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Stsiapan Stureika: To put “Dazhynki” to regional towns is to break the event concept

03.11.2012  |  Society   |  Zmicier Kazlouski, EuroBelarus,  
Stsiapan Stureika: To put “Dazhynki” to regional towns is to break the event concept

The misallocation of the money to prepare tows to the “Dazhynki” festival takes place. But even such improvement is better than the complete lack of it.

 This opinion in the talk with the EuroBelarus Information Service was shared by the cultural anthropologist, the lecturer of the EHU and the Flying University Stsiapan Stureika.

The results of the research “Dazhynki” in the transformation of cultural landscapes of Belarusan cities” that were shown according to the results of the visits to six Belarusan places where harvest festival was conducted, which are Maladzechna, Kobryn, Vorsha, Vaukavysk, Babrujsk and Mazyr, were presented on the 26th of October.

The head of the research group Stsiapan Stureika believes that “even this “Dazhynki” fest with the hindrances is better than no improvement at all”. “Especially as it is hard for me to name the town about which I can say that the fest had better not taken place there. Because in any case, the conduct of “Dazhynki” gives something to the town”, - noted the researcher.

In his opinion, from the six towns involved in the research the better use of “Dazhynki” made Vorsha and, to a certain degree, Kobryn. Thus, in Vorsha “the restoration of the Jesuit Collegium created a new attractive place; enriched it”. “And the reason lies not only in the fact that there appeared more cultural institutions, but also because it has become a fashion to go there. Besides, this place adds certain meaningfulness. As everyone knows that there was such architecture in the 16th century, that this is Belarus, and this is what differs us from Russia”, - told the interlocutor of “EuroBelarus”.

Kobryn has built an aqua park, and the city changed into a rather attractive tourist place, got certain impulse in its development. For instance, now it has become more difficult to rent a flat in Kobryn. It is because of the aqua park that tourists from Brest and even from Russia come there”, - he noted.

And in addition to the aqua park, the visitors of Kobryn can in some way see the historical part of the city. “Of course, not everything has worked its way into practice there, but on the whole the architecture is revitalized there, it is clean, light. And it really looks like a small European town”, - emphasized Stsiapan Stureika.

Still the researcher notes that on the whole this treatment of the town festive landscaping is reprehensible. “It would be much more effective and rational to exploit these huge funds gradually. We need to change the preparation technology. In today’s situation it is very hard to use the funds allocated to “Dazhynki”, - he assumes.

The possibility of more effective employment of the funds will appear when the city administration, the decision makers start listen to the specialists. “Because the amount of funds for the sensible problem solution, and not just economic or social ones but those of cultural and heritage preservation, is sufficient”, - noted Stsiapan Stureika.

He hopes that the «Dazhynki» in the transformation of cultural landscapes of Belarusan cities” research will help to change the attitude of the city administration to the holiday improvement, though now there is no tendency for more effective employment of the funds.

By the way, it is still unknown which town will host “Dazhynki” next year. The original plan was to conduct the fest in Ragachou, but later more official sources started giving in information about the transfer of “Dazhynki 2013” to Gomel. The final decision hasn’t been made yet.

Stsiapan Stureika thinks that the sense of fest relocation to Gomel lies in the republican budget savings. “The city budget in Gomel will allow landscaping without help from the republican budget. Besides, there is nothing special to build or to redesign, there is paving tile everywhere. That’s why the choice of Gomel can be explained by economic reasons in the first turn. But the original idea of “Dazhynki” underlay in something different”, - noted the researcher.

In his opinion, to put “Dazhynki” in regional centers means to destroy the original concept of the event. “And it wouldn’t be worth doing it. As the regional centers already have big city budgets, they can afford themselves to solve certain problems. We need to show province in any way. All the more Gomel is the second Belarusan city by size”, - took notice Stsiapan Stureika.

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