Moscow Pride '06 Festival ends on record EUR 27'873 deficit
21/06/2006
By
Nikolay Alekseev, Human Rights LGBT Project GayRussia.ru
Moscow Pride '06 Festival ends on record EUR 27'873 deficit
As promised, we publish the details of the budget of the Moscow Pride '06 Festival : This is the first time in Russia that a gay organization opens its books and provide a full transparency.
Organizers have taken personal loan to cover the deficit due to extra security cost, cancellation of the closing party by the manager of Club 3 Monkeys and lack of fund raising.
See below the budget commented by Nikolai Alekseev with answers to the main questions adressed by email to the Initiative Group of the Moscow Pride Festival.
TOTAL EXPENSES : 31'521 EUR
IDAHO Conference : 10'941 Euros
Rent of the rooms at Swissôtel : 4'929 Euros
Equipment : 2'806 Euros
Additionnal security : 3'057 Euros
Badges : 149 Euros
Nordic Russian Homo culture Festival : 3’300 Euros
Rent of the room at Swissôtel : 1'300 Euros
Equipment : 571 Euros
Additionnal security : 14'29 Euros
>> Why did you choose an expensive hotel ?
The choice of Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy, the most expensive hotel of the capital, was the only alternative to host the IDAHO conference and the Nordic Russian Festival. We contacted lower class hotels and conference centers, but they all denied to host a Gay & Lesbian Festival. From the first contact, we had with the management of Swissotel, the topic has never been a point of discussion. A few weeks ago, after the end of April anti-gay attacks, it became obvious that the selection of a pure Russian hotel would have end up with a cancellation of all the events, a few days before, probably for "security reasons".
Also, the choice of the location of the conference was a question of credibility and a clear signal that we wanted to give to both medias and local authorities. LGBT issues are serious and they deserve to be discussed not only in underground locations. This message was very well received by the journalists.
Moscow city hall has been very upset with the decision of Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy to host our event. We know that any other hotel in the capital would have been forced to send us off at the last minute.
>> Why there was so much security at the entrance of the hotel ?
A week before the event, after we had a meeting on the security, the hotel informed us that we would have to assume half of the security cost during our event. This spending was not expected but was manadtory for us, as our aim was that no incident take place during the festival. The security was rather discreet on thursday and friday. On saturday, we required a strict check at the entrance when Sophie in’t Veld, MEP, and Volker Beck, Member of Bundestag, were attending the press conference. The worst would have been to have any trouble in front of the 50 journalists attending the press conference. This is the reason why only accredited media have been allowed to take part and, only after a carrefull check of their bags.
The security issue has been handled very profesionaly by the management of the hotel. Security was a key point to us. First for our guests but also for the hotel. There is a bad precedent with a gay exhibition organized by the Russian Lesbian organization Pinkstar early May which was cancelled at a short notice. But because organizers did not think of providing security, the club was burnt by the nationalists and left the owners in a very difficult financial situation.
>> The bottle of water was very expensive !
We were aware that a bottle of water and all the drinks were quite expensive at the bar of the hotel but no one prevented our guests to go and buy it outside which many did.
Lecture of Merlin Holland : 696 Euros
Rent of the rooms at the Library of foreign literature : 174 Euros
Additional security : 87 Euros
Travel & Expenses : 435 Euros
>> Why didn't you host the lecture in teh same hotel ?
We were looking for a symbolical place to host the lecture of Merlin Holland. After several opportunities, we contacted the Library of Foreign Literature which was pleased to host the event. The Library rent us the room at a discounted price. We contacted the British Council and the Irish Embassy thinking that they would be interested to take part in the event. To our big surprise, none of them were interested in promoting part of the cultural heritage that Oscar Wilde left them. Ironically, the British Council is located inside the Library.
Moscow Pride : 638 Euros
Rainbow flags : 638 Euros
As we always said, a human rights march does not cost anything. We have only ordered some flags that have been distributed during after the press conference. Unfortunately… the flags were not used.
« La Vie est belle » - closing Party : 4'524 Euros
Travel, expenses and fees : 4’524 Euros
>> What happened to the closing show ?
