Press about the Summer Ballet Festival
BUSINESS IS A CREATIVE ACTIVITY!
- Dmitry Borisovitch, you are well known mostly for pharmacological business and especially for furthering the domestically produced medication “Mexidol” rather than for cultural events. Do you find this strange?
- Nothing strange at all. Business and art are both creative activities. Every professional is a creative personality. “Summer Ballet Festival” is a unique project because it's made by a highly professional team headed by an extraordinary person, Fyodor Ryndin. They've been organizing this event five years running not only for Muscovites visitors of the city, but also for artists who live by this festival year after year.
(smiling) Moscow is a small city and having a good reputation is of great importance. The festival itself and people organizing it have a good name and high prestige. There are no casual people and my taking part in this is not a coincidence either, I suppose. Preparation for Summer Ballet Festival united people of different ages, professions and social classes. I strongly believe that Summer Ballet Festival will be a high-level event.
- It's twice as difficult to be a patron of art in the period of economic crisis...
- The actual crisis has made all of us reconsider the attitude towards financing social projects. If patrons used to part with money not demanding anything in return, now they consider these events to be profitable investments in future. I think, that this point of view is more business-like.
Moreover, in Russia not all is measured in money.
-Within the framework of the festival there is a charity programme “Give ballet to children”. Is it by chance?
- No, it's not by chance. It's an awesome responsibility. Children are grateful and at the same time very strict spectators. In collaboration with the Charity Fund "Homeless Children's Assistance Center" founded by The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation it was decided to show ballet to children from orphan boarding-schools. It's very important to familiarize children to art, to make them listen to beautiful music and know that this is one of the best examples of Russian culture. Even if it's customary to think that ballet is difficult to perceive.
It's worth organizing this festival for the sake of thousands of children's eyes admiring “The Nutcracker”, “Swan Lake” or “Cinderella”.
- How do you spend your free time?
- I've been doing sports for twenty years. I prefer combat sports and football. Sport is necessary for businessmen. It helps us to stay in a good form, not only physical. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time for going to theatres and concerts of classical music. I like listening rock music.
- Your many-sided activity makes you see the world in a different light. What's your view on modern world?
- More open-minded you are, simpler are your wishes and ideas of happiness. For me it's my family, my children's health. Whatever I do, I always think of my relatives' well-being. My philosophy consists in family values and traditions of education. And the fact that I support Summer Ballet Festival is a part of this tradition. Acts we commit before children's eyes will be engraved in their memory and will define their behavior. Thus we educate our youth. I hope that our children will grow up honest, kind, generous people respecting national art.
