Ahead of American rapper Kanye West’s (Ye) large-scale June show in Tbilisi, the state-owned company "Starring Georgia" received a subsidy of 42.6 million lari ($17.8 million) from the Georgian government. This follows from a document on the analysis of fiscal risks to the budget published by the Ministry of Finance, UNN reports, citing News Georgia and the bm.ge agency.
Details
The publication notes that the Starring Georgia project was created under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture to promote the country and develop tourism by inviting global music stars.
The 42.6 million lari was transferred to the company in 2025. This was Starring Georgia’s first state support since 2022, when the Black Sea Arena venue in Shekvetili received 73 million lari to launch the program. At the same time, throughout 2025 the company held no expensive concerts, while its main and most ambitious project in 2026 was Kanye West’s performance.
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It remains unknown exactly how much of the budget funds received and the revenue from ticket sales went toward the performer’s fee.
Starring Georgia traditionally operates with limited transparency: key contracts and information about payments to artists are absent both from the company’s own website and from the unified public procurement registry. Moreover, in May 2026, the Georgian government officially exempted Starring Georgia from the mandatory market research requirement when concluding contracts.
Despite the lack of transparency regarding the budget, commercial ticket-sales figures for the show proved to be a record for the Georgian show business industry. The concert, held on June 12 at Tbilisi’s "Dinamo Arena" stadium, attracted more than 70,000 spectators. According to the company, gross ticket-sale revenue exceeded 31.8 million lari ($12.2 million).
Ye’s performance was the rapper’s first concert in Georgia and throughout the entire post-Soviet space, as well as the largest commercial show in the country’s history, surpassing Justin Timberlake’s record from last year (55,000 spectators).
Alongside the Georgian Finance Ministry’s document, it became known that the consolidation of cultural assets under the management of the Ministry of Culture had been completed. In January 2025, the Tbilisi State Concert Hall (Philharmonic) and the Black Sea Arena management company became part of Starring Georgia, while at the end of the same year, LLC "Service-7," the operator of the Tsitsinatela amusement park, joined the structure.