What is happening now in the worst-hit by the pandemic sectors of the creative industries? What should be the priorities of state support for the industry? Which parts of it have the greatest potential for development today, and which ones have potential in the future? The main topic of the expert discussion “The future of the creative industries in Russia", which took place on the first day of the Gaidar Forum - 2021, was the discussion of measures necessary to restore the industry in the post-COVID period.
The discussion was attended by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects Sergey Novikov, Chairman of the Managerial Board of the Animation Studio Soyuzmultfilm, Director General of the Gorky Film Studio, Chairman of the Managerial Board of the Animated Film Association Yuliana Slashcheva, General Producer of Yellow, Black and White studio, co-founder of the START video service Eduard Iloyan; Russian film director, Director General of the Creative and Production Association Rock Films Alexey Uchitel and the founder of the Center for Contemporary Art Winzavod Sofia Trotsenko.
The volume of the world market for creative industries, according to UNESCO, is 3% of world GDP. In Russia, growth in this field has reached 10% annually over the past two years. However, this industry was among the worst-hit by the pandemic. New types of activity are formed at the intersection of creative services, digital services and high-tech products. Moscow and St. Petersburg successfully compete with the leading creative capitals of the world, such as London, New York, generating 9.5% and 7% of GRP, respectively (the share of London creative industry is 11.1%, New York creative industry is 13%). However, on a national scale, the share of creative industries in the economy remains small, primarily because of the non-obvious scope of the industry itself, where film and design, music and IT, animation and folk crafts are intertwined.
Practically all segments of the industry were hit during the pandemic, and the state came to their aid. “All the shortfall in revenue for Russian museums, Russian theaters, and as you understand, this, in one way or another, is related to the creative industries, Russian creative teams, orchestras, choirs, and further, if we move on to animation and film, has been compensated,” said the Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova. She also said that the allocated funds were not sequestered, “which strongly supported our workers of culture." More than 4.2 billion rubles were allocated, which prevented the industry from dying.
Sergey Novikov, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects, commented on this significant amount, “When there was a need for support measures from the state in the industry, it was clear that the Ministry of Culture helps institutions that are subordinate, which are united, such as film people. At the end of the year, we managed to convince them to support both cinemas and independent filmmakers. They found themselves in a very difficult situation.” This is precisely why an interdepartmental working group on creative industries was recently created. “We are now holding our working meetings in each area in order to propose solutions to this large working group, which is headed by the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko,” Novikov said.
The Minister of Culture also noted that “from this year, by the decision of the President, new grants will be created, and this, of course, is also a great joy. Because the best hundred teachers of children's art schools will receive five hundred thousand rubles each already this year. And the best fifty teachers of children's colleges and universities will receive a million rubles each, by analogy with the Teacher of the Year competition.
Now the Ministry of Culture is preparing a concept for the development of creative industries, the first version of which appeared in late 2020, and there will still be a lot of work on this document, including with representatives of the industry. Expectations of the industry representatives were expressed by Yuliana Slashcheva, Chairman of the Managerial Board of the Animation Studio Soyuzmultfilm, Director General of the Gorky Film Studio, Chairman of the Managerial Board of the Animated Film Association, “This concept will form the basis of the bill to be adopted in 2022. And we hope that this will put an end to the many discussions on the identification of what does and does not belong to the creative industries.”
Photographer: Mikhail Tereshchenko / TASS
The Gaidar Forum “Russia and the World After the Pandemic” will be held on January 14 and 15 at the Presidential Academy. The Forum will traditionally open the annual business agenda of Russia. In 2021, this large-scale event will be held in a hybrid format, both online and offline.
This time, the main discussion track will be social and economic transformations that have occurred in the country and the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The expert discussions will be focused on the national and global development goals and the search for practical solutions to the most urgent challenges of today. The Forum’s participants include ministers from the Russian Government, members of the Federal Assembly, governors of the Russian regions, largest world experts, representatives of foreign states.
The general partners of the Gaidar Forum are Gazprom PJSC and Gazprombank JSC.
The strategic partners are Russian Railways OJSC, Johnson&Johnson, ACIG Group, Novartis.
The partner of the forum is MasterCard, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)
The discussion partners are Magnit, Pepsi, Huawei, Coca-Cola, AstraZeneca, Takeda, EY.
General media partners: TASS, Business FM, RIA Novosti, RBC. Strategic media partners: Interfax, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Kommersant Publishing House, RIA FederalPress, Invest-Foresight magazine. Main media partners: Anews, News.ru, lenta.ru. International media partners: Russia Today.
Media partners: PRO Business TV channel, AEI PRIME, Polit.ru, Strategy magazine, Public Administration magazine, Ekonomika i Zhizn newspaper, Econs portal, Finam, Bankovskoye Obozreniye magazine, Parlamentskaya Gazeta, Snob media project, Echo of Moscow radio station, Nauchno-Obrazovatelnaya Politika Telegram channel.
