Ukraine’s Atlas venue joins Liveurope
Kyiv’s Atlas has become the first Ukrainian venue to join Liveurope after the European Union-backed association hosted its ninth annual celebration of Europe Day through music.
The 9 May event, which also served as a fundraiser for Music Saves UA humanitarian appeal, brought audiences together to celebrate European values and pay tribute to Ukraine’s music scene.
It started with an intervention by the head of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU, Vsevolod Chentsov, followed by a conversation with two Ukrainian culture professionals, who provided first-hand insights into the current state of the music sector in Ukraine.
“We created Liveurope out of an appetite to make music venues ambassadors for European values.,” says Elise Phamgia, Liveurope’s coordinator. “By celebrating Ukrainian music on Europe Day, we hope to show the power of music to build bridges between our shared cultures”.
The evening concluded with performances by two Ukrainian bands, made possible through the collaborative efforts of hosting venue Ancienne Belgique and Atlas.
“As Ukraine’s accession to the EU draws closer, our collaboration with Liveurope will foster a sense of unity across borders”
“This Europe Day event was about the contribution of Ukraine to European culture,” says Vsevolod Chentsov, head of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU. “It is very important that Ukrainian culture organisations like Atlas get integrated into European cultural landscapes.”
The collaboration with Atlas served as a first step to integrate the venue in the Liveurope platform, with Liveurope announcing that the Ukrainian venue is joining its platform of concert halls as an associate member. As a result, Atlas will get direct access to a network of like-minded venues and in the long run, receive support for programming European acts in Kyiv.
Liveurope now houses 23 leading European concert venues, all committed to promoting music diversity and supporting the next generation of European musicians.
“We are thrilled to be joining Liveurope as its first Ukrainian representative,” adds Vlad Yaremchuck, Atlas’ artistic director. “As Ukraine’s accession to the EU draws closer, our collaboration with Liveurope will foster a sense of unity across borders and it is highly symbolic that this announcement came the same day when Ukraine celebrated Europe Day officially for the first time”
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Liveurope reveals Ukraine Europe Day tribute
Venues association Liveurope has announced the ninth edition of its Europe Day celebrations will be a tribute to Ukraine.
Liveurope founding member Ancienne Belgique is joining forces with Kyiv music venue Atlas to present three emerging Ukrainian artists – Cepasa, Ragapop and The Lazy Jesus – at the 9 May event at the Brussels, Belgium venue’s AB Club.
Attendees will be invited to make a voluntary donation, with all proceeds going directly to the Music Saves UA humanitarian appeal. Each €10 collected will finance one humanitarian box providing food for one person for an entire week. The boxes will be mainly distributed in Kherson, the biggest city liberated by Ukrainian forces since the start of the war.
“Since 2015, we have built on this public holiday to bring Europe closer to our audiences by organising our own Europe Day festivities,” says Ancienne Belgique’s general manager Tom Bonte. “This year, we naturally came to focus on Ukraine, as its scene is great source of inspiration for us all.”
“We hope this is just the beginning of a lasting relationship with Liveurope and its venues”
Before the concerts begin, Liveurope, an EU-backed association of 22 music venues, will host a panel discussion with key Ukrainian music professionals to discuss their challenges on the ground and their hopes for the future, as well as the importance of European cooperation. The conversation will be followed by invite-only networking open to cultural operators, representatives of the European institutions and media professionals.
“We hope this is just the beginning of a lasting relationship with Liveurope and its venues,” adds Vlad Yaremchuk, Atlas’ artistic director and Music Saves UA partnership manager. “We are fighting this war for our very European futures, and the support we have been receiving shows us that we are not alone. We are touched to host such an event in the heart of Europe in collaboration with a world-renowned venue like Ancienne Belgique.”
The event is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the EU and is endosed by the Cultural Creators Friendship Group, a cross-partisan coalition of 28 members of the European Parliament from six political groups and 14 countries.
