Official actions
Severstal and British Council have launched “Cultural Upgrade” programme
25.03.2014 08:35
http://www.severstal.com/
23.09.2013
The international cultural management project “Cultural Upgrade”, developed by Severstal and the British Council, was officially launched on Tuesday 17 September at the State History Museum in Moscow. The event was attended by Igor Butman, Konstantin von Eggert, Sofia Trotsenko, Alexey Levykin and other decision-makers of Russia’s cultural sector.
The guests of the launch event were introduced to the programme by Alexey Egorov, Severstal Deputy Director; Paul de Quincey, Director British Council Russia and Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy in Russia; Alexey Levykin, Director State History Museum; Igor Butman, musician, and Natalia Poppel, Head of CSR Department at Severstal. Among other guests who attended the event were Lubava Moreva, UNESCO Cultural Specialist in Moscow; Tatyana Bokareva, Partnerships Project Manager at EU-Russia; Natalia Samoylenko, Head of the Cultural Heritage Department at the Russian Ministry of Culture, and others.
Guests at the event were told about the upcoming stages of the programme, which will comprise cultural management workshops in four Russian regions (Karelia, Vologda, Murmansk, Komi) led by British experts in cultural industries. Managers of local libraries, museums, music organisations, theatres and other cultural venues in these regions have been invited to take part in the workshops. After completing the workshops, the participants will be invited to submit project proposals, and through a competition winners would go on a study tour to the UK in March 2014.
The speakers noted on the unique qualities of the programme, which employs the leading practices and technologies in the sector. In his welcome speech Alexey Egorov, Deputy Director of Severstal, thanked the British Council for the partnership on this project. “Severstal is one of the largest Russian companies that support the development of the cultural sector and human capital, as our most valuable resource is the people”, said Mr. Yegorov. “We would like to move further despite the difficulties in the economy at present”.
Paul de Quincey, Director of the British Council in Russia, said: “We carried out the cultural mapping in four Russian regions and established two main areas for the professional development of the cultural managers in these regions. One of them is fundraising and finding new sources of revenue. The other is audience development. This is the case for the regions, where the cultural sector has limited funding and the managers need to find ways to attract audiences to their theatres, museums, galleries”. He also commented: “The success in this programme very much depends on finding the right partner and I think that Severstal is the kind of partner who understands the importance of cultural exchange and its role in strengthening cultural relations”.
Alexey Levykin remarked that, “Professional training is very important for maintaining our cultural heritage, particularly in the regions taking part in this programme which are at the heart of Russia and carry the highest examples of the rich cultural history. I would like to thank the partners in this project for their work and the ideas they are bringing into our profession.”
Musician Igor Butman, who has many times taken part in the Festival of Chamber Music in Kostomuksha, Karelia, said: “Such projects are essential. Culture brings us together. Across the world musicians and artists use a universal language of notes and gestures. We need to develop arts managers with international experience, who understand equally as clearly the language of artistic management. I’m very glad that some of the workshops will take place in Karelia, which is renowned for its cultural traditions.”
The next stage of the “Cultural Upgrade” will be the start of this series of workshops in cultural management. The first of these takes place in Petrozavodsk, Karelia, on 23−26 September 2013.
Summing up, Natalia Poppel, Head of CSR Department at Severstal, shared the expectation of the new, interesting cultural projects that will arise and be successful in the regions as the result of this programme.
Больше новостей втелеграм канале Правительства
Вологодской области