I ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FORUM
9-11 November, 2012
The total number of the Forum participants: 70 (including 30 foreign guests), 300 visitors (incl. 100 journalists).
All the Forum events took place in Mikhailovsky Theatre.
Ideologically the Forum consisted of two parts:
Debating, scientific and philosophical part aimed to develop the main cultural cooperation directions, to find solutions to global problems with the help of culture.
Illustrative part, that was aimed to illustrate the importance of cultural cooperation and interaction, to show that the language of art and culture has no boundaries and is able to resist the ethnic, religious, economic and other disunity.
The debating programme was accompanied by various cultural performances, which demonstrated the interethnic cultural achievements.
The structure of the Forum included the following units:
1) Political (with the participance of Ministers of Culture and Heads of the Departments of Culture of foreign countries) – in format of plenary sessions;
2) Professional (with the participance of artistic directors, curators, artists and scientists) – in format of round-table conferences and seminars;
3) Festival and exhibition programme (included intercultural activities, events, projects with multicultural interaction).
II ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FORUM
2-4 December, 2013
The total number of the Forum participants: 2856 (including 160 foreign guests). Among them – authority representatives, artistic directors and heads of the leading cultural institutions of St. Petersburg, Russia and European countries, chancellors of the Russian and European educational institutions in the area of art and culture.
The Structure of the Forum: 11 sections (Cinema and Literature, Circus, Music, Theatre, Modern Art, Traditional Culture and Folk Art, Museums and Libraries, Cultural Policy and Art Education).
The events took place in 50 different venues all around the city. The key events were: Plenary Session where the Year of Culture in Russia was announced; the final Plenary session where the results of the II Forum were presented.
The key topic of the Forum was announcing the Year of Culture in Russia (2014). The Year of Culture was marked with grand projects and unique events and let to create the strategic premises for developing Russian culture for the forthcoming years and to draw the attention of the society to the problems of cultural heritage preservation.
Agendas of the Forum-2013:
- The role of culture in the innovative development of Russia;
- Culture as a key to a modern Russian identity;
- Tolerance and culture, preservation of the cultural diversity of Russian peoples;
- Resources of cultural development and culture as a resource;
- The current scientific and educational space in the field of culture;
- Russian regions as centers of cultural development on the modern stage;
- State and private partnership in the area of cultural projects;
- The financing models of cultural and art projects;
- Innovative forms of cultural activity.
The cultural programme of the Forum included the remarkable theatre performances, exhibitions, and concerts, presentations of art and cinema projects.
III ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FORUM
7-9 December, 2014
The total number of participants: 6700 (including 437 foreign guests).
The structure of the Forum: 16 sections (Cultural Policy, Theatre, Music, Language and Literature, Libraries, Cinema, Circus and Street Theatre, Traditional Culture and Folk Art, Choreography, Fine Arts; Science and Education in the Area of Culture, Philosophy of Culture, Preservation and Copularization of Historical and Cultural Monuments, Media Culture, Citizen Culture).
The Forum-2014 was dedicated to the 250-th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum.
The key events were: the Opening Ceremony in Alexandrinsky Theatre; the celebration of the Hermitage Museum anniversary; the round-table discussion `Cultural Policy. Innovations and Current Challenges`; the final Plenary session and the Closing Ceremony in the Mariinsky Theatre.
One of the main topics of all the sectional discussions was the improvement of the accessibility of cultural services for people with special needs.
Agendas of the Forum-2014
- preservation and development of the Russian culture, heritage and traditions of peoples and regions of Russia;
- governmental and international support of cultural initiatives;
- development of the international cooperation in the field of culture;
- role of Russian language and Russian literature all over the world;
- realization of government programmes supporting the translation of Russian literature into foreign languages;
- development of Russian and foreign cultural tourism for further involvement of the regional places of interest into touristic circulation, etc.
IV ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FORUM
14-16 December, 2015
The total number of participants: 11200 (including more than 1000 foreign guests from 79 countries). Among the participants – UNESCO experts: Goodwill ambassadors, members of international commissions, other representatives of the foreign expert community. Besides, there were 46 official delegations of foreign Ministries of Culture.
The structure of the Forum: 12 sections (Theatre, Music, Museums and Exhibitions, Literature and Reading, Cinema, Circus and Street Theatre, Folk Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ballet and Dance, Visual Art, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Mass Communications, Education).
Besides, for the first time the programme of the Forum was divided into four event flows: oficial, business, educational and public.
The key topic of the IV Forum was the 70th anniversary of UNESCO.
The key events: Plenary Meeting with the participance of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of UNESCO Irina Bokova. One of the results of the IV Forum was the project of the resolution dedicated to culture preservation in the areas of military conflicts.
For the first time, the Anatoly Lunacharsky Award was presented.
Besides, within the IV Forum the festival programme `Under the Auspices of the Forum` was launched. This programme includes remarkable cultural events: bright premieres, performances and exhibitions in St. Petersburg that are available to public all the year round. The Forum renders the informational support to its organizers.
V ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FORUM
1-3 December, 2016
The total number of participants: more than 20000 (including 750 foreign guests from 91 countries, 12 foreign ministers of Culture, 35 foreign delegations).
The structure of the Forum: 14 sections (Cinema, Music, Ballet and Dance, Theatre, Museums and Exhibitions, Circus and Street Theatre, Tourism, Folk Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Mass Communications, Fine Arts, Literature and Reading, Education, Creative Industry and Urban Science). Besides, the Forum was divided into two event flows: Professional and Public.
The key topics: 125-th anniversary of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, 25-th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States, announcement of the results of The Year of Cinema in Russia.
The key events: Plenary session `World Cultural Heritage Preservation: National Strategies And Global Challenges`; International Symposium `Sergei Prokofiev in the XXI Century`where the grandson of Sergei Prokofiev, Gabriel Prokofiev took part.
Besides, in the Mariinsky Theatre the Year of Cinema in Russia oficially ended up. Main participants of the Ceremony: Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian directors Nikita Mikhalkov and Fedor Bondarchuk, the British actor Ralph Fiennes.
The innovation of the V Forum was the establishment of the special status `guest-country`. In 2016 the guest-country was Greece.
One more innovation of the Forum was `Festival of Festivals`- an event which gathered the leaders of the international cultural festivals, artistic directors and government representatives. Among the participants - the artistic director of the International Athens and Epidaurus Festival Vangelis Theodoropoulos, the representative of the European Cultural Forum Walter Zampieri, the vice-mayor of Avignon Jacques Montignac.