Sustainability

—Lucrative one-off projects involve technological know-how, but there is no soul. A serious enterprise must be sustainable. Even the Pushkin Art Museum knows nothing of sustainability. It is not only about sustainable financing. The very idea of the project must inspire the team to go on against all odds. For that, teams must be trained and prepared, successfully put through a series of tests and exercises that support them in their willingness to carry on, to find both the will and the way. Actually, a truly driven person does not even need much training. People just try, sometimes fail, learn from their mistakes, and start over again. But the willpower and firm belief are sadly lacking all around.

—The spirit of place will sort everything out. To make an example: we are based in a historic merchant neighbourhood, and right across the street from our Pastila museum a neighbour opened another exhibition, a Samovar museum with an open storage. The owner has nothing to do with the museum scene, for him it is just a hobby. There are lots of museums of this kind, and there is nothing wrong with them. But promoting the local heritage is much more relevant and important to create a distinctive identity. We had a meeting with this person and tried to convince him that Kolomna, unlike Tula, had no samovar production of its own, while today there are no samovars made in Russia at all: the moulds are imported from the UAE to be assembled on the spot. Our proposal was: why don’t you launch a manufacture here? Even if it is just a small one with the product range limited to one single model, be it ball-shaped or glass-shaped. Then it would be a sustainable project that can grow roots. It would be nice to start it from scratch in a historical neighbourhood, home to merchants and craftsmen. A two-cup wedding samovar is a nice gift for any family. But he refused point-blank: he wanted a classic display. Actually, the crafts of Kolomna used to be manifold: there were fancy embroidered silks, and we are looking in that direction. Close by, there used to be a little candle factory, so we need one as well. Behind every craft there are names, merchant families, forgotten know-hows. Memories come alive, third- or fourth-generation relatives come calling. And it is not a historical Disneyland: the kalach bread production, for instance, was started by a family by the name of Nesterov. These are true facts of life.

—The projects for our art residences are selected on the basis of their relatability, their ability to blend seamlessly into the life around them or resonate with the issues debated by the local communities. They must be steeped in the local atmosphere and interlinked with the environment. Then they will be beneficial and edifying for everyone.

—Are we doing business? It is a tricky question. The end goal is to create a product that will enable a sustainable existence of the company. Our mobile games include all kinds of monetisation models: advertisements, in-game purchases, etc. In a way, they can be perceived as a socially-oriented business aimed at a consistent and sustainable production of commodities relevant for the public good rather than private gain. But these projects take very long to become really sustainable, which is normal for any media-related business, especially when it deals with sensitive issues. After all, we are not developing casual games that imply huge audiences and сolossal profits for their makers.

—Even before the lockdown, we began to think of sustainable development. We started an ongoing youth film school. We produce videos based on our own footage. We work with multi-member families and families with adopted children. Some of them need recording studios, and others are looking for a birthday party location. All together, they enable sustainability. We have found good artists to design our exhibition, as well as science experts. It would be nice to expand a bit, but it takes money.

—In many cases we go for non-profit projects designed to make life better. We are well aware that for all the invested mental effort, man-hours and financing we will see no income on our bank accounts. In these cases, revenues take a different form. In many cases, the decisions we make are based on social dividends. We are happy to recruit people from the neighbourhood. We are building a city within a city that we love to live in, hoping that everyone else is going to love it as well.

—All of our projects are independent, self-sufficient enterprises. Sustainable business growth is first of all a matter of healthy planning. Otherwise, when there is no money left, everything will start falling apart, be it a project with your own backing or third-party investments. I will make an example. We opened a branch of our museum in Kazan. The creative and intellectual crowd welcomed us and loved us, but the place was not commercially viable at all, so we had to call it quits in six months. What was lacking was the regular audience that would spend family time there. Maybe Kazan has fewer people than listed on Wikipedia, or maybe their entertainment patterns are different because there are not many people downtown during the weekend. Maybe the mindsets are different: people tend to spend more time at home or in the shopping mall next door. Maybe the timing was not right, I do not know. But we had this negative experience.