But we pumped a very serious problem. If a certain circle of people did not like the performance, we are promised to reduce the budgetary part of financing. Financial censorship in its purest form. "

Rosgostar

“If the state spends 30 million rubles on staging a performance, it has the right to find out the assessment of the audience and make a claim to the management if the vast majority of reviews are negative,” said Irina Tarasova, director of the Department of State Support and Folk Creativity of the Ministry of Culture recently. It is this department that distinguishes subsidies to theaters, and, speaking of the establishment of “financial censorship”, Boris Mezdrich means that this approach will become systemic.

Other officials, including from the presidential administration, also made this approach. “The state, which through budget subsidies, through various grants allocates state money for the production of cinematic products, for production in theaters, and so on, has the right to expect correct productions from creative teams,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman of the President.

The budget of most state theaters (and there are practically no private in Russia) by 70% of budget money. Since 2012, federal institutions subordinate to the Ministry of Culture have been transferred to financing through subsidies. The basis for their receipt is the implementation of a state assignment, which includes the production of a certain number of performances (including premiere), the involvement of a certain number of spectators and other parameters to the theater. In 2012, the theaters received about 8 billion rubles. Of the almost 37 billion rubles, intended for "ensuring the activities of federal institutions." The total budget of the Ministry then amounted to about 90 billion rubles. The Ministry of Culture "Money" reported that in 2014 with a total budget of 95 billion rubles. The theaters spent 11.6 billion rubles on subsidies. For this year, 10.6 billion rubles have been allocated so far, but during the year the amount will be increased.

In addition to subsidies for the implementation of state tasks, theaters receive special grants, which, however, can only spend on salaries of creative groups. Last year, about 2.2 billion rubles were allocated by a government decree. The list of the largest recipients of grants includes the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater (164.8 million rubles) and the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg (138.8 million rubles), the previous and new place of work of the current director of Ngatoib Vladimir Kekhman.

Another article is grants, due to which productions or festivals are partially or fully financed. For example, the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater in 2014 received 2 million rubles from the federal budget. The ballet of Prokofiev “Romeo and Juliet” (the total cost of the production is almost 40 million rubles). A similar grant was used in the work on the Tangaiser. Support is more generous. In 2013, the same Ngatoib received 40 million rubles from the budget of the Novosibirsk Region. for the production of the Nutcracker ballet (the total production budget - 65 million rubles).

"The blow was delivered very accurately"

“25 years ago, the country changed, however, the system of relations between the state and culture remained Soviet for a long time,” says Pavel Rudnev, theater critic, assistant to the artistic director of the A.P. Chekhov Moscow Art Theater in special projects. “It was clear that the state of 700 theaters could not be pulled, and some positive changes began in the 2000s. The state tried to escape from subsidized forms to the design, a large number of grants appeared, and theaters, especially provincial ones, “breathed”. But the liberalization of the zero ended, but we did not have time to do the most important thing - the state monopoly for theatrical activity was never destroyed. ”

The favorite argument of the critics of the Tannhazer - they were offended at the state expense. Like, if the production went to the private theater, there would be no complaints. The eviction of the Moscow Theater.doc from the premises, which he occupied for more than ten years, makes him doubt it. However, there are few private theaters similar to the “Theater.doc” or Yekaterinburg “Kolyada Theatra”. Pavel Rudnev complains that in Russia, unlike the United States or Europe, there are no tax or other preferences for philanthropists (only the main scenes, such as Lenkom or Contemporary), are not on the main scenes, that private cultural institutions themselves also do not receive support in the form of cheap rental or reduced utility bills.

The appearance of Vladimir Kekhman in Novosibirsk looks quite symptomatic. Unlike Boris Mezdrich, who is offended when he is called civil servants, Kekhman proceeds from the fact that "this belongs to the state, the state has the right to this and allocates money, and we are primarily obligated to take into account the interests of the state."

Oleg Khokholov, "Kommersant-Money" No. 14 dated 04/13/2015