In Irkutsk, they discussed the future Palace of Arts project, which will be housed in the Trade Unions Palace of Culture on Dekabrskikh Sobytiy Street. Session participants decided its design, name, and new cultural projects for the site. The renovated center will house creative groups, a 500 seat concert hall, a family library, a costume workshop, and recording studios. Specialists are now preparing the project and technical specifications for reconstruction, and repairs may begin by year end.

A session on designing a modern arts palace was held in Irkutsk. It was attended by representatives of the Irkutsk administration, deputies of the City Duma, members of the Irkutsk Public Chamber, heads of municipal cultural institutions, the sports community, and others.
The future cultural center of the capital of the Angara region will be located in the building of the Trade Unions House of Culture on Dekabrskikh Sobytiy Street, 102. Its total area is 7,000 square meters. Half of this building was municipally owned, and it housed the Solnyshko dance ensemble and the Lyubimovka cultural institution. The other part belonged to the Panorama entertainment club. At the end of 2013, the Irkutsk administration bought the second half of the building in order to create an arts palace here.
For the session participants, a tour of the building was held, and then they discussed what the building’s interior and exterior design should be, what its future name should be, as well as new projects for Irkutsk that could be implemented on the basis of the arts palace.
As Olga Aksamentova said, the palace will host creative groups such as Solnyshko, Lyubimovka, and Lotus. It is also planned that there will be a 500-seat concert hall here (where various forums, festivals, and competitions will be held, as well as performances by the Folk Drama Theater and other theater groups), a family reading library in a modern format, a costume workshop, and sound and video recording studios.
At present, the Department of Culture will work on the Arts Palace project, in which they will try to take into account the interests of various categories of the population. Then specialists will prepare technical specifications for the reconstruction of the building. It is expected that repair work will begin at the end of the year.