''Afisha'' ( — "Poster") was a Russian

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

and lifestyle magazine published from April 1999 to December 2015 in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and 12 other Russia's major cities. In its peak years ''Afisha'''s readership reached approximately 1.5 million people. Its online version remains one of Russia’s most popular media brands with a monthly Internet audience of more than 4.5 million.

History

Founded in April 1999 by Moscow journalist

Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper Ilya Vladimirovich Oskolkov-Tsentsiper (born 30 September 1967, Moscow, USSR), social designer, media manager and entrepreneur, inventor, charismatic pioneer. Founder of Afisha magazine, and president of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architec ...

, American entrepreneur

Andrew Paulson Andrew Meredith Paulson (November 13, 1958 – July 18, 2017) was an American entrepreneur. Born in Champaign, Illinois, he was the son of noted American professor Ronald Paulson. During his early years he worked with oncology and neurophysiolog ...

and businessman Anton Kudryashov ''Afisha'' was intended as Moscow's version of Time Out which Oskolkov-Tsentsiper and Paulson tried and failed to license. It quickly outgrew its initial purpose as a bi-weekly listing magazine and ended up having a profound effect on Moscow’s cultural and nightlife scene. In the next 10 years Afisha turned into a Russia's leading publishing house by launching an array of spin-off publications such as monthly travel magazine ''Afisha-Mir'',

alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...

''Bolshoy Gorod'', food magazine ''Afisha-Yeda'' and a series of Afisha-branded travel guide books. A team of young journalists, designers and photographers brought together by Oskolkov-Tsentsiper created a unique ''Afisha'' style which had a major impact on

Russian media Television, magazines, and newspapers have all been operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. Even though the Constitution of Russia guarantees freed ...

. Many high-profile Russian artists made their first public appearances on ''Afishas front cover and the magazine popularised several new

fashion trends The following is a chronological list of articles covering the history of Western fashion—the story of the changing fashions in clothing in countries under influence of the Western world⁠—from the 5th century to the present. The series foc ...

– even introducing numerous new words into the Russian lexicon, from “deadline” to “ hipster”. A number of Russia's now prominent cultural figures started their careers writing for Afisha including film directors Avdotya Smirnova, Mikhail Brashinskiy and

Roman Volobuev Roman Olegovich Volobuev (; born July 31, 1977) is a Russian film and television director, writer, producer, and former film critic. Volobuev is best known for his 8-year tenure as film reviewer at ''Afisha'' magazine and for writing and directi ...

, award-winning writers

Lev Danilkin Lev Aleksandrovich Danilkin ( rus, Лев Александрович Данилкин, p=ˈlʲef ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ dɐˈnʲilkʲɪn; born 1 December 1974) is a Russian writer and literary critic. He won the Big Book literary prize in 20 ...

and

Yulia Yakovleva Yulia () is a female given name, the equivalent of the Latin Julia (given name), Julia. It can be spelled Yulia, Yulya, Julia, Julja, Julija, Yuliia, Yuliya, Juliya or İulia. An alternative spelling is Ioulia/Gioulia (Greek) or Iuliia. Prononciatio ...

and Elena Kovalskaya who went on to become artistic director of Moscow’s Meyerhold Theater. ''Afisha'' played an active part in

2011–2013 Russian protests The 2011–2013 Russian protests, which some English language media referred to as the Snow Revolution (), began in 2011 (as protests against the 2011 Russian legislative election results) and continued into 2012 and 2013. The protests were motiv ...

with its senior stuff helping to organise rallies in Moscow, publishing manifestos demanding fair election and at some point putting the opposition leader

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...

on the print edition's cover. A 2013 issue with a

rainbow flag A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the seven spectral colors of the visible light spectrum. History In the 18th century, American Revolutionary ...

on its cover and the story "27 stories from the lives of Russian gays" played an important role in the LGBT movement in Russia. In 2014 ''Afisha's'' parent company '' ProfMedia'' was bought by a Russian state-owned energy corporation

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...

. Soon after the new owners have shuttered magazine's struggling print edition and fired most of the editorial staff. Plans to relaunch the ''Afisha'' as a

quarterly A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

were announced but never realized.

Online

In 2013 ''Afisha'' launched daily updated sites "Vozduh", "Volna" and "Gorod", promptly telling about the latest developments in sphere of culture, music and life in Moscow, and "Serialy" - Russia's largest online television series library.

Afisha Picnic

Annually the magazine held a music festival

Afisha Picnic The Afisha Picnic was a one-day outdoor festival held in Moscow, Russia, every summer. It takes place on the territory of Kolomenskoye, a former tsar's estate, now a state-owned historical, architectural and nature reserve museum, located south-e ...

, a one-day outdoor festival held in Moscow, Russia every summer. It took place on the territory of

Kolomenskoye Kolomenskoye () is a former royal estate situated several kilometers to the southeast of the city center of Moscow, Russia, on the ancient road leading to the town of Kolomna (hence the name). The 390 hectare scenic area overlooks the steep ...

, a former tsar’s estate, now a state-owned historical, architectural and nature reserve museum, located only 10 km south-east of the city center. Since its start in 2004, the Afisha Picnic has followed the concept that mixes professional music festival featuring performances of international artists and local independent musicians, and urban-style event with all sorts of entertainment, such as designers’ market, gastronomic area, games and crafts, sports and amusements, lectures and workshops, and, on one occasion, even a dance floor on the rollerdrome. The festival was visited by 50,000 visitors that spread out over of land.

References

External links