How does your project develop, do you continue running your project which you presented at Culture Online award in 2021?

Above all, it gives us new cases and results. In 2022, we extended the grant program for another year and increased the total grant budget. During 2023, we plan to invest 15 million rubles of the advertising budget in cultural institutions and their projects. Moreover, we unite winners in a community, creating an environment for sharing experiences. We continue to interact with them: tell about them in the official social media community and highlight their cases at conferences, we unite winners in a community and invite them to participate in platform projects, such as “Night of Museums” or “Theatre Day”.

Tell us about your new projects?

In spring we held a large-scale “Night of Museums” event. It won the international Culture Online award in the “Best Online Project” category. We managed to gather over a hundred participants on the platform from all over Russia, even a participant from Tajikistan was on the list of our active museums. In the summer we launched a large-scale and unique project —a sticker pack for the anniversary of Peter the Great, where users donate for the restoration of Peter’s costume. Now the set of stickers is available for purchase to VKontakte users. All proceeds will be directed to restoration of the emperor’s historic caftan kept in the State Hermitage Museum.

In the autumn, we arranged a real festival of beauty and art for VKontakte users, timed to coincide with the International Ballet Day. We showed broadcasts from the country’s leading institutions, launched a quiz in Stories and sitposting with a playlist of the best classical music, and made a special section in VK Clips.

Another important project is our profile conference VK for Arts, which will take place in a larger format this year. We will unite our partners on one stage to exchange experiences and get acquainted with new cases of the platform. Last year the conference was opened by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky at the Hermitage main headquarters, and closed by the composer Viktor Osadchev.

And I listed only the major projects. Every day VKontakte launches hundreds of broadcasts, festivals, profile forums, educational lectures; we help organize live broadcasts from theatre premieres and dress rehearsals, exclusive excursions, and work on creation and promotion of other stunning content.

 

What advice would you give to novices in creating new art projects on the web? What platforms are better to start with?

I suggest that you take advantage of the knowledge of marketing. First of all, you need to identify the target audience of the project, understand its needs, conduct research on what exactly this audience is missing in the field of your product.

And only then, choose a platform where your target audience dwells, and offer a unique solution. It will be on VK for sure. Plus keep in mind that the platform actively helps cultural projects grow —a great base to start from.

Don’t be afraid, act. Make a plan for creating the product and attracting an audience. Plan funding opportunities for the project, make sure of the support of partners. You cannot avoid challenges, but if you work as a team of professionals and like-minded people, with knowledge and tools in your hands, then everything will work out.

 

In your opinion, which areas of art in digital industry are most relevant today? Mobile apps, VR technology, or something else?

Everything that interacts with people is relevant; any digital format environment. Art is there to affect our souls, if we believe the classics and our own feelings. I am convinced that any form of art is capable of affecting us, and the format is secondary. Still, the websites and mobile apps are leaders in terms of speed and can communicate the aesthetic content to the user with a minimum of barriers.

 

How today’s young professionals can find inspiration and education in the field of art?

I recommend enhancing your visual erudition, visiting source countries, museums around the world, and connecting with original works. You can also work out a plan to immerse yourself in the world of professional conferences, attend VK for Arts every year to keep your finger on the pulse of the digital world, look for those lecturers and authors who shorten rather than lengthen the path to knowledge, especially the classic one —it’s where it all begins. Of institutions, Garage has always had and hopefully will continue to have excellent programs. GES-2 is setting completely new standards; I highly recommend studying the projects of the Moscow Philharmonic, the Shchusev Museum of Architecture, and the Museum of Russian Impressionism —the teams are burning with ideas.

 

How do you feel about NFT and crypto art? What do you think about the development of this kind of art?

I believe that the web is our future reality. Just as we once witnessed the construction of social media, now another new market is emerging. For now, NFT meets most of the artist’s basic needs —monetization and copyright. This is how the author earns a decent living and, most importantly, leaves his or her digital footprint in the endless web of the Internet. I admire the TON Diamonds team and their collaborations with artists.