Verification of the Strategy for the Development of the Sphere of Culture of the City of Salekhard

IntroductionThe city of Salekhard is the administrative center of the largest gas producing region in Russia and the world – the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YANAO).

The city is located on the line of the Arctic Circle and is assigned to the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. Salekhard is an average city in terms of population, which as of January 01, 2021 amounted to more than 51 thousand people ^[6].

In the article, the sphere of culture of a city is understood as a part of its social infrastructure, which consists of a set of institutions on the basis of which creative, educational activities of people of art are organized and social consumption of cultural goods is carried out.

Active steps to form the concept of the strategy for the development of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard, based on the dialectical relationship between the general principles of an innovative approach to the development of the cultural sphere and their practical implementation, taking into account the northern specifics of the region, were taken in 2010. The authors of this concept proposed a number of indicators of cultural development: the diversity of cultural life, its adaptability to the interests of society; the intensity of cultural life; the demand for cultural events; sociological indicators ^[8].

Currently, the main strategic document of the municipal level, which determines, among other things, the development of the cultural sphere of the municipality of Salekhard, is the Strategy of Socio-economic Development of the municipality of Salekhard until 2030, which was adopted by the City Duma of Salekhard on December 21, 2018 (hereinafter – the Strategy) ^[6]. A separate block of the Strategy "Culture and Youth Policy" contains a description of the city's cultural sphere as of the end of 2018 and highlights the following problems: outdated material and technical base; aging of personnel and lack of modern specialists; budget deficit; low level of extra-budgetary income of cultural institutions. In addition, the Strategy raises a number of other problematic aspects that are important for the development of the city's cultural sphere: the level of events that do not meet modern needs, as well as the lack of interest among young people in them; the unpopularity of libraries; the need to create their own modern image of the cultural sphere and the implementation of new brand projects; the positioning of cultural institutions in multimedia space.

At the same time, the Strategy also talks about the ongoing work on a large-scale reboot in the field of culture of the city, aimed at strengthening human resources, updating the information and communication component, creating a unified socio-cultural environment, intensive development of urban space, the introduction of new forms and formats of work.

Taking into account the dynamics of socio-cultural processes in modern Russian society, an active state policy in the field of culture of Russia, it is necessary to regularly assess the results achieved, identify new problems and tasks for subsequent adjustment of the Strategy and action plan for its implementation.

Research methodologyThe purpose of the applied research was to study the state and identify problems of the development of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard, which are important for adjusting existing provisions and developing new proposals for the strategy of socio-economic development of the municipality of Salekhard until 2030.

The object of the study was the sphere of culture of Salekhard, the subject is the state and problems of its development.

The empirical base of the study included: statistical, regulatory and other information sources; primary sociological information collected during an expert survey and sociological observations.

The collection of primary sociological information was carried out by qualitative sociological methods: observation, included observation and expert survey ^{[2; 3; 5; 9]}.

The analysis of the documents was aimed at identifying the structure of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard, the main cultural events, etc. for study by sociological methods.

By the method of unstructured observation at mass citywide events – City Day (2020-2021), Obdorskaya Fair (2020-2021), Reindeer Herder's Day (2021-2022), concerts and performances in the MAOU DO "Children's Art School named after E.V. Obraztsova", MAUK "Center of Culture and Sports "Geologist"", GAU YANAO"Cultural and Business Center" and by the method of included unstructured field observation at the festival-competition "Samovar FEST in Yamal" (as part of the celebration of the City Day in 2021), primary sociological information about the processes of preparation and holding of large citywide cultural events was collected.  The tools of unstructured observation and included field observation included field diaries (checklists) for recording field observations with a focus on the methodology proposed by J. Spradley ^[10].