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‘There is still a demand for concerts in Ukraine’
The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on touring in Eastern Europe and ethical dilemmas around potentially lucrative new markets were top of the agenda for ILMC’s Geo-politics: The Bigger Picture session.
The panel, hosted by LIVE’s Jon Collins, examined the place of touring and festivals in a tumultuous world.
Just over a year on from Russia’s invasion, Kyiv-raised Dartsya Tarkovska, co-founder of Music Export Ukraine, brought the room up to date on the office’s work, and stressed the importance of the international live music community continuing to support their efforts.
“We have the team of six people now,” she said. “And since Russia started the invasion in Ukraine, we had to split. Right now, we have two people working in Ukraine and four of them are abroad. I’m one of them. I’m currently working and living in the UK as a temporarily displaced person, aka, a refugee. That still allows us to be super-active and promote Ukrainian artists as much as we can, internationally. And our mission was definitely brought to a whole new level.”
Despite the stark circumstances, Tarkovska stressed that the Ukrainian live music industry was still a going concern.
“We used to think that Covid restrictions were super-tough to maintain. Trust me, it’s nothing compared to these challenges”
“It changed dramatically, and there are definitely a few things that impacted this change,” she said. “One of things would was a set of new restrictions and rules for concerts for civilians, because we have air raid alerts, we have shellings, we have curfew, electricity cuts… We used to think that Covid restrictions were super-tough to maintain. Trust me, it’s nothing compared to these challenges. But there are still promoters and bookers who are keeping up with these restrictions, because there is still a demand for concerts in Ukraine.”
She added: “Another trend would be concerts for Ukrainian soldiers at the frontline. That’s definitely a new, very non commercial niche, but a very important one. You can barely find an event without a charity component, and many Ukrainian artists donate at least part of their income for charity purposes.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies – a lot of industry stakeholders did pivot, because it’s very hard to maintain a full time business at the time of war. Some of them tried to diversify their activities, or stay open for new markets and explore new opportunities, whereas others literally do a 180 and focus on charity and other areas.
“For example, some of my colleagues – an independent booking agency called Kontrabass Promo – opened a charity organisations called Musicians Defend Ukraine, and are now collecting for charity. But solely for musicians who are now spending their time in the Ukrainian army, or at the territorial defence, so that they could get back from war and keep on creating more music.”
“Right now, one of the main challenges for us is to keep the conversation going, to keep the spotlight on Ukraine”
Promoter Máté Horváth of Live Nation CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) said the Hungarian market had enjoyed a “serious bounceback”, with strong post-Covid ticket sales, adding that the ramifications of the Ukraine war for the scene had been minimal up to this point.
“I think there was one confirmed tour which was, which was cancelled, but it hadn’t even been announced. It was literally just a week or two weeks after 24 February [2022],” he said. “I saw very few cancellations. I know there were difficulties for artists who lost tour dates in Ukraine, Russia or Belarus, to figure out how to make their tours work out… but it was not very rampant.”
Horváth added, however, that the completion of a new venue in the country was delayed and is still under construction because the building materials were to have arrived from Ukraine. “So there are effects on the market. But as far as cancellations go, it was not a major issue for us,” he said.
Tarkovska indicated that maintaining the attention of the international music community over a year into the war was a challenge.
“At first, we were overwhelmed as an export office with the amount of booking requests and cooperation ideas,” she said. “But as the time goes, we are definitely seeing the attention decreasing. Right now, one of the main challenges for us is to keep the conversation going, to keep the spotlight on Ukraine and keep the representation of our country in the international context.”
“We’re doing as much as we can. But we still need the interest from the international industry stakeholders to make this magic happen”
She pointed out, however, that keeping the spotlight on the issue was a “two-way street”.
“One of the things that our government is doing at this point is trying to develop some international policies and build the bridge to keep the spotlight and make sure Ukraine is represented at the key international events and cultural events,” she said. “Music would definitely be one of the areas of interest, and we’re doing as much as we can. But we still need the interest from the international industry stakeholders to make this magic happen. So if you’re wondering, ‘What can I personally do to support Ukraine?’ This is exactly what you can do.”
