The “cultural scandal” flaring up in Krasnoyarsk went far beyond the merger of two institutions – the Pravoberezhny Palace of Culture and the Sverdlovsky Palace of Culture, which was opposed by the parents of children who are engaged in various circles and studios of Pravoberezhny.
Rejection was caused by the fact that Ivan Gnidenko, director of the Sverdlovsky Palace of Culture, was supposed to head the future association, who, as it turned out, managed to win not the best reputation in his field, turning the center of culture he headed into a commercial facility. In the premises of the Palace of Culture, there is a brisk trade in everything: from fur coats to food additives, the foyer and the auditorium are rented out for corporate parties and receptions. Children who study in circles and studios are allowed to enter the “temple of arts” only from the back door – so that, God forbid, they are not “trampled” in the front door. By the way, the cost of classes in circles here is the highest in the city – and parents whose children study at Pravoberezhny rightly believe that after the merger, circles and sections will become an inaccessible luxury for many of them.
Commerce in the “temple of the arts”
The current situation forced the townspeople to draw up a petition, which has already been signed by more than three thousand people.
The signatories directly call the situation a “raider seizure” of the center of culture, which will eventually turn into another commercial point:
“In the most difficult time for the country, when culture remains the only hope for a bright future, when the history and culture of our great country are mercilessly trampled on by external enemies, how long will you ignore such actions from internal enemies? Now there is no optimization, but a real raider seizure of the territory. If you think that the process will be stopped by the merging of the two palaces, you are wrong! This person plans to crush everything that “lies badly” under himself. The next in line are the May 1 Palace of Culture and the Kirovsky Palace of Culture. You are proud of the modern advanced society, but you allow racketeering and lawlessness to flourish in the most vulnerable place – in institutions where they form the spiritual component of the consciousness of future and current generations!
Realizing that the situation was getting out of control, representatives of the Krasnoyarsk mayor’s office and the city department of culture tried to explain themselves to the townspeople by inviting them to a conversation in the Pravoberezhny Palace of Culture. But it only got worse.
“Refundable” premiums
During the meeting, it turned out that the trade in the “temple of art”, organized by the director of the Sverdlovsky Palace of Culture, Ivan Dmitrievich Gnidenko, is just the “tip of the iceberg”.
Vladimir Budilin, a former employee of the Palace of Culture, publicly announced that the institution had imposed requisitions from the employees of the Palace of Culture. The scheme, according to him, looked like this: they were given bonuses, and then the directorate took this money from people, allegedly to buy musical instruments, an LED screen and other equipment. According to Budilin, he was forced to “cash out” about 200,000 rubles in this way, and he was far from the only DK employee used in this “scheme”.
But the representatives of the mayor’s office, who were present at the meeting, did not arouse enthusiasm for the proposal – they preferred to ignore these words.
Gnidenko himself did not react in any way to these accusations, who in his speech stressed that he had made a “shopping and entertainment center” out of the recreation center.
There was no answer at the meeting and the question of parents about prices. In the Sverdlovsk Palace of Culture, the average price tag for a child to visit a circle is 3,000 rubles. In “Pravoberezhny” – half as much, 1500 rubles.
Neither the head of the city department of culture, Lyubov Sakharova, who was present at the meeting, nor Gnidenko himself, dispelled the worries of parents, who fear that now for many their children’s classes in recreation centers will become an inaccessible luxury, did not dispel.
Those gathered in the Palace of Culture (about 200 people) unanimously voted against the merger of the two cultural institutions, after which the deputy head of the city, Denis Antonov, told the people that “their opinion will be heard.”
But, as it turned out, the officials “heard” only themselves. Literally an hour after the deafening fiasco in Pravoberezhny, the head of the Krasnoyarsk Department of Culture, Lyubov Alexandrovna Sakharova, stated on her page on VKontakte that the merger of the two recreation centers had been resolved. True, a day later, having received a bunch of negative feedback from subscribers, the official decided to delete the post. The only reminder of him was a blissful note in the newspaper “City News”, the founder of which is the city administration.
To please a dear little man
Nevertheless, the current situation became the subject of discussion in the City Council. “There are no logical, economically justified reasons for merging these institutions. There is another very serious reason for the negative reaction to this “managerial” decision: the appointment of Mr. Gnidenko to this position, which is extremely negatively perceived by the public and the workers of the Pravoberezhny recreation center,” said Roman Krastelev, a deputy of the Krasnoyarsk City Council.
