One of the oldest art schools in Kazan will be renovated by the new academic year

By the new academic year, the overhaul of children's art school № 4 on Gvardeyskaya str.61 will be completed. This is one of the oldest schools in the city with a half-century history and the first facility of supplementary education, which is undergoing a comprehensive overhaul under the republican program. The progress of repair work today was inspected by the Mayor of Tatarstan capital city Ilsur Metshin.

40% of school graduates want their life to be in art and enter specialized universities

Art school № 4 was opened in 1964. For more than half a century, about two thousand people have been educated there.

Lada Vybornova, Director of the school, told the Mayor that today more than 600 people are educated here: 201 – in the budgetary classes and about 400-in the non-budgetary.

“How has the interest in art education changed over the past 5-10 years?”- the Mayor asked the school's director. “The interest is growing – we have always had 4 candidates applying for one student position, and now there are 5 people”, -  answered L.Vybornova. The course is designed for five years, after its completion, 40% of graduates want their lives to be in art and enter specialized colleges and universities, she added.

“This is a large proportion. If you consider the sports sections, then the proportion of entry into professional sports is much lower”, - the Mayor said. Interest in the art sphere is observed not only in this school, but also in the entire city”, - he added.

Minimalism in the interior and pixel David on the front

The building, which today houses the art school, was built in 1995, its total area is 400.6 sq. m. Overhaul started in April 2020. According to the author of the reconstruction project Andrey Shishkin, it will be possible to increase the area for the educational process after the repair.

The key principle of design is an interior that is comfortable for work and training, architect and designer Ruslan Gilmanov told the head of the city. “We plan to create an interior without large and bright elements, but with a cozy minimalistic modern base”, - he shared his plans.

The front of the building, which is made of silicate bricks, the architects propose to decorate with an unusual pattern – according to the idea of the designers of the project, it will be an image of King’s David head. “As a rule, all art schools learn to draw King’s David head, to observe the proportions, – said R.Gilmanov. – We want to adapt the drawing to the brick module – that is, we will get a pixel David as a reference to the modern digital era”.

The Mayor supported the idea of the architects and noted that the drawing on the front will emphasize the original approach to education in Russian schools. “The difference between Russian art schools is that our teachers still teach children to draw with a pencil. In many foreign schools, training is conducted immediately on the computer –  said I.Metshin. – This is our unique approach, preserved from the Soviet times, and our advantage”.