Koktebel Jazz Party revenue donated to a Koktebel school
The Koktebel Jazz Party organizers have transferred the festival ticket revenue to a Koktebel school. The school's Trustee Council will use the money to improve the school.
The Koktebel Jazz Party International Festival was held in Koktebel from August 28 to 30, 2015. The festival's rights holder is Rossiya Segodnya. The 2015 festival was organized by the holding company Red Square. The festival's general partner was VGTRK, Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. The festival was supported by the Russian Ministry of Culture.
Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselev said at the festival's opening ceremony that the ticket proceeds would be used to buy equipment for School No. 1 in Koktebel.
"Red Square fulfilled its commitment and transferred the funds to the Koktebel school several days ago. The school's Trustee Council will decide how to use the money," said Red Square Director General Alexei Kisin. He added that his company would monitor the spending of the transferred funds on the approved goals.
Sergei Zhiradkov, acting director of the Koktebel school, said they had many problems.
"Allocations from the republican and municipality budgets aren't enough to meet our needs. The school was built 35 years ago, and no major repairs have been made since it opened. We need some major investments here," Zhiradkov said.
The school's Trustee Council has held a meeting to unanimously approve investment targets. Artyom Melnichenko, deputy head of the Trustee Council, said the key priority is to buy a new transmission cable for connecting the school to a transformer substation. The old cable was damaged by a repair team five years ago. Since then, the school has been receiving electricity via an old reserve cable, which runs partly through a damp basement.
"The replacement of the main and reserve cables is the key priority. The cable also needs to be connected to the school's cafeteria where new equipment will be installed during the upcoming repairs," Melnichenko said.
The Trustee Council has also approved investment in fire safety upgrades, specifically the installation of a fire plug, fire point and a fire alarm system and replacement of the old standpipe and hose system. Plans also include the installation of safety lighting under the Emergency Ministry's requirements.
Next on the list is a water heater in the school's first aid station and at the entrance to the cafeteria, as stipulated by the Rospotrebnadzor consumer rights regulator. Part of the funds will be used to lay new tiles in the school yard for the safety of elementary school students (1st to 4th grades).
Melnichenko said that settling these issues was a priority, as the school could be shut down otherwise. "We'll do our best to make the allocated funds fit our expenses. Moreover, preliminary estimates show that we may even have some money left over. If so, the Trustee Council will decide how to spend it," Melnichenko added.
The Trustee Council head, Nikolai Bolonkin, is confident in the transparency of spending the funds. He has a personal part in this as his daughter attends this school.
"I started school here in 1983, and so I know that hardly anything has changed here since then, nothing has been repaired," Bolonkin said. "The minor repairs done here were financed by parents. Budget allocations were very few and small. The school had several sponsors among Koktebel companies, but they didn't finance major repairs or new equipment. The parents of our students are grateful to Dmitry Kiselev for what he is doing. For our part, we'll do our best for the school so our children and the children of our children can study in well-appointed classrooms."