A meeting of the Organizing Committee for the preparation and holding of the X St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum was held at the Government House of the Russian Federation under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.
Opening the meeting, Tatyana Golikova thanked all members of the Organizing Committee for their well-coordinated and precise work on the organization of the event in 2023: "Last November, the Forum was held in an updated format and was highly appreciated by participants and guests, as well as the media. The plenary session with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose speech caused a great resonance both in Russia and in the world, gave a special sound to the Forum".
As the Deputy Prime Minister noted, the Forum will be held in St. Petersburg from September 11 to 14, 2024, dedicated to the theme "Culture of the XXI century: sovereignty or globalism?". The business program will include ten thematic areas: "The Right to Heritage in a Multipolar World," "Artificial Intelligence in Culture and National Sovereignty," "Cultural Heritage: Traditions and Modernity," "Business Culture," "Media Culture," "Cinema," "Theater," "Musical Culture," "Circus," "Museums."
On the third day of the Forum, the Hermitage Prize, established by the Forum Organizing Committee in cooperation with the State Hermitage Museum, will be awarded in the St. George Hall of the Winter Palace. The prize will be awarded annually, starting in 2023, to two prominent cultural figures - one Russian and one foreign - for achievements in the field of culture and art and for strengthening international cultural dialogue. Last year's winners were Russian conductor, artistic director, and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre, general director of the Bolshoi Theatre, People's Artist of Russia Valery Gergiev, and Spanish dancer, choreographer, and theater artist Nacho Duato, who heads the ballet company of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.
Andrey Malyshev, Deputy Minister of Culture of Russia, emphasized that the Jubilee United Cultures Forum will include events dedicated to Russia's chairmanship of the CIS and BRICS and a multilateral discussion on the prospects of international cultural cooperation.
The main venues of the Forum's business program will traditionally be the headquarters of the State Hermitage Museum, the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg, and the Winter Palace. Cultural events will be held at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Mikhailovsky Garden, the Marble Palace, the Ethnographic Museum, and the Peterhof Museum-Reserve.
About 1,700 participants are expected to attend the forum.
Alexander Alimov, Director of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry; Vladimir Kekhman, Director of the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum Directorate; Boris Piotrovsky, Deputy Governor of St. Petersburg, and Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the State Hermitage Museum, also spoke at the event.
Source: Russian Government.