The expert survey (11 experts of the categories "key expert" and "typical expert") was conducted using an e-mail questionnaire, due to the limitations associated with the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19. During the period of relaxation of restrictive measures, in-depth interviews were conducted in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (2 experts of the "key expert" category). The expert pool consisted of representatives of cultural institutions and the public of the city of Salekhard. The selection of experts was carried out using the "eight-window" sampling model proposed by I. E. Steinberg ^{[9, pp. 59-60]}. The tools of the expert survey are presented by a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions involving detailed answers. The same set of questions was used in the guide of in-depth interviews.

Research results

The analysis of the documents showed that the sphere of culture in the municipality of Salekhard is represented by 3 municipal institutions: municipal autonomous educational institution of additional education "Children's School of Arts named after E. V. Obraztsova" (MAOU DO "Children's School of Arts named after E.V. Obraztsova"); municipal budgetary cultural institution "Centralized Library System" (MBUK "Centralized Library System"), which coordinates the activities of three libraries: the R. P. Rugin Central Library; the Peoples' Friendship Library; the Model Library "Tochka" and the municipal autonomous cultural institution "Center for Culture and Sports "Geologist" (MAUK "Center for Culture and Sports "Geologist"), which includes one branch – cultural and leisure center "Heritage".

In addition, there are cultural institutions of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the city of Salekhard: the State Autonomous Institution of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug "Cultural and Business Center" (GAU YANAO "Cultural and Business Center"); the state autonomous institution of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug "District Center of National Cultures" (GAU YANAO "District Center national cultures") and the state autonomous institution of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug "District House of Crafts" (GAU YANAO "District House of Crafts").

On the basis of regional and municipal institutions, both their own events are held, and with the participation of invited artists and collectives from other regions of Russia and the world.

The concept of "culture" in the view of experts from the sphere of culture and the public of the municipality of Salekhard has a wide range of meanings. These are the values on which a person relies, and his achievements in art, as well as the level of education, aesthetic preferences and tastes, self-expression and self-knowledge, etc. Comparing the above statements with the tasks assigned to the sphere of culture of the city of Salekhard, it seems possible to note that the breadth and depth of meanings that experts put into the concept of "culture" correlate with the tasks implemented by the Department of Culture and Youth Policy of the Administration of the Municipality of Salekhard and its subordinate institutions.

Analysis of documents and data from the expert survey shows that, in general, the city of Salekhard is fully included and is part of the general cultural policy of the Russian Federation, however, due to a number of factors, it has some features that influence certain components of the municipal cultural policy.

According to the expert survey, it seems possible to distinguish the following differences between the city of Salekhard from other cities of the European part of Russia in the field of culture (How does the city of Salekhard differ in the field of culture from other cities of the European part of Russia?).

Firstly, it is the geographical location of the city (the Far North, the Arctic Circle, the Ob River, etc.), climate, remoteness from the European part of Russia and the complexity of the transport scheme. Secondly, it is the history of the development and formation of the modern ethno-cultural image of the city and subsequently of the entire autonomous okrug. Among the existing ethnocultural diversity, the original culture of the indigenous peoples of the North stands out most colorfully. Thirdly, it is the architectural appearance of the northern city and memorial structures reflecting the specifics and history of the development of the North and the Arctic. Fourth, the standard of living of the population of the Arctic city allows you to pay more attention to your cultural development. Fifth, in the Arctic city, the level of costs for cultural events is higher.

 "Salekhard is distinguished by its location, climatic conditions that affect the type of cultural events. The indigenous peoples of the North live in the city. Their way of life, traditions, and culture are reflected in the cultural events of the city and the district. It is in Yamal that the unique Arctic reindeer herding culture has been preserved in its original state, which, of course, is not present in the European part of Russia" (women, 29 years old)."The city of Salekhard is like a mosaic of different cultures that harmoniously coexist in modern space, including cultural innovations and traditional culture of the peoples of the North" (women, 50 years old).

"Salekhard is a remote, but at the same time relatively developed city in terms of infrastructure.

