Vladimir Putin proposed expanding the Pushkin Card program
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Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed expanding the Pushkin Card program, with the help of which young people can visit cultural institutions for free, and ordered the preparation of corresponding proposals. The government has not yet announced specific measures. They say on the market that due to fraud with the “Pushkin Cards”, only government events and institutions of the Ministry of Culture were left in the program. Private players hope to reconnect to it, including in new areas – books and streaming services.
In his address to the Federal Assembly on February 29, Vladimir Putin proposed expanding the Pushkin Card program (operating since 2021), with the help of which citizens aged 14 to 22 years can pay for trips to the cinema, museums, theaters, exhibitions, and concerts. The denomination of the card is 5 thousand rubles. per year, the list of events on which money can be spent is determined by the Ministry of Culture. The President invited the government to prepare proposals for expanding the program.
The Ministry of Digital Development told Kommersant that they are ready to “technically refine” the “State Services Culture” mobile application in connection with the expansion of the “Pushkin Card” program. The Ministry of Culture promised that proposals would be developed, but there are no specific projects yet. In 2023, cultural institutions received almost 13 billion rubles thanks to the program, 29 million tickets were sold, Interfax reported with reference to the head of the PRO.Culture.RF platform and the Culture.RF portal, Alexander Minaev.
“The most important thing that concert organizers and ticket operators need is to expand the criteria for the event scoring system that are included in the Pushkin Card program,” says Colisium International Music Forum producer Sergei Babich. The fact is, he explains, that amid card fraud, the entire private sector was cut off from the program. Only the events of the Ministry of Culture remained in it, he claims (the ministry does not comment on this issue).
According to Mr. Babich, it is necessary that the program extend to concerts of young independent performers.
“This will make it possible to raise new stars to replace those who, for one reason or another, stopped giving concerts in the country,” says the expert.
“On our services, sales on the Pushkin Card amounted to 6% in 2023,” says General Director of MTS Entertainment (manages Ticketland, Ticketscloud and MTS Live) Mikhail Minin. MTS Entertainment expects the program to include concerts, commercial exhibitions, online books and music streaming: “We also expect transparency in the criteria for entering the program.”
Andrey Osipov, business development director at Pochta Bank, January 17:
“Today, almost 10 million young people have their own “cultural card.” For the second year in a row, cinema has become a hit during the New Year holidays.”
Alpina Group Marketing Director Irina Antonova believes that the Pushkin Card should be expanded to cover the purchase of paper and electronic books in retail and online stores and payment for subscription book services. She believes that teenagers should not be limited in their choice of sites, but the criteria for selecting books that will be covered by the program can be clarified. “For the industry, inclusion in the program is very important and necessary,” emphasizes Boris Kuznetsov, director of the ROSMEN publishing house. He believes this can increase the volume and quality of reading among young people.
Online cinemas also want to join the program, says Alexey Byrdin, CEO of the Internet Video Association.
He notes that many films created with state support, after distribution, end up in the catalog of streaming platforms. At the same time, he does not see the point in providing subscribers with the Pushkin Card with a special set of films.
A Kommersant source in the concert industry says that the financial support for the Pushkin Card program can be expanded. According to him, the big question for the market remains the role of VK in the system: in the summer of 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development and the Ministry of Culture proposed making the company a single ticket operator for the youth state program (see “Kommersant” dated June 26, 2023). This was also necessary to prevent fraudulent card schemes. The government decree, according to which VK will provide a “trusted information system” for the youth program free of charge, was published on February 22. VK confirmed to Kommersant that they will provide technological solutions for the operation of the Pushkin Card. According to Kommersant (see “Kommersant” dated November 29, 2023), the holding is considering the purchase of one of the large ticket platforms (Intickets and Kassir.ru), which in the future will allow it to quickly connect to the system.
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