It was supposed to be the closing party of the festival at the Moscow Gay Club 3 Monkeys. DESIRELESS was informed about this show last August. The song “Free your love”, which became the anthem of the Moscow Pride, was written especially to be performed during the show. When DESIRELESS and her staff arrived at the Club 3 Monkeys at 5pm, the club was empty and the manager was not on time. After half an hour, DESIRELESS was informed that the decision to close the club had been taken a few hours before. Official reason was "by fear of attacks by nationalists".
Surprisingly, an air ticket was already awaiting DESIRELESS and she was offered to take the first flight to St Peteresburg to give her show in a club which belongs to the same company. DESIRELESS who came to sing for the Moscow Pride politely said “bye” to everyone and left. On the same evening, all the gay venues of Moscow operated “business as usual”. There has been no incident reported. The show was planned in this club more than a month in advance. DESIRELESS was very disapointed. “I don’t think anyone else will risk to travel from abroad to sing in this club” she declared a bit later. Spartacus International Gay Guide was a co-sponsor of the party. Briand Bedford, its chief editor said “I am astonished by such little professionalism from this club”.
Unfortunately, all the expenses were pre-paid in advance and this cancellation left us with big spending and no income. It explains an important part of the deficit. The 2 hours notice was too short to relocate the show in a different place. If at least, we had known early in the afternoon, things would have been different. But I guess that's the poison pill gay business, who has always been opposed to the Moscow Pride Festival, by fears for its own business interests, wanted us to swallow".
It shows, once again, the unreliability of the gay infrastructures in Moscow. If we had trust the local gay community to help us in this festival, there would have been nothing at the end. Everything would have been cancelled at the last minute like all the other attempts to stage a Gay & Lesbian Festival since 1995, year of the first attempt.
Communication : 7’485 Euros
Souvenirs of the festival : 4'717 Euros
Gay Map of Moscow (non paid adverts) : 818 Euros
MoscowPride web site and technicals : 1'000 Euros
Video reporter : 950 Euros
The 3 press conferences (July 05, September 05 and May 06) have been fully sponsored with the news agency News Info.
Scholarships : 3'937 Euros
>> How many scholarships did you give ?
Scholarships have been granted to activists from Russian cities of Ulan-Udee, Kaliningrad, Kazan, St Petersbourg, Omsk and Ekaterinbourg. We also invited a few activists from the ex-CIS countries (No further details will be provided to respect the privacy of the scholars).
*******************
TOTAL INCOME : 3'648 Euros
Sponsors :
Norvegian Embassy – Moscow : 1'300 Euros
Sauna Pink Beach – Switzerland : 755 Euros
Pasidg Productions – USA : 400 Euros
IGLHRC – USA : 385 Euros
“Madame H”, showman – France : 237 Euros
RFSL – Sweden : 415 Euros
Pin’s sold during the festival : 156 Euros
EXPECTED FINAL LOSS : 27'873 Euros
>> About the final result...
Much has been written about the financing of the Moscow Pride '06 Festival. Some people within the gay community have made some liable statements like for example Olga Suvorova from the Lesbian Organization Pinkstar who has declared on her site Lesbi.ru "Eugenia Debrianskaya has bought a new door for her club with the stolen money from the festival". A Russian journalist has written "Alekseev was forced to do the pride after he received the money from the European Union to sponsor this event".
The budget is openly published on this site. There has never been any mysterious "sponsor". There has never been any "grant". Fund raising covered less than 12% of the total budget. That's our big weakness. Some promises we had never turned to real money at the end.
But this festival was made possible because a few people wanted to show that gay activism can be created also in Russia. They wanted to show that Gay & Lesbian rights can be put on the front news in the medias. They wanted to raise the question of homosexuality on the headlines and not anymore on the tabloid section. The success is obvious. In 10 months Russian society has moved ahead like never in the last 13 years on this question. Effects will be seen over the next months. The rise of homophobia that some have promised as an excuse for their immobilism did not come. All polls ordered to monitor the effect of the Moscow Pride on the public opinion showed that it had a positive impulse in the society.
We knew that it would not be easy but we are proud of the result.
With the same deficit, some so called "gay & lesbian activists" who have organized an anti-gay pride campaign have opened cafes, bars or shop in Moscow. We continue to believe that activism and business cannot be mixed together. May 27th, marks for us the begining of a new era from which we will build a strong way for the future. It's just a small start.
