Director General of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives (PFCI) Roman Karmanov.
The application campaign for the first PFKI grant competition in 2025 has just ended. How active have the new regions been this season? Is their interest in this programme growing?
You are right, on September 10 we finished accepting applications for the new competition. They were accepted since July 25; residents of all regions of Russia formalized and submitted their creative ideas for consideration to the Foundation. A total of 9,322 applications were submitted, 65 of which came from residents of new regions. Another 411 applications are aimed directly or indirectly at working with the audience of the LPR, DPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions; they were submitted by residents of other constituent entities of the Russian Federation. We are pleased with the activity of creative people from new regions and their desire to make life more interesting, develop and create conditions for self-realization both for themselves and their compatriots.
How easy is it to get PFCI support?
PFKI competitions are quite competitive. On average, every 9-10 applicants win. That is why we recommend that teams that are just starting to apply for the first time take training seriously and carefully study all the competition documentation. To this end, the Foundation’s resources include podcasts and video courses; our employees often go on business trips and personally train teams in sociocultural design; we run a separate acceleration program for new regions and organize webinars. The work is ongoing.
Thanks to PFCI, Art School No. 4 in Makeevka received new musical instruments for students for the first time in 20 years.
In 20 regions already, PFKI project office employees help to understand the details of how to fill out an application and answer questions that arise every month, the number of offices is growing every month, and the geography is constantly expanding; our first project office was opened in 2023 in Luhansk, the premises of the Foundation’s representative office in Donetsk are currently being renovated, and we plan to open it in the coming months. It is important that in the new regions there are places where creative teams can turn for advice when preparing a proposal and receive qualified answers.
Which projects are most likely to win the competition? And what projects do you expect from the Donbass and Novorossiya regions?
Here it would be more correct to talk about thematic areas and types of projects that, according to the results of 12 contests, turned out to be the most popular among applicants. The main areas include “Cultural Code”, “Place of Power”, “Young Leaders”, “Multinational People” and “I Am Proud”. The types include educational and mentoring projects, creative industry projects, holding festivals, awards and forums, initiatives in the field of culture and academic art.
Thanks to the PFCI, students of the Melitopol Children’s Art School are perfecting their musical skills with new instruments
The projects submitted from new regions are different. Organizing tours and publishing books, holding festivals and educational projects. There are initiatives in the field of animation, filming videos, movies, holding exhibitions and creating museum exhibits. The applications show that residents are ready to create new spaces, opportunities for growth and creative potential, and to participate in educational activities. We are ready to help, for this the creative teams must go through the process of training in sociocultural design and submit a good application. We are going through this stage together and seeing positive dynamics.
How many projects have been supported in new regions since 2022?
Let’s expand the question and talk about projects supported from and for new regions. According to the results of 12 competitions, we have 732 such projects for a total amount of 5.3 billion rubles. If we talk about creative initiatives submitted directly by residents of new regions, 50 of them received support for a total amount of more than 144 million rubles. In addition, another 99.2 million rubles were declared as co-financing for the authors of partner projects. Creative teams from the DPR were most actively involved in work with grants, 30 of their projects received support (107.9 million rubles), in second place is the LPR, 9 projects are being implemented there (22.9 million rubles), followed by Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, 8 and 3 projects, respectively, creative teams attracted 10.5 and 2.7 million rubles to these regions.
Thanks to the PFKI, the Republican Sambo Federation acquired new equipment for its athletes
What support does PFKI provide to cultural and sports institutions in new regions? What plans does the Foundation have in this area for the near future?
Last year, the Foundation, together with its partners, implemented a charitable program to support cultural and sports institutions in new regions. 2,118 institutions received support for a total amount of 2.5 billion rubles. Assistance was provided based on requests from the heads of the institutions; they submitted applications through a specially created information system, describing their priority needs that needed to be addressed promptly.
Lighting and sound equipment, transport were purchased, stages and halls were restored, roofs of buildings were repaired, classrooms for creative groups were purchased, new office equipment and furniture, museum equipment and special software, decorations, sports equipment were purchased. Inventories and equipment were supplied. There were many requests for the purchase of musical instruments and equipping of libraries. Sports fields were installed. Many cultural and sports institutions did not receive new equipment, did not see renovations for 30 or 50 years, sports teams received their own transport for the first time, and creative groups received costumes for their performances.
Thus, in the DPR we received applications from 956 institutions, assistance amounting to 739.7 million rubles was provided, in the DPR 625 institutions received support amounting to 898.6 million rubles, in the Zaporozhye region we provided assistance to 338 institutions, 436.2 million rubles were allocated, and 199 institutions from the Kherson region contacted us, support amounted to 229.5 million rubles. All this contributed to meeting priority needs in the shortest possible time and restarting the work of cultural centers, libraries, museums, art schools and sports sections. New points of attraction for residents have emerged in the regions. In general, the work has revitalized the cultural life of all four regions, and we have received a lot of positive feedback on the program and gratitude for it. This year the work continues. We will definitely inform you when the first deliveries begin.
You communicate a lot with cultural figures, including from new regions. Tell us about the most striking and memorable projects in Donbass and Novorossiya, which were implemented thanks to the support of PFKI.
All projects supported by PFKI are brilliant and, first of all, are needed by residents and professional communities, in this case, by new regions. With the support of a grant, the anniversary tour of the Donetsk Academic Symphony Orchestra named after SS Prokofiev #ORCHESTRA OF THE UNFRONDERED took place. The musicians gathered in full capacity in Saransk, Almetyevsk, Naberezhnye Chelny, Izhevsk, Votkinsk, Perm, Kirov, Kostroma, Vologda, Tula, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Mariupol.
Thanks to PFKI, the Kherson Aviation Technical Club had its own team transport for the first time
Last year, the grand festival “The Heart of Donbass” was held in Luhansk. I think it was no coincidence that the authors called it the festival of the revival of the native land. The project “The Amazing Adventures of Kolya Arbuzov” won in Kherson – the idea for it arose during his studies in Taurida. The team is creating a mascot for the region based on a short story contest among Kherson schoolchildren, and the best short stories will be included in the book. The winning projects were “The Connoisseur of Russian Donbass”, the Centenary of the History of Mosfilm and the youth music festival “Music of Pure Water”. Thanks to the grant, the first youth league of KVN “Donbassochka” is being created, Anna Revyakina’s theatrical production “The Miner’s Daughter” is being received with applause, a festival-contest of the author’s song “I Sing to You, Father” is being held. A large permanent exhibition of the Luhansk Local History Museum “The Formation of the State of the Luhansk People’s Republic” has already been opened.
It is worth mentioning the projects that were created for the residents of 4 regions. For example, the grand festival “Rock for Mariupol” was held, and the premiere of the patriotic dramatic opera “Le prince André” took place in Donetsk. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky” based on Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. It was handed over to the MDT named after him. MM. Brovuna. And the troupe of the Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after him. A.B. Solovyanenko staged the premiere of the ballet “War and Peace” on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre; last year it was held within the framework of the grand festival “Seeing Music”, also supported by the PFCI. Many films have been made about Donbass, some of them have been widely disseminated, the group “123” is on tour, it was formed from servicemen who served in Donbass, the publication of books was supported, music competitions and accelerators were held. held for talented youth.