According to the people’s choice, the leadership of the House of Culture has repeatedly concluded contracts for the provision of cleaning services and maintenance of the wardrobe with the individual entrepreneur Irina Ivanovna Nikolaeva, who, according to the deputy, is the daughter of the director of the House of Culture “Sverdlovsky”. In addition, until recently, he rented, and then bought the LED screen from his son-in-law Gnidenko. On the territory of the recreation center “Sverdlovsky” at the expense of non-budgetary funds (according to Gnidenko), a building used for trade was erected, which does not correspond to the goals and objectives of a cultural institution. Regarding this structure, there is an order from the fire authorities to demolish this structure, as it does not comply with safety standards. According to the deputy, Gnidenko “postponed” the implementation of this resolution, which, in his opinion, is in no way consistent with the norms of the current legislation.
Marina Morzakova, Deputy Director of the Krasnoyarsk Kirovsky Palace of Culture, shared her anxiety in a telephone conversation with our correspondent:
“There is a fear that the recreation center Pravoberezhny is only the beginning. The next in line may be our Palace of Culture, and then other similar institutions in Krasnoyarsk. The methods of Mr. Gnidenko also confuse me very much: why give people awards, then take them back in order to buy some musical instruments or stage equipment with this money. What prevents DC from acquiring and putting property on its balance sheet directly, without these “crooked” schemes? It would be nice to check what equipment is on the balance sheet of the DC, and what, for example, is operated on a leasehold basis, and who owns it?
If you believe the information made public at the session of the City Council by deputy Krastelev, then it can be assumed that the LED screen, for example, allegedly rented from Gnidenko’s son-in-law, could well have been bought with “premium” money from the employees of the recreation center. Of course, this is only an assumption that requires verification by the relevant authorities. But there is a lot of “muddy” in this whole story with the unification.
Who “watched” what
There is a section “Reports, reports, reviews” on the website of the Sverdlovsky Palace of Culture. Only one report on the work of the DC in the first half of 2022 is posted here. Tellingly, in the report dated June 28, 2022, in paragraph 6, it is indicated that no major transactions of the Sverdlovsky Palace of Culture were made, therefore there was no meeting of the Supervisory Board (it was not possible to find exactly who is on this “supervisory board” on the DC website) . However, on June 27, 2022, the Sverdlovsky Palace of Culture posted a “notice” on the procurement website about a deal for 50,000,000 rubles to complete a full range of work on the creation and installation of a memorial sign – a stele in honor of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Yenisei province. Isn’t this a big deal? And why all of a sudden a municipal cultural institution became a customer of a city facility is not clear. After all, in its charter it is written that it can only be a customer of cultural and leisure facilities. And this “supervisory board” should also monitor transactions in which a conflict of interest is “visible”. And here, it seems, the key word is “viewed”. For example, cleaning services and wardrobe services performed by Gnidenko’s daughter were “overlooked” by the “supervisory board”, but, say, deputy Krastelev was not. Which of them is right, the prosecutor’s office will soon decide.
My own director
The management team involved in this strange association, and itself became famous for scandals related to the topic of government contracts. In 2021, Lyubov Sakharova, who, as the head of the Krasnoyarsk City Department of Culture, receives a salary from the budget, as an individual, signed a contract to prepare a script for an event dedicated to the celebration of Victory Day, where she also acted as a director and host, for which she received a reward in in the amount of 146 thousand rubles. The contract, at the same time, was concluded with her as with the only supplier – information is available on the public procurement website. Interestingly, the regulatory authorities did not see any “conflict of interest” in the actions of the official. Lyubov Alexandrovna herself, answering journalists’ questions, said that she was doing this “in her free time from her main job.”
But the directors, actors and screenwriters, for whom this type of income is the main one, categorically did not like this “approach” of the head of the culture department:
“I would like small business to be able to work and develop. I don’t want an official, having a salary, to take away our work,” said professional event organizer Oleg Burya.
It is possible that after inspections of Gnidenko’s activities by law enforcement agencies, the prosecutor’s office and the Accounts Chamber, the list of cultural “figures” will be replenished with one more “hero”.