«No grand piano in 50 years has been bought». How is the Mykolaiv College of Music working despite war and terrible conditions

The Mykolaiv College of Music has been educating the future of the cultural nation for more than 120 years. However, despite such an important mission, the college has been facing daily problems for many years, such as the lack of modern musical instruments and the lack of money to repair the historic building of the institution. And with the beginning of the war, shelling and remote training were added to this list.

How the college survived the shelling and continues to teach art to its students, whether it is worth waiting for the reconstruction of the historical building of the institution and why the third building of the college turned into ruins in the very center of Mykolaiv — read in the article NikVesti.

The college is forced to reduce places for applicants

Currently, there are 205 students studying at the College of Musical Arts, the director of the educational institution, Anatolii Syrota, said. These are pianists, string players, brass players, choirmasters, folk musicians, classics and jazzmen. All college education is free.

«We train the musical elite of our society. It promotes some norms of life, promotes something beautiful,» he says.

At present, 70% of students are studying in Mykolaiv, for this purpose, the institution has equipped the simplest shelter. And the rest — either abroad or in other regions of Ukraine. Therefore, the college organized a mixed format of education: online and offline.

However, the number of college admissions is planned to decrease from 2025, said Anatolii Syrota. First of all, this is due to the fact that the funding of the institution remains at the pre-war level, and the load on teachers increases due to changes in the curriculum.

«Before the war, we accepted 70 students annually. Last year we took 70, and this year — 60. The number has decreased a little. But it's not scary for us. After all, our curricula have changed and now the educational process requires more expenses for each student.

Therefore, I even made this decision for the next year to reduce the recruitment plan a little. This is so that we have enough funds. Therefore, next year we will accept not 70 students, but 67. And in 2026, not 67 students, but 65. We are going a little along the path of reducing the contingent,» said Anatolii Syrota.

For example, currently there are three teachers for one student at the same time, explained the director of the college. Classes usually take place individually in separate small classrooms.

«We have one student and three teachers for him. It is one time and at the same time. There is a teacher, a concertmaster and an illustrator. That is, three teachers, three salaries for one student. This is very expensive training,» explained the director.

The salary fund of the college is about 1 million hryvnias per month, and the institution is financed from the regional budget, he added. In total, 100 teachers work in the college.

«There are specialists. It is a great value for our region that such a team has been formed. There is no such team in any institution anymore. All these people have made a great artistic journey, and they work right here,» says the director of the institution.

No grand piano in the last 50 years

At the same time, according to the director of the college, «insufficient attention is paid to the development of musical art» in the Mykolaiv region. For example, the college has not updated its instruments for a long time, and currently teachers and students use those that were made in Soviet times, added Anatolii Syrota.

«No grand piano has been bought for at least 50 years. It is impossible to walk all the time, all your life without shoes, without pants, without clothes. And there is no money — they don't give. We have all the tools from Soviet times, and during the time of Ukraine's independence, there was no money. They don't give money for tools. The whole musical society is poor. What can we say, if even our Philharmonic has no premises, nothing. And that's how we are,» he says.

Therefore, teachers buy new instruments on their own in order to «maintain studies at a normal level,» says Volodymyr Aleksieiev, a musician and head of the Department of Pop Music at the College of Music. «It would be great if there was support for this,» he added.

The college was restored a year after the shelling

In 2022, the institution's building was damaged by Russian shelling — the roof was damaged and windows were broken. At first, the management and teachers of the college tried to eliminate the consequences of the enemy strike on their own: they laid the roof of the institution with slate, pieces of iron and mattresses, the director of the college said.

«We have been waiting for more than a year for the money to be given to us. It leaked and damaged the offices. We somehow hid and protected everything on our own — until we gave capital financing and closed it,» says the director of the college, Anatolii Syrota.

Funds for replacing windows and repairing the roof were allocated from the regional budget. These works cost 2.8 million hryvnias. At that time, the client of the repair was the Department of Architecture of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration.

«In the future, we try to do something independently. We have workers who know how to plaster a little and we maintain the condition of the building. Because I don't wait during the war for us to be given money for facades, that's not the most important thing. The main thing that finances the educational process here is salary, scholarships,» says Anatolii Syrota.

Renovation of the historical facade of the college «out of time»

Even before the full-scale war, the institution needed to repair the facade. In April 2021, the adviser to the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, musician and teacher of the College of Music Volodymyr Aleksieiev drew attention to this problem. He said that for 17 years the local authorities have only been making promises to repair the building, and it continues to collapse.

As of today, the situation with the facade of the educational institution has not changed, said NikVesti Volodymyr Aleksieiev. The reconstruction of the facade of the building, he says, requires an amount of about 100 thousand dollars (4.2 million hryvnias, — note). This cost was calculated even before the full-scale war by a company specializing in facade decoration.

