Irada Ayupova: 'Attendance of cultural institutions should increase threefold!'

Attendance should increase threefold

“The main goal of the Culture national project is not to support any major cultural institutions, but to try to reach every citizen of our country," said Minister of Culture of Tatarstan Irada Ayupova at the beginning of her speech. “We managed to reach every citizen of Tatarstan.

The main task of 2021 the speaker called the increase in traffic in cultural institutions. According to her, the approach to traffic indicators has changed significantly.

“Previously, we were to increase attendance by 15% by 2024," said Ayupova. “However, after the adoption of the country's strategic national priorities, the task has become more difficult. Now the attendance is to grow threefold by 2030. These are very ambitious plans.

Ayupova called Tatarstan “a territory with a high base”. According to the minister, the residents of our republic show an active interest in art and culture.

“In 2019, the number of visits to cultural events amounted to more than 57 million people," the speaker said. “So, by 2030, more than 160 million people a year are expected to visit cultural institutions. This is a huge figure.”

By the way, in 2020, 22 million 92 thousand people visited cultural institutions of Tatarstan, which is by 45% higher on average than the level of attendance throughout the country.

A quarter of a billion for art schools

Irada Ayupova said that a total of 279 million rubles were allocated for the implementation of the Culture national project in 2020. At the same time, the amount allocated for the reconstruction of Tatarstan art schools is not taken into account here.

“This is almost 250 million rubles," the minister explained. “Starting from 2021, the reconstruction of additional education institutions will become a separate area of the national project.”

The speaker also noted that 106 million rubles were spent on the purchase of musical instruments for 14 educational institutions of culture.

“There are pianos, guitars, violins, wind instruments, and bayans," the minister clarified.

The head of Tatarstan ministry of culture added that last year 12 rural clubs were constructed and 37 objects were renovated in the framework of the national programmes.

“The overhaul of the Naberezhnye Chelny Puppet Theatre has been completed. Now, we're equipping the stage. We are waiting for the theatre to move to the building that was vacated after the relocation of the drama theatre," Ayupova said.

Big Uen fest in May-June

The minister said that last year three model libraries were opened in the Spassky, Arsky and Vysokogorsky municipal districts.

“Two cinema halls were opened," Ayupova told. “A private one — in the Vysokogorsky district. Municipal one — in the Yutazinsky district.

During the implementation of the regional project Creative People in 2020, 20 amateur creative teams received grant support, 5 festivals of children's creativity were held, and 5 cultural and educational programmes for schoolchildren were developed.

“The republic, for its part, initiated very large projects," the minister said. “In particular, we have launched the large-scale Uen fest festival on 1 August. The first stage of this event finishes on April 30. Already in May-June, we plan to hold a large festival of traditional children's games.”

The speaker said that in 2019-2020, almost 1,100 cultural workers of Tatarstan received professional retraining.

“Now we will retrain 1,101 specialists annually," said Ayupova. “In our country, only 16 centres for advanced training and retraining of specialists in the field of culture have been opened. The Kazan Institute of Culture has become the 16th this year.”

Among other things, according to the minister, professional development on the digital transformation of the cultural sector will be held at the Kazan State University of Culture and Arts (KazSUCA) site. In 2021, 591 specialists from all over the country are scheduled to be trained in this area.

“Five virtual concert halls have been created in the republic within the framework of the Digital Culture project," Ayupova said. “In Arsky, Spassky, Mamadysh, Bavly and Yelabuga municipal districts.”

The minister explained that the work in the direction of digitalisation will continue. At the moment, already 500 books have been digitised, three multimedia guides have been created (for National Museum, State Museum of Fine Arts, and Museum of Islamic Culture of the Kazan Kremlin). It is planned to build three rural clubs.

“What is most important, we are starting the construction of two cultural centres in Yelabuga and Zelenodolsk," said Ayupova. “In total, eight cultural development centres are going to be built across the country. Last year, the design and estimate documentation for these complexes was developed. Out of eight complexes, two will be built in Tatarstan.”