  Its inaccessibility and harsh climatic conditions inseparably entail the inevitability and a significant increase in costs for any kind of work and services, which in turn is reflected in a certain limitation of the field of activity for the city's cultural sphere. Not all practices of cities in the European part of the country can be applied in a harsh climate (the sector of street events, in water areas, in city squares), including the financial component. Cities with a more advantageous territorial location to the large administrative centers of the country can use more innovations for a smaller budget compared to Salekhard" (husband, 34 years old).At the same time, the expert pool also points out the existing differences between the city of Salekhard from other cities of the north and the Arctic zone of Russia in the field of culture (How does the city of Salekhard differ in the field of culture from other northern (Arctic) cities of Russia (except for the cities of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District)?).

Experts, first of all, highlight the distinctive culture of the indigenous peoples of the North (KMNS), represented by various creative collectives of the city. This ethno-cultural direction has the support of the state and municipal authorities of the autonomous Okrug. In addition, experts point out that in the city of Salekhard there is an opportunity to train personnel for the field of culture. It should also be noted that this question caused difficulties for respondents, which is largely due to the absence or low frequency of tours, participation in competitions, training or internships, and other business trips of creative teams outside the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

In addition to the differences between Salekhard and other cities of Russia, experts note intraregional distinctive features of the cultural sphere of the district center in comparison with other cities of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (How does the city of Salekhard differ in the field of culture from other cities of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug?).

First of all, the city of Salekhard is the administrative center of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where federal and district authorities are located. The industrial component of the economy is not developed in Salekhard, which leaves its mark on the qualitative composition of its population, and ultimately on the image of the city. Salekhard is the oldest city (founded in 1595) in the autonomous okrug, in which history and modernity closely coexist. A special intraregional difference of Salekhard in the field of culture is the presence on its territory of institutions of regional and municipal subordination, on the sites of which the creativity of both recognized and novice masters is presented. In addition, experts talk about the quality of the genres of culture presented in the city of Salekhard, the availability of copyrighted works, as well as opportunities for creative growth of collectives representing the culture of various peoples living in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The specifics of the transport scheme and the high cost of air travel make it difficult for creative teams to participate in cultural events held in other cities of the Autonomous Okrug. The data of the expert survey also indicate a significant deterioration of the buildings of the cultural sphere of the municipality of Salekhard against the background of modern district cultural objects.

Among the achievements of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard (What achievements in the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard would you note?) experts highlight the developing cultural and leisure infrastructure, whose employees provide a wide range of diverse services aimed at different age groups. Specialists place special emphasis on a large number of mass events held at a high cultural and organizational level, which is confirmed by a large number of positive responses in urban social networks. Experts call the opening of the model library "Tochka" another significant achievement of the city's cultural sphere (MBUK "Centralized Library System" of Salekhard became one of the winners in the competitive selection of subjects of the Russian Federation for the creation of model municipal libraries within the framework of the national project "Culture" in 2021).

Along with the achievements, experts identify a number of problems (What is there no point of pride in the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard?), the solution of which is necessary for the development of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard.

The main problems in the field of culture, according to experts, are the aging of personnel and the material and technical base. In addition, the administrative status of the city, the scale of cultural events, as well as the originality of the annual events require an appropriate level of funding. Experts also point out that at present the repertoire policy of the creative collectives of the city does not fully take into account the modern needs of young people. This is largely due not only to the shortage of young highly qualified creative workers, IT and media specialists, but also to a generally small proportion of young people in the population structure of the Arctic city. "The city is impoverished by the absence of a certain stratum of society – youth, modern. Hence the lag in trend directions" (women, 34 years old).In addition to stating the problems, the experts outlined their vision of the development of the cultural sphere of the municipality of Salekhard (If you were defining a strategy for the development of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard, what priorities did you set in it?).