«It was a commercial offer. They were even ready to do it at their own expense. But it was during the past heads of the region, and then, unfortunately, they did not come to an agreement. And then this company, as far as I know, left the Mykolaiv market. But all miscalculations and the entire project remained. And the number is still close to this one,» said Volodymyr Aleksieiev.

Currently, there is no current project for the restoration of the college building, reported NikVesti in the Department of Architecture and Town Planning of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration. There they say that the previous project is out of date and you may have to order a new one.

«The project was developed around 2016, but we do not have a more precise date. Taking into account the changes in the current state building regulations, its use for the purpose of adjustment is most likely economically impractical. We need to order a new project,» they said there.

Although in August 2021, Yurii Hranaturov, the deputy head of the RMA for cultural affairs, promised that in 2022, design and cost documentation for the reconstruction of the historical college building would be developed. At that time, he claimed that the reconstruction works will be carried out in two stages — the repair of the old building and the reconstruction of the historical building of the institution. The RMA was going to look for money for this from the State Fund for Regional Development or «beat out» through the «Major Construction» and «Major Restoration» programs.

At present, there are no funds for the restoration of the facade in the regional budget, the Department of Architecture reported. The only possible option today, they say, is the financing of works by international donors.

«In the conditions of martial law and hostilities, this issue is not timely at the moment. That is, the solution to the issue of restoration of the college is currently possible under the condition of the initiative of donors. DFRD or the «Major Construction» and «Major Restoration» programs are currently not funded,» RMA added.

The management of the institution understands the fact that during the war they are not allocated funds for the repair of the facade. Although it is not hidden that this issue was not paid enough attention.

«No reconstruction is being done, but we understand this. Now is the war and, of course, all forces must be directed elsewhere. Then we can be a little patient. But we endure not only these years, since the 22nd. As long as there is a facility, we tolerate as much. There are always no funds, there are never any funds: there were none 20 years ago, and there were none 30 years ago,» says the director of the college, Anatolii Syrota.

Musician and college teacher Volodymyr Aleksieiev is of the same opinion: «The facade, of course, is wonderful. It would be cool to do it, but we all understand that this money is now better spent on the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are all sane and understand the priorities.»

The college needs internal renovation of the building

However, more important than the restoration of the college's facade is the issue of interior repair of the building, says musician and college teacher Volodymyr Aleksieiev.

«If we talk about a big perspective, then, of course, first you need to make the middle, enlarge the big hall. At the moment, there is a need for this. There is still no such, let's say, small, high-quality chamber hall in the city. Therefore, it would be logical to first do all these works inside, and then to do the facade,» he explained.

At different times, the development of three different projects for the interior reconstruction of the college building was financed from the regional budget, says Volodymyr Aleksieiev. However, at present, any of them needs to be adjusted, and this requires additional funds and an understanding of the sources of funding for the direct renovation of the building.

«There were already three projects for internal work, which were paid for by the regional council at different times. But all of them have already lost their relevance. That is, what do we have? We have projects to list. And it is again necessary to allocate funds and spend time on this. And to do it for the fourth time, when there is no planned funding, it seems that it will be illogical,» said Volodymyr Aleksieiev.

The third building of the college is gradually disappearing in the very center of Mykolaiv

Next to the two buildings of the college, which need reconstruction of the facade and repair of the interior, there is another building of the institution. This is the third building of the college at 10a Soborna, which was exchanged more than 20 years ago for a building at 75 Tsentralnyi avenue, where the now defunct Docker tavern is located.

After the handover, the building was promised to be repaired. It should be a three-story building with a full-fledged bomb shelter, a sports hall and a large concert hall, says the director of the college, Anatolii Syrota. However, today the building is «ruined by time», he added.

The building is in a state of disrepair: of the three floors of the building, only the ceilings of the first floor remain, and the area inside is overgrown with grass. This building is currently surrounded by a construction fence and needs major reconstruction, says the director of the college.

For its reconstruction, «a lot of money needs to be invested,» says Volodymyr Aleksieiev. After all, the land plot where the building is located has bad geology, and capital reconstruction must begin with the foundation, he added.

At the same time, due to the absence of the two upper floors of the building, the adjacent wall of the second building is collapsing. As a result, during the rains, it leaks and destroys the working offices of the college.

The director of the college believes that turning to the regional authorities will not help to solve this problem, so he turned to a specialized company for support and hopes that the college will be helped to repair the adjacent wall between the buildings.

«I appealed, but, let's say, so far unofficially to the builders who are currently repairing everything that was damaged during the war. Maybe we will be included there somehow. We cannot do anything on our own,» says the director.

Currently, the situation with the buildings of the Mykolaiv College of Music remains uncertain. While the third building of the institution continues to disappear before our eyes, the main building needs financial attention from the regional authorities. To solve these problems, two radically different amounts of funds are needed, but in both cases, they are not currently in the regional budget. The only possible option in the regional military administration is called financing of works at the expense of international donors.

Yuliia Boichenko, NikVesti