Weining Hung, co-founder of Taiwan’s LUCFest, mentioned that tensions between Taiwan and China had left some overseas acts reluctant to visit the former.
“We got rejected or asked questions by many artists from Western countries like Canada or the UK because they were quite concerned about their safety and asked us whether it was still a safe place to go.
“You definitely won’t have problems if you play in Taiwan. You can definitely still go to China, so it won’t have any impact.”
“Beyoncé did not perform in Dubai to celebrate the government, she performed to open a hotel”
The discussion later turned to how the industry should approach markets with questionable human rights records. Beyoncé’s recent private concert in Dubai marking the opening of the luxury Atlantis Royal Hotel, for which the singer was reportedly paid US$24 million, was put forward as an example.
Tarkovska said such decisions should be left up to the artist, but advised they first carry out “thorough homework” to understand the background of the country.
“They really have to evaluate if their values are aligned and if they’re not, why is it still beneficial for the artists to go and work in this particular market? It has to be thoroughly evaluated – what are the pros and cons of this kind of involvement? Because it is very tricky, and the consequences are inevitable. At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily all about the money.”
Middle East-based promoter Thomas Ovesen of TOP Entertainment said there was an important distinction for artists.
“Beyoncé did not perform in Dubai to celebrate the government, she performed to open a hotel,” he said. “Many of the shows in Dubai are commercial shows where the government has no involvement. Perhaps in Saudi is slightly different. So I think it’s a bit more nuanced than dismissing a market if you don’t agree with the rulership, because there is a massive upside in having acts performing. I mean, I’ve had Elton John in Dubai and he’s were very well aware of the rules there, but played to fans and did not play to support the government.”
However, Nick Hobbs of Istanbul-based Charmenko argued that outlook should not extend to all countries.
“Just to be polemical, I would say if there is a situation that the Russian regime continues after this war ends, then going to play in Russia normalises that situation. It says it’s okay, it’s normal.
“It wouldn’t be the Russian government directly inviting [the artist to play], although that is possible, it would be a promoter – but with the sanction of the government. And that, for me, is normalising something which is not normal.”
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Wembley Stadium tipped to host Ukraine benefit gig
Wembley Stadium is reportedly set to host a Live Aid-style fundraising concert for Ukraine this summer.
Artists such as U2, the Rolling Stones, The Killers and Pink are said to have been asked to perform at the London event.
“It’s going to be huge, properly A-list and on a global scale,” a source tells The Sun. “It’s something people have wanted to do for a while, but a date has now been nailed down and booked at Wembley Stadium. Invitations to perform are going out thick and fast to the biggest names in the business.”
The concert is reportedly pencilled in for Saturday 24 June – the same weekend as Glastonbury and BST Hyde Park
The concert is reportedly pencilled in for Saturday 24 June – the same weekend as Glastonbury and BST Hyde Park, with the source adding that some big name acts have already been ruled out due to prior to commitments.
The 90,000-cap stadium has already confirmed concerts by Harry Styles (13-14 & 16-17 June), Def Leppard & Motley Crue (1 July), Blur (8-9 July) and The Weeknd (18 August) for 2023.
Last year’s Concert For Ukraine fundraiser in Birmingham raised £12.2 million for the humanitarian relief effort in the country.
Stars including Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello and Emeli Sande took to the stage at the Resorts World Arena for the televised event. Anne Marie, Snow Patrol, Manic Street Preachers, Nile Rodgers and Chic and Gregory Porter also performed, while Ukrainian singer Jamala delivered a rendition of her Eurovision-winning track, 1944.
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Q&A: Russia’s Pop Farm on starting over with a new business
Russian promoter Pop Farm has rebranded and relocated, as Putin’s ruthless invasion of Ukraine continues into a second year.
