"Something new is starting": Alexey Agranovich will replace Kirill Serebrennikov as artistic director of the Gogol Center

Film and theater director Kirill Serebrennikov will be replaced by actor and director Alexei Agranovich as artistic director of the Gogol Center theater.

This was reported by the press service of the Moscow Department of Culture.

“By the order of the Moscow Department of Culture, Alexei Agranovich was appointed artistic director of the State Budgetary Institution of Culture of the City of Moscow“ Moscow Drama Theater named after

N. V. Gogol "from February 26, 2021", - quoted by the press service of TASS.

Agranovich is known as a producer and director of public events (opening and closing ceremonies of the Moscow International Film Festival and Kinotavr, TEFI and Golden Eagle awards).

He also directed a number of performances in the theater "Quartet I" and others.

Also, Alexey Agranovich is familiar to the viewer as a film actor: he starred in such films as "The Comedian", "Loyalty", "What Men Talk About" and others.

Earlier on February 9, Serebrennikov commented on reports that appeared in the media about his resignation from the post of artistic director of the Gogol Center.

The director posted on Instagram a photo of the letter he received from the Moscow Department of Culture.

The document contains a reminder that Serebrennikov's employment contract expires on February 25, 2021.

“Everything in this world, having begun, ends.

But something new begins.

I thank friends, students and enemies for a unique experience that helped me sort out many important things.

"Gogol Center" as a theater and as an idea will continue to live.

Because the theater and freedom are more important and wider, which means they are more tenacious than all kinds of officials, circumstances, and even more important and wider than their creators, ”the director wrote.

Serebrennikov also advised his colleagues who will continue to serve in the Gogol Center.

“Try to make sure that the theater remains alive and freedom is necessary for you.

And don't be discouraged.

In despondency, there is neither life nor freedom.

You know what to do, "the artistic director summed up.

The fact that the Department of Culture does not intend to renew the contract with Serebrennikov was previously reported by TASS, citing knowledgeable sources.

The director, in an interview with the agency, noted that the contract expires at the end of the month, but did not provide any details.

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Publication from Kirill / Kirill (@kirillserebrennikov)

On February 7, it became known that the Association of Theater Critics made a proposal to leave Kirill Serebrennikov as artistic director of the Gogol Center.

An open letter with a corresponding request was sent to the head of the Department of Culture of the city of Moscow, Alexander Kibovsky.

“As theater experts, we undertake to assert that the Gogol Center, created by the director and teacher Kirill Serebrennikov, has become an outstanding phenomenon in the history of Russian theater,” the appeal says.

Critics called the Gogol Center unique and paid particular attention to the need to preserve it.

On Monday, February 8, a member of the Council of Artistic Directors of Moscow Theaters under the Moscow Department of Culture, Iosif Raikhelgauz, in an interview with Izvestia, denied information about the dismissal of Kirill Serebrennikov. 

“Nobody announced to Kirill Semyonovich that the contract was not being extended with him.

This is some kind of incomprehensible fake message ", - said Raichelgauz in an interview with the publication.

He noted that Serebrennikov personally did not raise this topic at the council.

Kirill Serebrennikov has been the artistic director of the Gogol Center since 2012.

There he staged such performances as "(M) Student", "Kafka", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "An Ordinary Story" and others.

A cultureless scandal

In 2017, Kirill Serebrennikov became one of the defendants in the Seventh Studio case.

The management of the organization was charged with embezzling funds allocated for the implementation of the Platform project, which functioned in 2011-2014.

Initially, Serebrennikov served as a witness in the case.

However, after the testimony of the accountant Nina Maslyaeva, he was among the suspects along with Yuri Itin, Alexei Malobrodsky and Ekaterina Voronova.

The main goal of the Platform project was to popularize contemporary art, however, according to the Ministry of Culture, only 16 million rubles were spent on its implementation out of the 216.5 million allocated by the department.

In October 2017, the director of RAMT, Sofya Apfelbaum, who had previously also served as a witness in the case, became a suspect.

She was in charge of the Department of State Support for Art and Folk Creation of the Ministry of Culture at the time when, according to the investigation, violations occurred.

Apfelbaum signed an agreement according to which the Ministry of Culture issued 214 million rubles to the Seventh Studio. 

Serebrennikov, Apfelbaum, Itin and Malobrodsky were charged with embezzlement on an especially large scale.

From August 2017 to April 2019, Kirill Serebrennikov was under house arrest.

In June 2020, the Meshchansky City Court announced the verdict in the Seventh Studio case.

Serebrennikov was recognized as the head of a criminal group and sentenced to three years' suspended imprisonment and a fine of 800 thousand rubles.

Also, together with Itin and Malobrodsky, the director is obliged to compensate the Ministry of Culture for damage in the amount of 129 million rubles.

The director did not admit his guilt and claimed that he was not involved in financial matters.