Artistic Council ( Artistic Council ) - in the Soviet Union , a group of specially appointed persons, consisting of cultural figures, as well as representatives of party and state bodies, whose task is to consider a work of art of any genre with a view to establishing its artistic value and conformity with ideological standards that made the decision on admission of a work to a mass spectator, reader or listener. According to some authors - one of the types of censorship in the USSR [1] [2] [ specify ] .
They were appointed by the central or local party leadership, the Union or Republican Ministry of Culture, the administrative leadership of the cultural institution. The artistic councils included both professionals - members of the unions of composers, writers, cinematographers, and party and Komsomol functionaries, public figures [3] .
The artistic councils did not have a permanent composition; for each separate work or event, the composition of the council was formed separately. Any program of a musical group, a theater troupe, a new film and other works of mass art should have been approved by the artistic council. Council members could voice claims and suggestions to the artists on the material that should have been heard. Speech or show were not permitted without approval by the artistic council.
Works that contradict public morality, Soviet ideology, or simply poor quality, were screened out without passing this barrier. The lack of approval from the artistic council put an end to plans for movie rental and program execution.
Some musicians and directors have found witty ways to please or divert their attention. For example, shots of a nuclear explosion were inserted into the finale of the film “Diamond Arm”, which the Arts Council removed without paying attention to some other controversial places [4] . The group "Aria", passing the first artistic council, brought along a performer of classical arias, who filled in the pauses between the songs of the group. The Arts Council limited itself to advising the removal of "classic" inserts, and adopted the program of the group itself without comment.
The work of the artistic council can be seen in the films “ Start Again ” [5] , “ We Are From Jazz ”, “ Forgotten Melody for the Flute ”, as well as in the series “ Thaw ”.
A quote from the film “The New Adventures of Puss in Boots” (1958) can be considered a parody of the work of the artistic councils:
There is no such number in my program.
The program was approved by the court art council
Notes
- ↑ Krasnogorov V. S. At a thought standing on the clock. Notes on the history of domestic censorship .
- ↑ Reifman P. S. From the History of Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Censorship
- ↑ Censorship in Russia of pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern
- ↑ Pure hand diamond - “Our Version” . Date of treatment March 22, 2013. Archived on April 9, 2013.
- ↑ “Begin Again” - YouTube . Date of treatment March 22, 2013. Archived on April 9, 2013.