By preliminary estimates, Br16.6 billion was earned from ticket sales for events of the XXI International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk-2012", which is 224% higher than last year's figures, the press secretary of the Ministry of Culture of Belarus Yulia Viskub told a BELTA correspondent. The festival's payback increased from 55% to 67% compared to last year. In general, extra-budgetary revenues amounted to Br22.8 billion, which is 205% more than last year's figures. 180,000 spectators attended 77 events of the "Slavianski Bazaar". Yulia Viskub also said that the Minister of Culture of Belarus Pavel Latushko, during working meetings with colleagues from Russia and Ukraine, which took place during the "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk", reached an agreement on the presentation of Belarusian art in the cultural life of Russia and Ukraine. The main topic of the meeting with the Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky was the new cooperation program between the ministries of culture of Belarus and Russia for 2013-2014. Pavel Latushko, together with the Deputy Minister of Culture of Russia Andrey Busygin, discussed the organization of joint projects. In particular, agreements were reached on the exchange of museum exhibitions, as well as on the participation of the Russian side in the First National Museum Forum "Museums of Belarus" and the Belarusian side in the International Festival of Museums "Intermuseum" in Moscow. The Belarusian minister also discussed the cooperation program for 2013 with the Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine Alexandra Gubina. During the conversation, the ministers considered the possibility of holding a contemporary art exhibition in Minsk in the autumn of this year, using the Kyiv International Biennial of Contemporary Art Arsenale-2012 as an example. The grand closing ceremony of the XXI International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk-2012" will take place today on the stage of the Summer Amphitheatre at 10:00 PM. The star concert will feature Alsou, Nadezhda Babkina and the ensemble "Russkaya Pesnya", Alexander Marshal, Nyusha, Soso Pavliashvili, Victoria Aleshko, Inna Afanasyeva, Irina Dorofeeva, Alexander Tikhanovich and Yadviga Poplavskaya, the groups "Chisty Golos", Litesound, Nikolay Gnatiuk, and the duo Potap and Nastya.-0-

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