Formerly based in Moscow, Pop Farm promoted artists including Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, Billie Eilish, Twenty One Pilots, Royal Blood, Kasabian, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and Foals, and organised the international festival, Bol.
Founders Andrey Samorukov and Dmitry Zaretsky have now launched their new promoting business, Honeycomb, headquartered in the Serbian capital of Belgrade and already operating in more than 10 European countries.
In an exclusive interview with IQ, the pair discuss what it was like to see their 10-year business decimated, how they’re building a new life and business, and why they’re feeling strangely inspired…
IQ: Putin declared war on Ukraine on 24 February 2022. At what point did you realise what it meant for your business?
We knew the week before the war, it was the end of our business. We already had calls from agents saying that the artists wanted to cancel the shows. It was obvious from the start we weren’t going to be able to continue business in Russia. At the same time, we were shocked because a war was happening and it was terrible. We were on the phone with our friends from Ukraine, asking if everyone was safe or not.
What was the damage control like for your business?
When one artist cancels a show, it’s bad. When 20 artists cancel shows, it’s a mess. Our roster was 95% international acts and obviously, all the shows were cancelled. The other 5% of our roster is domestic artists who take an anti-war stance – they are officially banned from Russia, meaning they are so-called enemies of the states. The whole business collapsed for us. The only thing we’re doing in Russia right now is refunding tickets for cancelled shows. It’s a lot of money.
“When one artist cancels a show, it’s bad. When 20 artists cancel shows, it’s a mess”
How much money did you have to refund fans for cancelled shows and festivals?
In our case, 10 million euros. We had to deal with the customers very quickly. Hundreds of thousands of people came to us in one day asking for money. We had people saying ‘I sent you an email five minutes ago. Why didn’t you refund it yet?’.
How were you physically able to process 10 million euros’ worth of refunds?
Most of it has to be managed manually because people were writing from, let’s say, 10 different emails about the same ticket and some people were trying to get refunds for shows that happened during Covid but which they did attend, so we can’t just automatically process refunds. Almost 12 months later we’re still in the process of refunding customers. We’ve got a whole team working on it. However, quite a few of our ticket buyers, especially for the festivals, said “We are going to hold on to our tickets because we want to support you for all the good that you’ve done for us in the last 10 years, so keep the money.”
“Hundreds of thousands of people came to us in one day asking for money”
Did any of the money get stuck with ticketing companies?
The market wasn’t ready to face such difficulties. The money for all of our shows was with ticketing companies, some of which went bankrupt, and it’s still our responsibility. Some were in better positions than others. Something you have to keep in mind is, if you refund the ticket, the ticketing company keeps the commission separate. They’re still doing business; we are not. Also, there were technical difficulties. If people bought tickets with Apple Pay or Google Pay, it’s almost impossible to get the money back because the technology just doesn’t exist in Russia anymore.
Did you already have a financial hangover from the Covid pandemic?
Yes. The Russian live music association called for a moratorium on refunds during the pandemic but it didn’t happen. It was pretty hard to be expected to cover all the losses during the last two years. We expected that the business would be open by summer 2022 – and we had some amazing shows lined up – and then everything we did was lost. We were just spending the money. We moved shows and then we cancelled the shows. Covid was the first blow and the second blow [the war] was the final one.
“Covid was the first blow and the second blow [the war] was the final one”
Tell us about the setup of your new business, Honeycomb.
We just rented an office in Belgrade, where we’ve relocated the whole team. The countries we’re operating in are Serbia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Croatia, Hungary, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. In all these countries, we’ve opened companies with our local partners. We found the promoters in those places – or people related to the music business – and offered to build a company together.
