The Marius Petipa monument competition jury met for its first session in the White Hall of the St. Petersburg Committee for Culture. The jury members representing the culture and arts community as well as the city authorities include:
Zorina Myskova, Head of the Board of Trustees of the Farukh Ruzimatov Foundation, Counselor of the Minister of Culture and Mass Communication of the Russian Federation;
Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum
Anton Gubankov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Committee for Culture;
Georgy Sheremetyev, Chief Artist of St. Petersburg, Vice Chairman of the St. Petersburg Committee for City Planning and Architecture;
Nicolai Burov, Director of the State monument museum ‘St. Isaac’s Cathedral’;
Nikita Dolgushin, member of the Board of Trustees of the Farukh Ruzimatov Foundation, choreographer;
Helena Perroud, Director of the French Institute in St. Petersburg, Cultural attache of the Embassy of France in Moscow;
Boris Sergeev, Chairman of the sculpture department of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Union of Artists;
Albert Charkin, Chairman of the Union of Artists, rector of the St. Petersburg state academic institute of Art, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.Å. RepinVladimir Popov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Union of Architects;
Oleg Romanov, Vice-president of the St. Petersburg Union of Architects;
Valentin Reschikov, member of the St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Artists of Russia;
Stanislav Zadorozhnyy, member of the St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Artists of Russia
Galina Ievleva, member of the St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Artists of Russia.
Altogether the Marius Petipa competition drew twenty four entries, out of which through thorough deliberation and voting the jury selected four design submittal with the recommendation to the Foundation for further consideration. The short-listed designs were submitted by the following sculptors:
Irina Firstova (creative sculpture studio under the leadership of G.D. Yastrebnetsky)
Natalia Karpova (the St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Artists of Russia, the department of sculpture)
Maria Tretyakova (the Russian Academy of Arts creative studio)
The design team of Vyacheslav Kovalenko, Andrey Novikov, and Evgeny Severov.
With regard to the numerous appeals received by the competition steering committee to prolong the competition, the additional call for the Marius Petipa monument design proposals is expected to be held in the near future.
Information regarding the next stage of the competition including terms and conditions will be posted on the official Web site of the Foundation.