As one of the priorities for the development of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard, experts see an increase in the number of cultural workers in accordance with the actual need. In many ways, the increase in the need for personnel is due to the increased burden on the cultural sphere due to the increase in the volume of paid services provided to the population. Along with creating conditions for attracting new specialists, experts also talk about training their own cultural workers, as well as training, advanced training and retraining of existing personnel. At the same time, experts point to the need for the formation of new professional creative collectives (orchestras, choirs), the development of touring activities, the creation of their own drama theater and an increase in the number of centers for additional education in the field of arts. The other side of the development of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard is connected with the strengthening of the material and technical base of the industry. Two components can be distinguished here. The first is the modernization of existing buildings of cultural institutions and the renewal of equipment. The second is the construction or acquisition of new buildings to accommodate cultural and leisure facilities in them. Thus, the participants of the expert survey call the formation of public spaces a significant direction – it is the creation of citywide places for mass events, including socio-cultural spaces adapted to the conditions of the North. Experts also point to the need for the development of creative public spaces (creative industry) ^[1]. In addition to the general cultural development of the population, the expert pool focuses on identifying and encouraging talents among citizens, as well as involving young people in the cultural life of the city. As another priority areas of cultural policy, experts highlight the formation of a positive image of the city of Salekhard and cultural branding. Experts also paid attention to the issues of wages, housing and non-material incentives for workers in the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard.

In 2020 – 2021, various aspects of the organization and conduct of festive events were studied by methods of observation and included observation, including the assessment of attendance and perception by residents and guests of mass citywide festive events in the city of Salekhard: City Day (2020-2021), Obdorskaya Fair (2020-2021), Reindeer Herder's Day (2021-2022). Also within the framework of The celebration of the City Day (2021) was monitored at the festival-competition "Samovar FEST in Yamal", organized for the first time in the city of Salekhard. In addition, in March 2022, a sociological observation was conducted at the Day of the Reindeer Herder in another municipality of the Yamalo–Nenets Autonomous District - the city of Nadym.

First of all, the research focus was directed to mass cultural events at the municipal level. The Day of the city and the Day of the Reindeer Herder are held in the city of Salekhard on a permanent basis. In the period 2020 – 2021, significant changes were made to the organization of these holidays.

The main city holiday – Salekhard City Day (2020 – 2022) is organized at several locations, but most of the cultural, sports and other events were held not in a certain period of time (1-2 hours), as in previous years, but throughout the day in non-stop mode. This allowed the citizens not to adjust on their day off to the schedule of City Day events, but to visit them at a convenient time for residents, while not missing the opportunity to visit all the sites of interest to them. Moreover, for the first time, significant sections of the streets of the city center of Salekhard were blocked for motor transport, thereby ensuring the connection of the main holiday locations into a single pedestrian zone. Some sites of the City Day worked in places remote from the main festive events of the city, including beyond its borders. This mode of organizing the holiday provided an increase in attendance, the possibility of covering more locations by residents of the city. In addition, the organizers developed 3D maps of the location of all the holiday locations, and their electronic version, posted on the Internet, made it possible to interactively view the program of the event in each location.

The main holiday of the indigenous peoples of the North of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the city of Salekhard traditionally takes place on the banks of the Polyabta River. Festive events are organized at several locations on the river bank and include cultural, sports, entertainment events, as well as trade. Observations made at the Reindeer Herder's Day in Salekhard (2021-2022) and the city of Nadym (2022) allow us to state the current event orientation of the holiday. Despite the similarity of the main parameters of the general concept of celebrating Reindeer Herder's Day in both municipalities, there are clearly accents on individual directions. So, in the city of Nadym, the organizers focus on holding sports competitions, and in Salekhard – to a greater extent on complexity, focused not only on the holiday for the KMNS, residents of the city and the Salekhard agglomeration, but also on positioning the Reindeer Herder's Day as a brand of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug as a whole. In addition, for the second year in a row, the organizers are increasing the scale of the celebration. This is expressed both in an increase in its total area and in the number of thematic locations. The wishes of the citizens are also taken into account in terms of increasing the number of traditional dwellings of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (chums) installed on the holiday, the visit of which is particularly popular among residents and guests of the city. In the city of Salekhard as the capital of the Autonomous Okrug, where international, federal, and regional official events are regularly held, a number of which are organized on the dates of the Reindeer Herder's Day, which allows participants to familiarize themselves with the distinctive culture of the KMNS, which also requires the provision of various kinds of protocol restrictions and security measures. In 2022, this is the arrival of a delegation of the Government of the Tyumen region, the Tyumen Regional Duma, etc. In addition, the traditional fair trade at the festival was expanded due to the arrival of enterprises and entrepreneurs from the Tyumen region to Salekhard.

