Penza, 30 January 2015. PenzaNews. The working party on Penza city festive and light decoration development led by first vice-mayor Victor Gvozdev held its first session at the city administration on Thursday, January 29.

During the opening of the gathering dedicated to forming the main concepts and the particular concept for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory, the head of the working party criticized the decorations used in Penza city for festive events.

“Penza has issues with festive decorations, lightning in particular. From year to year we are using the same ones: we pull them out from warehouses, and then put them back. We must change our approach to decorating the city. I encourage you to take the approaching celebration seriously,” Victor Gvozdev said.

The officials noted some work on preparing the location to the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory has already been done. In particular, the responsible parties have already developed the decoration concept.

The working group also discussed the potential of installing new street decorations, their colors, and possibility of using already existing materials.

Yulia Shumakova, deputh head of the Penza city Department of Culture, stated the flags have been re-inscribed in the inventory, revised, quality checked and are fully compliant for using in street decoration ensemble.

The working party members also presented the drafts of small-scale street decorum elements that may be set on the city’s largest streets.

During the event, Victor Gvozdev ordered those responsible to design the leitmotif, the style and the title of the ensemble.

Moreover, the relevant officials must prepare a list of locations for main celebrations and possible examples of decorum at those locations by the next sessioon.

The decorum ensemble of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory may become an example that will be used to develop concepts for other notable celebrations and dates, such as the New Year, the City Day, the Eighth of March, and the Defenders’ Day.

The working party has been founded under the orders of Yuri Krivov, head of city administration, the press service of the mayorate informed PenzaNews agency. Its chairman is Victor Gvozdev, first vice-mayor.

The group also consists of Inna Revina, director of the “Penza City Advertisement Service”; Dmitry Polishko, head of the Urban Construction and Architecture Department for the city administration; Olga Zavyalkina, head of the financial directorate of Penza city; Nadezhda Milyaeva, head of Business, Industry and Consumer Market Development Department for the city administration; Vera Feigina, head of the city Department of Culture; Maya Voronova, deputy head of the city Urban Amenities Department; and Valeriy Plakhuta, director of “Anshlag” advertising company, chairman of the regional branch of “A Just Russia” party.

Apart from organizing the festive decorum of Penza city, the members of the working party will also decide on complex measures to improve city outlook, create a comfortable and artistically expressive daytime and nighttime decorum, and other issues.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, the Penza city decoration issues became particularly apparent by the end of 2014, when Artemy Lebedev, a well-known Russian designer, accused Penza authorities of stealing the design of “The Best Winter City” New Year festival developed for the Moscow Mass Event Directorate.

The outburst of critique was caused by a photo made in Penza that depicts a billboard on Pushkina and Stavskovo streets crossroads. The billboard features a photo of a child, the words “Dreams come true!” the logo of “The Best Winter City”, as well as the number of the oncoming year (2015) and a signature: “Penza city administration.”

On December 29, the press service of the Penza city administration has publicly released a report from the director of “Penza city advertising service” Inna Revina. According to it, “the institution had no aim to copy someone else’s brand.” It also says the template has been developed to promote socially oriented content and was not used for profit.

Afterwards, the billboard that caused public outcry was removed. However, another billboard on Lunacharskovo street with the same logo in question was left intact.

Later, Artemy Lebedev pointed out that the billboard in question also broke copyright law twice, since it also featured a photo by Tatyana Cherkashina from Irkutsk. Because of this, the designer stated that “the New Year billboard signed by ‘the Penza city administration’ is a theft of two art projects, and neither of them is related to Penza in any way.”