On 11-14 September 2024, the X St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum will mark its anniversary in the Northern capital of Russia. This year's theme is "21st Century Culture: Sovereignty or Globalism?"
"Culture is a common language that brings people together. In the framework of the Forum, we shall raise current trends and relevant vectors of expanding the contemporary cultural environment, including the topics of cultural sovereignty and globalism. The business program will embrace debates within 10 thematic sections, each led by an individually chosen curator," remarked Head of the Organising Committee, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.
Each of the 10 sections is dedicated to diverse cultural perspectives. Chair of the VEB.RF State Development Corporation Igor Shuvalov will head the "Business Culture" section, Director General of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives Roman Karmanov will supervise five discussions and the show program within the "Artificial Intelligence in Culture and National Sovereignty" section, whilst Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Co-Chair of the Russian Historical Society Konstantin Mogilevsky will explore the “Right to a Heritage in a Multipolar World”.
Experts will elaborate on the influence of traditions on the level of social credibility, the continuity and contradictions of cultural heritage as a process, the role of creators in propagating ancestral values at meetings within the section "Cultural Heritage: Traditions and Contemporaneity", presided by Director of the Russian Museum of Ethnography, Yulia Kupina.
The curators of the "Theatres" section — Art Director of the State Theatre of Nations Evgeny Mironov and Art Director of the Moscow Oleg Tabakov Theatre, Chair of the Union of Theatre Workers of the Russian Federation Vladimir Mashkov — are going to expatiate upon the theme. Among the issues discussed are new vistas for dialogue between Russian and Chinese theatres, the potential and formats of theatrical interaction between the BRICS countries, the cultural sovereignty of Russia, the want of professional human resources and the quality of domestic education in the area of culture.
Led by the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Lenfilm Studio Fyodor Bondarchuk and the CEO of the Federal Fund for Social and Economic Support of Domestic Cinematography (Cinema Fund) Fyodor Sosnov, the "Cinema" section explores contemporary cinematic art both as a reflection of today's reality and as a tool for shaping it up.
The "Museums" and "Circus" thematic sections will be run by the Director General of the State Hermitage, President of the Union of Museums Mikhail Piotrovsky and the Director General of the Grand Moscow State Circus on Vernadsky Avenue Edgard Zapashny, respectively. The former section is focused on museum as a social laboratory and the search for national identity, paradigms of collaboration that meet the challenges of modern times. The leading theme of the latter is international cooperation and the preservation of national circus traditions in the context of globalization, inclusiveness and the expansion of circus art.
First Deputy Director General of ITAR-TASS Mikhail Gusman will take up the issues of "Media Culture". The section participants are going to discuss journalistic ethics when covering cultural events and the development of ethical standards for artificial intelligence in the media.
Director General of the State Academic Capella of Saint Petersburg Olga Khomova and Russian virtuoso pianist, People's Artist of Russia Denis Matsuev, along with other experts, are to share the experience of Russian and global concert management at the "Musical Culture" debates.
The central venues for the Forum’s business program will customarily be the General Staff of the Hermitage and the State Academic Capella of Saint Petersburg.
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