St. Petersburg’s VIII charitable concert “Indifferent Art” successfully raised a record-breaking 6,905,000 rubles to benefit children and young adults undergoing cancer treatment at St. Petersburg oncology clinics. The funds will support the “svet.deti” (light.children) foundation, which provides comprehensive assistance to young patients and their families.

The concert, held with the theme “Oriental dance: the elegance of the East is timeless,” featured world-renowned opera and ballet stars, including Victoria Tereshkina, Kimin Kim, and Mikhail Petrenko, among others. The event is the personal initiative of Mariinsky Theater soloist Mikhail Petrenko and ballerina Alisa Petrenko, who have been organizing the charity evening for eight years.

This year, the funds raised will primarily support 15-year-old Vasya Kochnev from Novodvinsk, as well as other beneficiaries of the foundation. The amount collected far exceeded expectations, surpassing last year’s total of 4.3 million rubles.

“For us, this is an incredibly important event – it has become a part of my life, like a third child,” said Alisa Petrenko. “It is important to us that you come and support us…the fact that they performed here for free to save the life of Vasya Kochnev – it’s priceless!”

In addition to the concert, a charity auction was held, featuring jewelry, sculptures, paintings (including a work by Marc Chagall), and other valuable items. All proceeds from the auction will also be donated to the “svet.deti” foundation.

The “svet.deti” Foundation has been providing support to patients of pediatric oncology departments in St. Petersburg since 2008, assisting over 1,500 children, adolescents, and young adults from across Russia and the CIS countries. In 2024 alone, the foundation provided 98.5 million rubles in assistance to 525 children.

The foundation implements several programs, including “Targeted Assistance,” “Family Support,” “Assistance to Medical Institutions,” development of the Federal Register of potential bone marrow donors, and “Psychological Assistance.” Over the past eight years, the “Indifferent Art” concert has raised over 24.7 million rubles for the foundation’s beneficiaries.