In Russia: studying production and producing performing arts

30.7.2020 1 Like 0 kommenttia

Lisa Bomash caught up with Artem Titanian, theatre producer from Saint-Petersburg, Russia and a 4th-year Arts Management department student at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (formerly Saint-Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy). Artem discussed his views on the state of the performing arts field in Russia, the scope of the curriculum, and shared his plans for the future.

Key words: Russia, cultural policy, theatre, studying production, touring in Russia

LB: How has the education of producers evolved in the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts?

AT: Our faculty originated in the late 60s as an experimental unit of the Department of the Theatre Studies. We owe this to two people, Anatoly Yufit and Boris Sorochkin, who were fuelled by scientific passion and a thirst for the development of professional theatre management. They met in May 1967 at the symposium on expanding the boundaries of theatre studies and in less than three months created a laboratory of economics and theatre management. Work started in full swing straight from the beginning: they developed a completely new curriculum, alongside undertaking research work that had been commissioned by the Ministry of Culture. With a little help from (and also contrary to) Soviet bureaucracy, the first student enrollment was held in September 1968. Since then, the faculty has changed its name and the name of the graduate qualification so many times, I think even the oldest professors can’t name the right order without a cheat sheet.

Since 2016 graduates receive a degree of «Producer of performing arts». The programme consists of general humanitarian and socio-economic subjects. The curriculum is being updated frequently. Each student must complete an internship placement every year in one of the theatres or concert organisations in Russia or abroad.

I heard that next year another change is planned. The faculty professors will be recruiting students for their own courses, similarly to how the acting and directing study groups are formed at the moment. I don’t know if this will enhance the level of training, but I know for sure that a constant striving to create the optimal learning environment has been the foundation of our department since its inception. I met Anatoly Yufit only on the pages of his works, but it seems to me that he can be proud of the desire for improvement inherent in his students – our teachers.

LB: What was the most useful thing that you have learned at the Institute?

AT: The bureaucracy and nepotism of the cultural field! (laughs) Well, it is off-putting but true and it leads to the impossibility of long-term planning. I worked in a production department in a big state-run theatre. Long-term planning was part of our team’s job, but it was a bit of a joke. Often, we had only 3-4 months’ notice to arrange the production. The lack of planning stems from a bigger problem – the cultural policy itself and legislation that regulates the field, including how finances are distributed at the highest level. It makes international co-production much harder to pull off because you have to start the procedures and get budgets approved in advance. So, the key lesson learned is the awareness of how the system works and how to navigate in it.

LB: Do you think the curriculum is missing anything?

AT: Everything that’s related to digital literacy. We only recently have got a new professor who’s quite young and works as a web designer for several theatres and festivals. He showed us how to make websites but before that, it was like working an Excel 101 or something like that. Project managing software, setting up ads, editing set and lighting plans, we didn’t touch that at all before.

The foreign language courses are quite bland. I was lucky to have a good German teacher at the Institute, but it was once or twice a week and far from systematic. Also, we don’t really cover international contracts and other legal issues of co-production.

Another problem might be the lack of the most practical information: average fees of production teams, costs of production of the set and other information that you need to calculate your estimates. Of course, you can learn it yourself, as I did in my first couple of months at the Mariinsky Theatre – by the way, wigs are really expensive. A good wig can cost around 30,000 Rubbles (~350 Euro).  

LB: What are the common career options for the graduates?

AT: One can work in the theatre as a manager or administrator, there are all sorts of jobs in the cultural field such as museum work or film studios etc. It’s the third time I am trying to complete the studies, and I know that most of my former classmates stayed in the industry. Some are working in administrative roles in the state-run theatres, some of them working as independent theatre producers, some have shifted to the music industry and became agents. By the way, music agent is a very undeveloped profession in Russia. One of my classmates is managing a choir, organising concerts and tours. Another one works with a punk rock band, angry music and all. Our specialty is quite flexible.

LB: How do you see the challenges that the cultural field faces right now both in Russia and internationally?

AT: Russian foreign policy is not the strongest foundation to build international connections on. When I think of how many Russian theatre directors are actively working in Europe now, I can recall maybe one and a half opera directors and Kirill Serebrennikov who has released his recent premieres while being under home arrest. I guess that’s why we’re not really welcome, at least the number of productions made by Russian directors abroad indicates that. On the other hand, there is still a demand for our ballet dancers and to a lesser extent for opera singers. 

In Russia itself, there is nearly total government control over the theatre field. Public unions are weak and have no real authority over the process. We have Theatre Union, that comes up with concepts and plans, but it’s mostly advisory. Same on the federal, regional, and municipal levels. I don’t think it will change soon. The theatre is still looked at as a provisional public service in Russia. If that’s how the government looks at it then there is no wonder that we are getting a public service theatre. Another serious concern is freedom of speech. Maybe. (laughs)

Also, when we speak about Russia it seems like we have an uncountable amount of theatre venues and concert halls but actually, that’s not correct. For example, across the entire country, there’s like 25-30 opera and ballet theatres in the bigger cities, 6 opera theatres and some 20 musical theatres. That’s not much at all when you consider the size of the population.

Affordability of the theatre is another issue. There are not many people who can afford to go to the theatre regularly.

I think funding must be a big problem overseas. The competition is much higher and the accountability is much more serious in comparison to what is required here. We are not taught much about other countries’ cultural policies and the way the cultural field operates elsewhere, so this is only my assumption. 

LB: What are your plans after graduation? What are you working on, what projects?

AT: Now I am working on a documentary project on deportation of Balkars in the 1940s. During the Stalin era, Balkar people have been among other displaced minorities. After 13 years of hard labour in terrible conditions they were rehabilitated and given permission to go back home, but their homes and land were often not theirs anymore, which led to further conflicts. I am very interested in how the culture of the uprooted nation is preserved and changed and think a lot about people who have been ripped apart, tortured by the 20th century. So, you see why I am not so enthusiastic about our government.

LB: Do you have advice on how to find a cultural partner in Russia if you don’t speak the Russian language? For example, if you’d like to tour a band.

AT: If you are a Finnish band manager, approach big music clubs. Most of them would have e-mail addresses of art directors publicly available. As the partnership develops, they can help with further touring. Most people who can help are already working internationally. My friends who are working with Jamaican music bring artists to Russia and organise tours for them in Russia as well. And everyone knows that they are go-to people for this genre. Another idea is to talk to the tour managers of Russian bands touring overseas. They generally have strong music industry connections in Russia.

LB: Any other questions I should have asked you?

AT: There must be something good in the theatrical environment of Russia, otherwise why hasn’t it collapsed yet? Well, in spite of closed archives, the documentary theatre develops, social theatre blooms contrary to the encroachments on freedom of speech and personal freedom. Private theatres will survive without the insultingly low support of the state. Injustice is eternal, but so is the theatre.