The successfully held Reindeer Herder's Day on March 26-27, 2022 became the brightest, mass, etc., and was also recognized by experts in the field of tourism as an established tourist brand. The government of the Tyumen Region plans to organize charter flights from Tyumen to Salekhard in 2023 to attract tourists to the holiday ^[3].

Conclusions and recommendationsThe city of Salekhard, located in the Far North of the Russian Federation, absorbs all the natural, geographical, socio-economic, historical and other specifics of this macro-region of the country, which is reflected not only in its political and socio-economic, but also in cultural development.

Salekhard belongs to the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, which is also reflected in the cultural urban agenda.

At the same time, the municipality of Salekhard is the administrative center of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, which does not have an oil and gas industry and associated service infrastructure. The city is home to district and federal authorities, secondary specialized vocational educational institutions, as well as district and municipal budget organizations. Such an economic profile of the city determines the professional and qualification structure of the urban community - the main consumer of cultural goods.

In addition, the metropolitan status of the city of Salekhard, determines the presence of a developed network of cultural institutions, where, along with municipal institutions, institutions of district subordination are also represented, which is a significant difference from other cities of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, influencing the cultural sphere of the city. Such specifics require coordination of the activities of cultural institutions of the city and the district.

Among the positive aspects achieved by the sphere of culture of the city of Salekhard, the following can be distinguished. The infrastructure of the city's culture and leisure sector has a positive development dynamics and is aimed at reaching all age categories of citizens. In addition, all cultural institutions of the city are maximally involved in organizing and conducting large-scale citywide events. One of such events held in the city of Salekhard is the holiday of the indigenous peoples of the North – Reindeer Herder's Day, which has been successfully brought to the tourist brand for the period 2021-2022.

The study showed that for the further development of the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard, it is necessary to solve a number of accumulated problems and implement new areas of activity.

Thus, the main problems of the development of the sphere of culture include two aspects. The first is the shortage of professional personnel, the industry requires an influx of young specialists, including in the field of information technology and media. The second is the development of the material and technical base of institutions.

Despite the fact that a significant array of copyrighted works has been accumulated in the cultural sphere of the city, it is necessary to adjust and update the repertoire policy taking into account modern creative trends, technologies in the field of culture and the requests of various age groups of the city.

The issues of material and non-material incentives for cultural workers, the provision of housing are also important, especially in terms of creating conditions for attracting young professionals.

It is also necessary to provide creative workers and heads of cultural institutions with a greater opportunity to travel to other regions of Russia as part of touring activities, attending large-scale festive events, participating in collegiums, etc., which will allow exchanging experience with colleagues from other regions and improve the quality of cultural events.

In general, it is necessary to increase the amount of funding for the cultural sphere of the city of Salekhard, taking into account the increased burden associated with the increase in the number and scale of events held.

The results of the study indicate the need to create an open citywide venue for mass events.

In addition, an important direction of development in the northern conditions is the creation of closed socio-cultural spaces. Where, it seems promising to combine various facilities (cafe, cinema, shopping pavilions, skatepark, trampoline center, water park, laser tag shooting range, bowling, table games clubs, etc.) in a citywide indoor multifunctional complex, which will be a citywide leisure venue in line with the ideology of meetingplaces.

Also, the development of creative public spaces (creative industry), for example, with the use of placemaking technology (arrangement of public spaces with the involvement of various creative communities), may become an urgent direction.

The necessity of creating a municipal drama theater is traced, which will contribute to the multiplication of the cultural development of the city's residents, the creation of a sustainable need for theatrical art.