Colossal growth and new Russian Seasons: Culture Day at the RUSSIA EXPO

Over 20 years, movie theater box office have increased almost sixfold, to 40 billion rubles. The number of cinemas has grown more than 12 times. The network of museums has increased 1.5 times. The number of visitors to expositions has doubled: up to 148 million people. Such data was presented by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova on the Day of Culture at the RUSSIA EXPO. The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova.

At the plenary session "Culture: Investments in the Future", the Minister noted that the consolidated budget expenditures to support culture are increasing year by year.

"Last year the International Forum of United Cultures took place, where President Vladimir Putin noted that over the past decade the state's expenditures on culture have increased more than 20 times," Olga Lyubimova said.

She emphasized that this dynamic reflects the attitude of the President and the Government of Russia to the issues of state cultural policy. And the consequence of this are achievements and successes in the field of culture. Further, the head of the department elaborated on the main ones.

"Just for the last 4 years we have provided turnkey restoration of more than 150 objects of cultural heritage, created the International Restoration Center, which is the largest in Europe. The complex restoration of the Ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent, which this year celebrates its 500th anniversary, continues," said the head of the department.

Next, the Minister spoke about achievements in the museum sphere.

"Since 2000, the network of Russian museums has increased 1.5 times (from 1964 museums to 3036). And the number of expositions over the last 20 years in Russian museums has increased 3 times: from 25.55 thousand to 79.1 thousand, the number of visitors has doubled: from 73 to 148 million people. As for the preservation of exhibits - another important task - I would like to say that since 2012, more than 600 thousand museum objects have been restored across the country," Olga Lyubimova noted.

Photo: Alexey Nikolsky/Fotohost-RIA News agency

At the same time, according to her, one of the important tasks in the museum sphere is the registration of museum objects in the State Catalog of the Museum Fund of Russia. And today more than 45 million museum objects are registered in this information system (about 64% of the total volume of the Museum Fund of the country). The Minister specifically singled out the museums of the Belgorod region - despite the difficult situation, they became the first region in Russia, in which all museums registered all the items included in the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation in the State Catalog.

Olga Lyubimova also dwelled on the achievements of the film industry. The Ministry of Culture on its part is doing everything to increase the number of both domestic films released in theaters and the cinemas themselves, she emphasized.

"More and more active work is going on to support domestic film production. We have a lot of talented, promising authors with great ideas in our country, and we are glad that they know they can count on us and colleagues from the Cinema Fund. From 2019 to 2023, the Ministry of Culture supported 1,759 projects, and the Cinema Fund supported another 138," said Olga Lyubimova.

As the Minister noted, a total of 403 national films created with the support of the Ministry of Culture and 242 pictures with the support of the Cinema Fund were released from 2015 to 2023. The attendance of national films from 2002 to 2023 increased from 2.5 to 91.3 million people.

Over 20 years, movie theater box office has increased from 6.98 billion rubles in 2004 to 40 billion rubles in 2023. In addition, the number of cinemas in the country has increased more than 12 times in the past 20 years (to 2,284 in 2023), and the number of cinema halls has increased more than 20 times.

"So, despite the departure of Hollywood companies from the Russian film market, our viewers have things to watch, and there is a place to do it - the attendance of cinemas has increased from 41 million people in 2002 to 126 million in 2023," the minister said.

In addition, the head of the department spoke about the achievements of the national project "Culture".

"Fundamentally new opportunities for our work across the country were opened by the national project "Culture" initiated in 2019 by the President. We can address the needs of regions in the modernization of cultural facilities. This is, above all, support for villages and small towns, the creation of the necessary infrastructure and fundamentally new opportunities for creative fulfillment and leisure even in the most remote corners of the country. I thank all the teams of regional heads for their active involvement in this work. As a result, today, when the final, sixth year of the National Project is underway, we have much to be proud of," emphasized Olga Lyubimova.

The national project "Culture" came to more than 4 thousand cities, towns, villages and settlements in all subjects of the Russian Federation, and changed their lives. More than 2,300 infrastructure facilities have been modernized across the country, and more than 4 thousand more have been provided with equipment, including overhauled and reconstructed houses of culture, regional and municipal museums and theaters, children's art schools, local history museums provided with modern equipment, libraries, cinema halls, art schools and colleges, virtual concert halls. In just 5 years, more than 50 thousand instruments have been supplied to more than 1600 children's art schools and colleges, more than 1000 libraries have been modernized, more than 4 million books have been purchased for them, 410 thousand - for libraries of new regions.

The minister also touched upon the support of new regions. Institutions of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions are supported by the national project "Culture" - all 77 regional and municipal museums have been supplied with modern equipment, 12 libraries have been modernized, more than 60 children's art schools have been equipped, cultural and educational trips for 10 thousand schoolchildren have been organized. Work is currently underway to supply 4 theaters in the LPR and DPR with modern equipment. In addition, federal cultural institutions support their colleagues.

Next, Olga Lyubimova recalled about the revival of a unified touring and concert plan in 2021 after a thirty-year break.

"For three years, the artists visited all 89 regions of Russia and 11 foreign countries. About 6 thousand shows of performances and concerts took place - they were watched by almost 2 million spectators," said the head of the Ministry of Culture.

Separately, the minister noted the project, which was created specifically for children - "Culture for Schoolchildren", within the framework of which hundreds of children from all regions of the country take part in cultural and educational events, masterclasses and creative meetings with leading figures of culture and art. Schoolchildren study the culture of the peoples of Russia, the heritage of Russian writers and poets, learn about the role of art in wartime, get acquainted with unique video excursions from leading museums.

"In 2023, we successfully held our large campaigns, in which more than 300 thousand schoolchildren took part," said Olga Lyubimova.

The minister also spoke about plans for the current year.

"In 2024, the Ministry of Culture plans to carry out a number of large-scale international projects. The good tradition of holding bilateral thematic Years with foreign countries continues. By decision of President Vladimir Putin, we are looking forward to the Year of Culture of Russia - China in 2024-202 and the Year of cultural exchanges and tourism Russia - Thailand 2024," said the head of the Ministry of Culture.

And the annual international project "Russian Seasons", which in 2023 was carried out in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with great success, in the new year "will visit" Latin America for the first time - it will be held in Brazil, she added.

Also at the session, the Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Lilia Gumerova delivered a speech.

Photo: Alexey Nikolsky/Fotohost-RIA News agency

"Among the legislative initiatives I will note the long-awaited law "On the Intangible Ethno-cultural Heritage of the Russian Federation", which became one of the main results of the Year of Cultural Heritage of Russia. The country has been waiting for it for almost 15 years, and we, together with experts, united in a single team, drafted it. In order for the law to work in full force it is necessary to adopt a concept for the preservation and development of intangible ethno-cultural heritage. This document is very much awaited in the regions, there are relevant instructions from the Government, and we hope that the concept will soon be approved. Another area of our work is related to the development of folk arts and crafts. And I am pleased to note that with the direct participation of the Federation Council, Russia has a holiday - the Day of Folk Art Crafts, which was established by Presidential decree," said Lilia Gumerova.