USADBA-JAZZ MUSIC FESTIVAL IS ON THE BRINK OF BANKRUPTCY

The international music festival, held annually in the open air, is in danger of going bankrupt. This year, like many years in a row, it was supposed to take place on the territory of the Arkhangelskoye estate at the end of May.

However, the pandemic and restrictions on holding mass events put an end to the possibility of its implementation in 2020. As a result, the organizers found themselves in a state of complete uncertainty, being not ready for such circumstances, having spent the money and not having any financial pillow.

Throughout the years of the festival’s existence, starting in 2004, the head of the ArtMania agency, Maria Semushkina, was its ideological inspiration and president. The agency became famous thanks to many jazz festivals of the country, in the organization of which it took an active part (Le Jazz, City Jazz, Moscow Jazz Festival, etc.).  

Due to the pandemic, Russian open-air events had to either be postponed to the next year or be held online.

As Maria Semushkina notes, the hope that the festival will be held in fall has existed for a long time. The refusal of sponsors to renew contracts and claims for refunds for the tickets from the festival participants made the ArtMania agency cease operations in April, send employees home and announce the postponement of the festival to 2021. It was considered impractical to conduct such events online, since the format of open space was of value to visitors.

The agency notes that the fate of the concert industry, unfortunately, is not the main concern of the state.

A special decree, approved by the authorities, allowed return the money to those who had bought the tickets for the festival in the form of vouchers. However, how exactly the participants will use the vouchers in case of bankruptcy of the festival is a big question. Therefore, ArtMania agency continues to hope that the procedures for recognizing the insolvency of the event will be avoided. Moreover, in mid-June, the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova has even made a public statement that the authorities could allow the open-air events in July. However, the Federal Service for Consumer Protection and Human Welfare will play a leading role in making this decision.   

We should recall that last year, there were many famous Russian and foreign performers (Black Eyed Peas, Kovacs, The Cinematic Orchestra, Spleen, Ivan Dorn and others) among the festival participants. In total, during the festival, more than 500 groups took part in it, and the number of visitors exceeded a quarter of a million people.