And we’re not middlemen who book the shows, we are actually promoters. All the bookings come from both of us. We have a share in all these companies and we are financially involved in every show. What we get from the partners is help with lawyers and accountants, as well as relationships with venues and an understanding of the local scene. We have a centre in Belgrade that sets up marketing, ticketing, logistics and production advancing. We have very skilled production managers and promo people in all offices too. We are building a system and a network – it takes a lot of time. On one hand, it’s difficult and on the other hand, it’s inspiring us – it’s refreshing. It’s pretty difficult to start your business life again but in a strange way, it’s not bad.
“It’s pretty difficult to start your business life again but in a strange way, it’s not bad”
How much do these markets differ from Russia?
Russia is just one country but if you promote across Europe, you have to spend much more time on everything. If you’re working on a one-week tour, it takes three months. We felt there was a lot of potential in these markets. The idea was not to promote in just one market but to find their neighbouring markets and build a chain. We want to provide a service to artists and agents and managers and make their lives easier. Of course, there are financial and economic problems in these countries but we’ve been digging into these markets and there’s huge potential. But also, it’s not just about business and money but about how inspired we are. We have the chance to start from scratch and build something new, that doesn’t exist.
Have you managed to keep any of your Pop Farm clients?
We are talking to everyone and everyone wants to continue to work with us and that inspires us a lot. We had a show with Louis Tomlinson in Russia, for example, which didn’t happen due to Covid and but we have a new show with him in Greece. Last November, we promoted shows with Oliver Tree in Istanbul and Belgrade, which sold out. Those were Honeycomb’s first shows with an international act and we worked very hard on the marketing and everything. It was absolutely fantastic and very emotional. At the moment we are offering tours for international acts – club, arena and stadium levels.
“We will build cultural bridges between our countries and help very talented artists to showcase their talent”
Bol festival was a staple of your portfolio. Do you have any plans to launch a new festival in your new markets?
Yes, but we don’t just want to create a major festival with some cool and huge artists – that’s not something we’re interested in. We want to send a message about music and culture. We want to deliver a unique product that’s more than a festival with some beer and bands. Bol festival was a cultural phenomenon in Russia, it was built around community. In Russia in the mid-2010s – a time of cultural isolation and traditional values – Bol (pain) appeared; a homemade festival of independent music with an anti-commercial name. Over the next seven years, despite all the laws of the market, “Pain” has become the main festival in Russia, which unites a new generation of musicians and listeners around it — and shows how to achieve inner freedom in unfree circumstances.
Bol festival contrasted the illusions of comfort and security, which the Moscow government diligently created, with the feeling of living life in all its uncomfortable complexity. Bol abandoned the model of the festival as a celebration of consumption, focusing on energy, sound and meanings. Instead of careful programming of the user experience, Bol offered a head-on collision of genres and contexts, from which something new, unusual, and important could be born – and was born. Thus, breaking all conceivable industrial rules, Bol has become a unicorn among Moscow music festivals: a space of freedom and self-expression for people who were born in Russia at the turn of two millennia. We made a festival which wasn’t InIt’s something to be discussed with our partners in each market who have a holistic understanding of what exactly their local audience needs right now.
Have you been supported by the international live music industry during the last year?
The business is about people first, not about politics. The centre of business for us is London because all of the major agents are here and we’ve felt great support from them. And now we realise that what we’ve been doing for the last 10 years, wasn’t just about the business, it was forging good relationships and friendships which is very important for us. We will build cultural bridges between our countries and help very talented artists to showcase their talent throughout the world with our help, with our shows and with our professional skills. That’s the most important thing.
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Calls to cancel Roger Waters’ Germany concerts
A cross-party group of politicians in Germany have joined forces to demand the cancellation of Roger Waters’ upcoming gig in Cologne due to the Pink Floyd co-founder’s comments on the war in Ukraine.
According to DW, councillors have sent an open letter to management of the city’s Lanxess Arena – where the 79-year-old is due to perform on 9 May – calling on them to “to do everything they can to prevent the concert”.
Invited by Moscow to address the UN Security Council via video link earlier this month, Waters used the platform to condemn Russia’s “illegal” invasion of Ukraine “in the strongest possible terms”, but repeated his claim that it “was not unprovoked, so I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms”.
