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Interesting Russian initiative to promote ballet and other cultural activities to youth

Yaffa
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Yaffa

Yaffa

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From: 

https://en.krasopera.ru/news/the-project-of-the-ministry-of-culture-of-russia-pushkinskaya-karta-the-pushkin-card-was-launched-on-september-1.htm

....Starting from September 1, Russian citizens aged 14 to 22 will be able to receive a Pushkin card; its balance will be 3,000 roubles. This money can be spent until the end of the year and only in cultural institutions: museums, theatres, philharmonic societies, galleries, and other venues....

 

Has anything like that been tried in England? 


 

 

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Yaffa

Yaffa

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On 12/09/2021 at 02:46, alison said:

And presumably the balance is more notional than anything, so if the money's not actually used nobody loses out?

Yes, I believe that funding for the project comes from the federal budget, and it is basically a matter of major and smaller cultural institutions benefiting when a young person decides to attend their event. Nice to see that it operates throughout the country, not just in the main cities, and with all young people getting the same amount of credit which is refreshed every year (i.e. no money is carried over - so the young people must use it or lose it). And as the card is personalised, there can supposedly be no black market trading. It will be interesting to see how it works in practice -  but in theory, it seems a great way to help the arts recuperate some of their recent inevitable losses, with young people of all backgrounds and income levels in the driver's seat, maybe even helping to shape what is offered to them. It would be nice to see something on  similar lines in England...
 

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Peony

Peony

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I wonder why it’s from 14, perhaps younger children are free anyway though. 

I think it’s a great idea. I think there are barriers other than cost in the UK, perhaps that is different elsewhere. I’ve been to various subsidised/ free access type events and I wouldn’t say there’s a very representative demographic attending. 
3000 roubles is about £30 I wonder how many entries/ tickets that would be? 

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Guest oncnp

Guest oncnp

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28 minutes ago, Peony said:

I wonder why it’s from 14, perhaps younger children are free anyway though. 

I think it’s a great idea. I think there are barriers other than cost in the UK, perhaps that is different elsewhere. I’ve been to various subsidised/ free access type events and I wouldn’t say there’s a very representative demographic attending. 
3000 roubles is about £30 I wonder how many entries/ tickets that would be? 

 

I wondered about that as well and it doesn't look like it would get one far at the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky. A little further afield, if you happen to be in "The Gateway to Siberia" (Chelyabinsk) in October and want to see Swan Lake 2,000 RUB will get you a very good seat and the least expensive is 400.

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Yaffa

Yaffa

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15 hours ago, Peony said:

I wonder why it’s from 14, perhaps younger children are free anyway though. 

I think it’s a great idea. I think there are barriers other than cost in the UK, perhaps that is different elsewhere. I’ve been to various subsidised/ free access type events and I wouldn’t say there’s a very representative demographic attending. 
3000 roubles is about £30 I wonder how many entries/ tickets that would be? 

I read that the 3,000 rubles is just until the end of this year to kick off the programme, and that for 2022, the amount will be 5,000 rubles. Still, it's indeed not much in the major cities, but perhaps will have a bigger impact in the outlying/rural areas.    

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Quintus

Quintus

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I read about a comparable scheme in France that Macron launched earlier this year - can't remember the precise details but again something like 300 euros each was to be made available to 18 year olds to be spent on various loosely culture-related things, including films, books and music. It did also include being able to spend the money to purchase musical instruments, which I thought might prompt a rash of 300 euro violins being converted on eBay into ready cash!

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Yaffa

Yaffa

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On 14/09/2021 at 19:30, Quintus said:

I read about a comparable scheme in France that Macron launched earlier this year - can't remember the precise details but again something like 300 euros each was to be made available to 18 year olds to be spent on various loosely culture-related things, including films, books and music. It did also include being able to spend the money to purchase musical instruments, which I thought might prompt a rash of 300 euro violins being converted on eBay into ready cash!

Thanks Quintus. It will be particularly interesting to see whether/how ballet and ballet classes (apparently included in the French scheme) benefit from the French card. According to an interesting New York Times article at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/arts/france-culture-pass.html, 75% of purchases in France are on manga (a type of Japanese comic which was already popular in France). The French pass apparently allows 100 of the 300 euro (over 2 years) to go on streaming services, music subscriptions etc. which must be from French companies. And for video games, " the game’s publisher must be French, and the game must not feature violence — conditions so restrictive that most popular titles are unavailable."  Apparently the card was included in pre-election promises and there are critics who say it is a waste of taxpayers' money...

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Peony

Peony

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Well here in the UK we subsidised people to buy fast food so manga books is a step up from that! Whilst not my thing they are quite beautifully drawn and I would class them as ‘art’. 
I think the idea of these cards should really be to get people to spend money on things that they wouldn’t usually though. Uk government don’t like investing in young people or the arts so I don’t expect to see anything similar here!

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alison

alison

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When I was living in France, there was a major exhibition on about the "bande dessinée" (think Astérix, Tintin et al) which made me realise what a major part of French culture it was.  I do hope it hasn't totally been replaced in the French public's affections by manga in the intervening years.

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