GayRussia.Ru / "IDAHO Committee" / IGLCN
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/actions/detail.php?ID=5339
As promised, we publish the details of the budget of the Moscow Pride '06 Festival : This is the first time in Russia that a gay organization opens its books and provide a full transparency.
Organizers have taken personal loan to cover the deficit due to extra security cost, cancellation of the closing party by the manager of Club 3 Monkeys and lack of fund raising.
See below the budget commented by Nikolai Alekseev with answers to the main questions adressed by email to the Initiative Group of the Moscow Pride Festival.
TOTAL EXPENSES : 31'521 EUR
IDAHO Conference : 10'941 Euros
Rent of the rooms at Swissôtel : 4'929 Euros
Equipment : 2'806 Euros
Additionnal security : 3'057 Euros
Badges : 149 Euros
Nordic Russian Homo culture Festival : 3’300 Euros
Rent of the room at Swissôtel : 1'300 Euros
Equipment : 571 Euros
Additionnal security : 14'29 Euros
>> Why did you choose an expensive hotel ?
The choice of Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy, the most expensive hotel of the capital, was the only alternative to host the IDAHO conference and the Nordic Russian Festival. We contacted lower class hotels and conference centers, but they all denied to host a Gay & Lesbian Festival. From the first contact, we had with the management of Swissotel, the topic has never been a point of discussion. A few weeks ago, after the end of April anti-gay attacks, it became obvious that the selection of a pure Russian hotel would have end up with a cancellation of all the events, a few days before, probably for "security reasons".
Also, the choice of the location of the conference was a question of credibility and a clear signal that we wanted to give to both medias and local authorities. LGBT issues are serious and they deserve to be discussed not only in underground locations. This message was very well received by the journalists.
Moscow city hall has been very upset with the decision of Swissôtel Krasnye Holmy to host our event. We know that any other hotel in the capital would have been forced to send us off at the last minute.
>> Why there was so much security at the entrance of the hotel ?
A week before the event, after we had a meeting on the security, the hotel informed us that we would have to assume half of the security cost during our event. This spending was not expected but was manadtory for us, as our aim was that no incident take place during the festival. The security was rather discreet on thursday and friday. On saturday, we required a strict check at the entrance when Sophie in’t Veld, MEP, and Volker Beck, Member of Bundestag, were attending the press conference. The worst would have been to have any trouble in front of the 50 journalists attending the press conference. This is the reason why only accredited media have been allowed to take part and, only after a carrefull check of their bags.
The security issue has been handled very profesionaly by the management of the hotel. Security was a key point to us. First for our guests but also for the hotel. There is a bad precedent with a gay exhibition organized by the Russian Lesbian organization Pinkstar early May which was cancelled at a short notice. But because organizers did not think of providing security, the club was burnt by the nationalists and left the owners in a very difficult financial situation.
>> The bottle of water was very expensive !
We were aware that a bottle of water and all the drinks were quite expensive at the bar of the hotel but no one prevented our guests to go and buy it outside which many did.
Lecture of Merlin Holland : 696 Euros
Rent of the rooms at the Library of foreign literature : 174 Euros
Additional security : 87 Euros
Travel & Expenses : 435 Euros
>> Why didn't you host the lecture in teh same hotel ?
We were looking for a symbolical place to host the lecture of Merlin Holland. After several opportunities, we contacted the Library of Foreign Literature which was pleased to host the event. The Library rent us the room at a discounted price. We contacted the British Council and the Irish Embassy thinking that they would be interested to take part in the event. To our big surprise, none of them were interested in promoting part of the cultural heritage that Oscar Wilde left them. Ironically, the British Council is located inside the Library.
Moscow Pride : 638 Euros
Rainbow flags : 638 Euros
As we always said, a human rights march does not cost anything. We have only ordered some flags that have been distributed during after the press conference. Unfortunately… the flags were not used.
« La Vie est belle » - closing Party : 4'524 Euros
Travel, expenses and fees : 4’524 Euros
>> What happened to the closing show ?
It was supposed to be the closing party of the festival at the Moscow Gay Club 3 Monkeys. DESIRELESS was informed about this show last August. The song “Free your love”, which became the anthem of the Moscow Pride, was written especially to be performed during the show. When DESIRELESS and her staff arrived at the Club 3 Monkeys at 5pm, the club was empty and the manager was not on time. After half an hour, DESIRELESS was informed that the decision to close the club had been taken a few hours before. Official reason was "by fear of attacks by nationalists".