“The only sensible course of action today is to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine,” he added.
Last year, two scheduled concerts in Poland by Waters were cancelled amid controversy over his comments on the Ukraine war
An alliance of Jewish groups is also reportedly calling for the cancellation of Waters’ 28 May show at Festhalle Frankfurt, after accusing the artist of antisemitism. Waters is also scheduled to perform in Germany at Barclays Arena in Hamburg (7 May), Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin (17-18 May) and Munich’s Olympiahalle (21 May).
Last year, two scheduled concerts in Poland by Waters were cancelled amid controversy over his comments on the Ukraine war.
Waters, who was due to perform at Tauron Arena in Krakow in April this year as part of his This Is Not a Drill Tour, wrote an open letter to Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska, in which he claimed “extreme nationalists” had “set your country on the path to this disastrous war”. He also criticised the west for supplying Ukraine with weapons.
The letter prompted an angry response, with Krakow city councillor Łukasz Wantuch urging people to boycott the gigs.
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Croatia’s INmusic pulls 2023 edition due to inflation
INmusic, Croatia’s biggest open-air music festival, has pulled the plug on its 2023 edition due to a myriad of financial challenges.
“The ongoing repercussions of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, inflation, and general sense of insecurity many of us feel in our everyday lives, have resulted in conditions which do not allow for a fully independent festival such as INmusic to take place,” reads a statement from the organisers.
“In the current circumstances, it is not possible to deliver the best possible international live music programme for a ticket price set in accordance to the local audience’s financial limitations,” it continues.
“[These] conditions do not allow for a fully independent festival such as INmusic to take place”
“Unwilling to give up either one of those principles which make INmusic festival what it is, and honouring your support since 2006 and attendance which enabled the festival to grow and develop with each edition, we have concluded it is best to focus our activities on securing the necessary preconditions for a stable continuity of INmusic festival in the future.”
The annual festival typically takes place across three days in June in the Croatian capital of Zagreb with an international-heavy lineup.
Last year marked INmusic’s 15th edition which was extended from three days to four and featured artists including The Killers, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Deftones, Royal Blood, IDLES and Kasabian. Details had not been announced for the 2023 instalment.
The organisers say they are hoping to hold the 16th edition in 2024 and share dates with fans in the following months.
— INmusic festival (@INmusicfestival) February 13, 2023
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Germany announces €1bn culture energy fund
The German federal government has earmarked one billion euros to help cultural institutions and organisers with increased energy bills caused by the war in Ukraine.
The Culture Energy Fund (Kulturfonds Energie) will proportionately subsidise “additional energy costs” for eligible recipients between January 1 2023 (retrospectively) to April 30 2024.
Private and public cultural institutions will be invited to apply for aid, as well as cultural event organisers “if they hold ticket-financed cultural events in closed rooms that are not themselves eligible as cultural institutions”.
The fund is a “ray of hope for the cultural sector in the crisis”
The registration platform required for applications is projected to be available from mid-February, with the first tranche of aid totalling €375m.
“The energy crisis is threatening the existence of many cultural institutions and cultural event organisers,” says minister of state for culture Claudia Roth. “With the Kulturfonds Energie they can now get the support they urgently need to continue to provide such diverse and rich cultural offerings in our country.”
Olaf Zimmermann, managing director of the German cultural council, called the fund a “ray of hope for the cultural sector in the crisis”, which also shows “how important it is for the various actors, federal, state and civil society, to work together in the cultural sector”.
The fund has been under negotiation since the autumn and was finally approved on Wednesday (25 January).
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Festival organisers visit Ukraine for tour project
Festival, event organisers and night mayors from across Europe and Canada visited Ukraine earlier this month for the Music Ambassadors Tour project.
The social and cultural initiative is designed to attract music professionals from other countries to become cultural ambassadors of the war-torn country, as well raise funds, provide humanitarian aid and ensure the stable operation of volunteer initiatives.
