Among the laureates are «Naively? Very», the Lifeline Fund, «Straight Talk», educational projects of the Russian Academic Youth Theatre, «Christmas Star», and ALFA HUMAN.
Projects of varying scales, audiences, and objectives share one commonality: each began with an idea that, over time, evolved into ongoing work and started to change the lives of those around. The awards at the Yermolova Theatre were presented by the general producer of the awards, Alisa Gevorkyan.
The project «Naïve? Very» creates a professional environment for artists with developmental features. Workshops operate here, jobs have been created, and authors create and sell their works. The essence of the project was succinctly captured at the ceremony: «Talent has become a profession.» For actress and founder Nelly Uvarova, «Naïve? Very» has long been much more than a social initiative outside her main profession: «It’s astonishing and thrilling to receive an award on the theatre stage for an initiative that seems unrelated to my professional activities. But the project ‘Naïve? Very’ has been a major part of my life for 16 years now. It is dedicated to people with developmental features, with mental peculiarities – artists who have worked in our workshops all these years. I want to thank everyone who has supported and continues to support us. Creating becomes increasingly challenging with each passing year, and this support is particularly important to us.»
Faina Zakharova received an award for her longstanding work with the Life Line Foundation, which assists critically ill children and their families. Over the years, the foundation has helped tens of thousands of children. Upon accepting the award, Zakharova spoke primarily about the scale of this work and the people behind it: «Thank you so much for finding the opportunity to highly appreciate our work. Just imagine: over 22 years, more than 75,000 children have been given the chance to improve their quality of life, and many of them we managed to save. Therefore, a huge thank you for this high appraisal and for this wonderful award.»
The Direct Speech Lecture Hall, represented by co-founder Svetlana Bolshakova, has been gathering an audience around live discussions on literature, history, music, and science for many years. Bolshakova shared the award primarily with those without whom the project could not exist – the lecturers and the audience: “I am grateful to the organisers for such a high appraisal of our work. We have been operating for 15 years, and during this time, a true community has formed around Direct Speech. The most important thing I want to say today is thank you to our lecturers, who have been with us all these years, and to our listeners. And, of course, I invite everyone to join us.”
At the Russian Academic Youth Theatre (RAMT), engagement with the audience does not end with the final bow; it continues through clubs, discussions, and educational programmes. Attending the «Hommage Initiative» were Director Kirill Rybkin, director-educator and head of club programmes Alla Lisitsina, and author of the youth educational project «THEATRE +» Olga Bigildinskaya. Kirill Rybkin reminded everyone that today’s educational work at RAMT is built on a tradition spanning over a century: «The RAMT initiative began roughly 106 years ago when Natalya Ilyinichna Sats decided to establish an educational division within the then Central Children’s Theatre. Since then, evolving along with the theatre and the times, the educational and enlightening activities have continued. Thanks to our educators, leaders of this field, and the Hommage award for recognising this work.»
The charity festival «Star of Christmas» in its third season took place across three cities—Moscow, Kostroma, and Ryazan—bringing together music, theatre, cinema, family, and educational events. The festival’s co-founder and producer, Veronika Vyatkina, was presented the award by actress Alena Babenko. Babenko shared that the very idea of the award—to recognize and thank those whose work is important to others—resonated deeply with her: «I am utterly enchanted by this award precisely because it is dedicated to gratitude. Therefore, I want to say thank you for the opportunity to express my thanks today. It is particularly delightful for me to congratulate my theatrical colleagues who received awards this evening. I wish this wonderful, somewhat magical award many years of life.» For Veronika Vyatkina, the award served as both recognition of her accomplishments and a stimulus to continue the festival, which is gearing up for its fourth season: «It is a great honour for me to receive this award—and a huge inspiration to move forward. I am thrilled that ‘Star of Christmas’ has been noticed. It is especially important for me to create events related to art that not only provide people with experiences but also help others through this. This connection incredibly fills me. The festival has truly become the purpose of my life, and I am very eager to continue. Thank you to everyone who helps me on this path.»
Another laureate was the ALFA HUMAN festival, which in May transformed Nizhny Novgorod into a hub of art, music, and science for 12 days. Anastasia Razumovskaya came forward to receive the award. She dedicated her speech primarily to the team that executed this complex interdisciplinary project: «A huge thank you to the award’s expert council for recognising the ALFA HUMAN festival. And I want to take this opportunity to thank the teams in Nizhny Novgorod. Both the creative team and the city administration demonstrated an incredible desire, readiness, and most importantly, the ability to realise a complex, interdisciplinary, rich, and ambitious international project at the highest level.»
The «Hommage. Watch Russia» award is a project by Watch Russia magazine that focuses on individuals and initiatives that are transforming the environment not through declarations, but through concrete, consistent work.
In October, the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre presented a two-act ballet «The Cherry Orchard,» based on the play by Anton Chekhov.
From 23 to 28 October, Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra will present all 15 symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich at the new Shanghai Opera House, followed by bringing Verdi’s «Aida» to China, which will be shown in Asia for the first time.
The foundation of the new public library is the book collection of the distinguished Russian art historian Dmitry Sarabianov.