Surprisingly, an air ticket was already awaiting DESIRELESS and she was offered to take the first flight to St Peteresburg to give her show in a club which belongs to the same company. DESIRELESS who came to sing for the Moscow Pride politely said “bye” to everyone and left. On the same evening, all the gay venues of Moscow operated “business as usual”. There has been no incident reported. The show was planned in this club more than a month in advance. DESIRELESS was very disapointed. “I don’t think anyone else will risk to travel from abroad to sing in this club” she declared a bit later. Spartacus International Gay Guide was a co-sponsor of the party. Briand Bedford, its chief editor said “I am astonished by such little professionalism from this club”.
Unfortunately, all the expenses were pre-paid in advance and this cancellation left us with big spending and no income. It explains an important part of the deficit. The 2 hours notice was too short to relocate the show in a different place. If at least, we had known early in the afternoon, things would have been different. But I guess that's the poison pill gay business, who has always been opposed to the Moscow Pride Festival, by fears for its own business interests, wanted us to swallow".
It shows, once again, the unreliability of the gay infrastructures in Moscow. If we had trust the local gay community to help us in this festival, there would have been nothing at the end. Everything would have been cancelled at the last minute like all the other attempts to stage a Gay & Lesbian Festival since 1995, year of the first attempt.
Communication : 7’485 Euros
Souvenirs of the festival : 4'717 Euros
Gay Map of Moscow (non paid adverts) : 818 Euros
MoscowPride web site and technicals : 1'000 Euros
Video reporter : 950 Euros
The 3 press conferences (July 05, September 05 and May 06) have been fully sponsored with the news agency News Info.
Scholarships : 3'937 Euros
>> How many scholarships did you give ?
Scholarships have been granted to activists from Russian cities of Ulan-Udee, Kaliningrad, Kazan, St Petersbourg, Omsk and Ekaterinbourg. We also invited a few activists from the ex-CIS countries (No further details will be provided to respect the privacy of the scholars).
*******************
TOTAL INCOME : 3'648 Euros
Sponsors :
Norvegian Embassy – Moscow : 1'300 Euros
Sauna Pink Beach – Switzerland : 755 Euros
Pasidg Productions – USA : 400 Euros
IGLHRC – USA : 385 Euros
“Madame H”, showman – France : 237 Euros
RFSL – Sweden : 415 Euros
Pin’s sold during the festival : 156 Euros
EXPECTED FINAL LOSS : 27'873 Euros
>> About the final result...
Much has been written about the financing of the Moscow Pride '06 Festival. Some people within the gay community have made some liable statements like for example Olga Suvorova from the Lesbian Organization Pinkstar who has declared on her site Lesbi.ru "Eugenia Debrianskaya has bought a new door for her club with the stolen money from the festival". A Russian journalist has written "Alekseev was forced to do the pride after he received the money from the European Union to sponsor this event".
The budget is openly published on this site. There has never been any mysterious "sponsor". There has never been any "grant". Fund raising covered less than 12% of the total budget. That's our big weakness. Some promises we had never turned to real money at the end.
But this festival was made possible because a few people wanted to show that gay activism can be created also in Russia. They wanted to show that Gay & Lesbian rights can be put on the front news in the medias. They wanted to raise the question of homosexuality on the headlines and not anymore on the tabloid section. The success is obvious. In 10 months Russian society has moved ahead like never in the last 13 years on this question. Effects will be seen over the next months. The rise of homophobia that some have promised as an excuse for their immobilism did not come. All polls ordered to monitor the effect of the Moscow Pride on the public opinion showed that it had a positive impulse in the society.
We knew that it would not be easy but we are proud of the result.
With the same deficit, some so called "gay & lesbian activists" who have organized an anti-gay pride campaign have opened cafes, bars or shop in Moscow. We continue to believe that activism and business cannot be mixed together. May 27th, marks for us the begining of a new era from which we will build a strong way for the future. It's just a small start.
GayRussia.Ru / "IDAHO Committee" / IGLCN
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/actions/detail.php?ID=5339