Guests included Pohoda Festival founder Michal Kascak, Login Kochishk of North Macedonia’s largest music festival Taksirat, act5culture head David Lezhava, ISKRA Festival and Bassiani club co-founder Zvyad Gelbakhiani, Mathieu Grondin of Montreal-based nightlife organisation MTL 24/24, and Fund for Democracy promoter Ilze Jankovska.
The visiting contingent stopped off in Kyiv, Irpin, Borodianka, Hostomel, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Lviv as part of the trip, which was organised by the Ukrainian Association of Music Events (UAME) in partnership with Night Ambassadors.
“We have been planning this project for almost two months, and when Kherson was de-occupied, we knew we had to go there,” says UAME president Oleksandr Sanchenko, who is also co-founder of the Music Saves UA initiative. “Our team cooperates with the Support Kherson Foundation and we have already managed to send humanitarian aid and generators to Kherson to help people who stayed in the city.
“We warned all guests that it was dangerous and some even refused to go because their families were against it. However, most agreed. As soon as we got off the train, we immediately heard the sounds of explosions, which did not stop the whole time we were there.”
“Cultural life here is blooming, events are happening despite the difficult situation”
Sanchenko continues: “We visited several humanitarian headquarters where the aid from Music Saves UA is delivered, saw a queue of hundreds of people, although it was raining and there were explosions outside. When we got to the central square to see it and the city administration, we were able to stay there only for a few minutes, the shelling was getting even closer and the military administration ordered us to leave the city immediately. A few days later, that same building was bombed.”
Two UA Night Summits were held in Kyiv and Lviv, where guests discussed the creative and entertainment industry in times of crisis.
“For several days we were constantly talking about how we can support Ukraine now,” reflects Grondin. “First of all, it is to talk and talk, so this topic is still in the news and on the front pages, and we also have to do networking with various festivals.
“I know some people in Montreal, and I could involve them in fundraising initiatives, and it would be interesting to do a cultural exchange with artists from Canada. This is what impressed me – cultural life here is blooming, events are happening despite the difficult situation. It’s a great idea for Canadian artists to come to Ukraine and vice versa.”
A short documentary about the project is planned for release next month.
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Finland’s former Hartwall Arena put up for sale
Hopes have been raised that Finland’s largest arena will be sold “very soon” after being left in limbo since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The former Hartwall Arena in Helsinki is owned by Arena Events but has laid empty since two of the company’s co-founders, oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Boris Rotenberg, were added to the UK’s sanctions list shortly after the war began in February.
Beverage giant Hartwall ended its 25-year association with the building – since renamed Helsinki Halli – due to its Russian ownership, while scheduled shows by acts such as Kiss, The Cure, Eric Clapton and Queen + Adam Lambert were relocated.
However, according to Helsingin Sanomat, investors were informed during the company’s general meeting that the venue was now officially on the market, with the sale of the Russian businessmen’s shares progressing “reasonably”.
A “strong impression” was given during the company’s general meeting that the arena will be sold “very soon”
Reporting on the meeting, IS states there was a “strong impression” the arena would be sold “very soon”, although no prospective buyers were named. The publication has previously listed live entertainment giants ASM Global and CTS Eventim, as well as Finnish billionaire Mika Anttonen, owner of energy company St1, as interested parties.
Rotenberg and Timchenko reportedly own a combined 44% of the 15,500-cap arena’s holding company, Helsinki Halli Oy, but their combined voting power in the firm accounts for 93.9%.
The report notes that, due to the sanctions, money from any sale cannot be paid directly to Timchenko and Rotenburg, with experts suggesting the proceeds be placed in a frozen account and not released until after the end of the war. Helsinki mayor Juhana Vartiainen previously told HS that the completion of any deal would require permission from the ministry of foreign affairs.
Arena Events says it will be making no comment during the transaction process.
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