2012-05-25
Cultural Entrepreneurship in Siberia, Russia
KUHNYA has introduced the participants of the course Cultural Entrepreneurship' in Tomsk to several cultural entrepreneurs in Siberia. They offered their know-how to the younger generation with cultural initiatives in Novosibirsk, Kemerovo and Tomsk.
When you enter Tomsk the first thing that strikes you is an enormous billboard right opposite the building of the City Administration on Lenin Prospekt. No political slogans but Tom Waits. It is the street advertising of "Underground" a jazz café, restaurant and music store opened by Oleg Usenko in 2004. This nice piece of informal culture has of course provoked a new name for Tomsk : Tomsk Waitsk. Since inviting jazz musicians to Siberia is too expensive for one private night club, Oleg and his partners arrange Siberian tours of famous jazz bands to Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. They have toured Mark Terner, Igor Bril, Daniel Kramer and Vladimir Chekassin.
Of course the participants meet with Alexey Bushov, the owner of the Traveler's House. Alexey received education as an army officer and a lawyer but started his business career in realty market as a developer of new buildings. As he was fond of photography, he turned his hobby into a profession and became a documentary photographer for magazines and agencies. Now he has invested all his professional, financial and managerial resources into a new 3-floor building The Traveler's House which combines traveling and photography. This space designed in light colors includes a photo school, a tourist agency offering special photo-tours all over the world, an exhibition hall, a photo-studio, a minilab and a coffeeshop.
Another exceptional active person is Andrey Ryumin who started his creative career as one of the student theatre's leaders. He became a trader, a theatre manager and a playwright at the same time and worked in St Petersburg for the Russian rockgroup DDT as a fundraiser. After coming back to Tomsk he established a company Animatronic to produce puppets for business exhibitions, presentations, fairs and advertising campaigns. His puppets can speak and imitate characters such as Salvador Dali, a soviet secretary, accountant, famous politicians, Russian presidents etc. Now he has developed a large network of customers in the Russian regions and most of them come to him twice or more for new puppets.
But there are so many more entrepreneurs around such as Alexey Kazarinov who started out as an artist in Novosibirsk where he opened the first nightclub. It soon became the centre of the bohemian crowd so he started the first art gallery Black Widow, the ethnic music festival Live Water and the private gallery of modern arts No Soap. He has now turned his talent to producing creative events, festivals and business solutions and runs a professional agency with 12 people in Novosibirsk.
In one of the largest regions of Russia the opportunities for cultural entrepreneurs seem endless. And inspiring people and good practices travel far.
Kuhnya is supported by the MATRA programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands
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