Volunteers cleaned up the grounds of the upcoming creative center in Tobolsk

24 july 2023

The rundown building that once housed Tobolsk’s Vocational School No. 11 located in the center of the city has long been a magnet for vandals resulting in many shattered windows, walls covered in graffiti, and heaps of trash inside the empty premises. This year, a decision was made to include the building in the city’s urban environment development program knowns as True Tobolsk and to turn into a facility that will be hosting a creative center for youths after the building’s thorough refurbishment.

And while the future concept of the center is still being discussed and debated, local representatives of the city’s creative scene including the Free Youth Theater, Tobolsk’s artists and students decided to "revamp" the territory without any significant capital investment.

Thanks to SIBUR's social investment program, the Formula for Good Deeds, this place will be holding verbatims, mono-shows, performances, film screenings, and art exhibitions as early as August. The project has been called “Beskhaznoye Mesto”, a reference to the school’s popular nickname and its current sad state.

For a quick cleanup of the place, a subbotnik was called and local volunteers answered the call to help with clearing out the premises. ZapSibNeftekhim’s activists including SIBUR’s volunteers and members of the veterans' council ended up collecting 8 cubic meters worth of trash, boarding up broken windows, and sweeping the building’s floors clean. The attendees were also given a tour of the building of the former vocational school that had used to be the place where key blue-collar personnel were trained for Tobolsk’s petrochemical complex in the 1990s.

Natalya Nosova, chair of ZapSibNeftekhim Veterans’ Council:
The building is a familiar sight to all of Tobolsk residents. This had used to be an orderly and beautiful place. This is where our children and nephews once studied. That’s why we were happy to answer the call to attend the subbotnik. We expect that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will soon have an interesting new place both for leisure and for study.

Oksana Turchina, volunteer and OHS expert at ZapSibNeftekhim:
I was impressed by the sheer size of the building of the ex-GPTU-11. I particularly liked the building’s main auditorium, the creativity room (the one with ceiling paintings), and the gymnasium. I even attempted to put myself in the first position at the ballet bar and do the battement tendu jete. My dream had finally come true, I was able to see myself doing that in the reflection of the mirror. I am very happy that I had made a contribution, however small, to reviving the building.