ANNUAL REPORT 2008
Seminar «Culture and media» (June, 10, 2008, Moscow, State Children Library of the Moscow Region)
Seminar «Culture and media» (June, 10, 2008, Moscow, State Children Library of the Moscow Region)
A seminar «Culture and media» was organized as part of a commission from the Center of cultural initiatives of the Moscow region. At the seminar public relations technologies, information dissemination technologies and collaboration with media were discussed. The leaders of the seminar were Natalya Konradova, journalist of the «Russian reporter» magazine and Natalya Kopelyanskaya, scientist and member of the Russian institute of the Cultural Science.
Summer School «Creative industries development: strategies and practice» (July 1 – 9, 2008). Supported by Oxford Russia Foundation
The Summer School was intended to present and discuss strategies for creative industries development – a new cross-disciplinary issue for the Russian academic community. In the course of the Summer School, creative industries were examined both as a subject for theoretical analysis and as a number of practices developing in a post-industrial society. For the School organizers, creativity was not only a subject to study but also the core of the educational process. During the Summer School participants had an opportunity to acquaint themselves with new strategies and concepts and to master the technology of project development.
Aims of the Summer School: embedding the concept of creative industries in the Russian academic milieu; showcasing the academic potential of cross-disciplinary research in the field of creative industries; contributing to the integration of Russian academic programmes into the practically-oriented international methodological context; creating scientific, legal and practical tools for promoting creative industries development in Russia.
Goals of the Summer School: developing participants’ understanding of historical, economic and legal patterns of creative industries evolution; advocating the in-depth study of creative industries as an asset for updating various academic fields and enhancing their practical output; acquaintance with Moscow creative clusters activity to embed Russian practice into academic and research context; encouraging students to explore the creative industries phenomenon in their research papers.
For this purpose an Essay competition was organized; «The Role of Culture in Area Development» for senior and post-graduate students and young teachers of the universities supported by «Oxford Russia Fund». 33 people from 12 universities participated in the Summer School.
The Summer School was held in Moscow and in Yasnaya Polyana. In Moscow: introductory session - in the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, practical classes - in the Winzavod Contemporary Art Center, discussions and practical classes - in «Proekt_Fabrika». The School programme included practical classes, lectures, group work, panel discussions and business simulations. The group work and panel discussions resulted in a number of projects being prepared by the participants.
Partners: Museum-Estate «Yasnaya Polyana», Goethe-Institut, Cultural Policy Institute; Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy, UK; Faculty of Cultural Management, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences.
A research paper «The fabrics of imagination – new creative spaces in Russia» and organization and participation in the conference «Fabrics of imagination» (October 9 – 11, 2008, Moscow). A research paper «The fabrics of imagination or cultural conversion. New creative spaces in Russia» was completed as part of a commission from the Modern dance agency «Tshekh» using their European commission grant
A research paper «The fabrics of imagination – new creative spaces in Russia» and organization and participation in the conference «Fabrics of imagination» (October 9 – 11, 2008, Moscow). A research paper «The fabrics of imagination or cultural conversion. New creative spaces in Russia» was completed as part of a commission from the Modern dance agency «Tshekh» using their European commission grant
The Conference «Factories of imagination: new territories of culture» was held from the 9th until 11th of October at the premises of PRОЕКТ_FАBRIКА (Moscow). The aim of the conference is to present European and Russian experience in establishment and development of the new territories for culture and art. One of the main focuses of the conference was the conversion of former industrial sites into cultural clusters and multidisciplinary spaces for art and culture.
Big industrial spaces which used to be symbols of industrial, commercial and military power had, by the end of 20th century, suspended their work and lost their meaning. Industrial areas were deserted and turned into abandoned and unattractive urban districts. Unexpected perspectives of using these areas were discovered though. Independent artists and cultural entrepreneurships breathed new life into the neglected urban districts. Little by little this way of using industrial spaces was assimilated into Russia today.
The participants of the conference were professionals involved in the process of transformation industrial territories and spaces into new centers of culture and art (artist, promoters, managers… ), and also representatives of business, media, and government and city authorities.
As the introductory speech of the conference the research paper «The fabrics of imagination or cultural conversion. New creative spaces in Russia» was presented and discussed. The research paper provided current information about active creative groups working in Russian regions in the field of creative industries and creative clusters – Samara, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, and Petrozavodsk. Also in the conference were the performance «A Society of Anonymous Artists» at the Center for contemporary culture «Garage».
The research paper is available at the web-site of the Creative Industries Agency http://www.creativeindustries.ru/eng/analytics_russian/factories_of_imagination
A «Project Freedom of Creativity – Freedom of Self-expression» (September – December 2008). Supported by the Open Society Institute
A project «Freedom of creativity» started in September, 2008 and will be completed in 2009. The project includes an interactive performance «A Society of Anonymous Artists», a discussion «Creativity in Contemporary World» and seminars «Creative Industries – Entrepreneurship in Culture» focused on the creative industries development in regions. These events were planned in four Russian cities – Krasnoyarsk, Samara, Petrozavodsk and Vladivostok. The concluding part of the project will be a seminar in Moscow where the results of the project will be discussed and perspectives of the new cultural spaces and creative industries development will be outlined.
Creative clusters appeared to be the new class of cultural spaces capable to developing the creative potential of their members and assist urban development. Such cases previously existed only in cities abroad but today creative clusters work successfully in Moscow. There are PRОЕКТ_FАBRIКА, Center for contemporary art Winzawod and others. The experience of the Moscow creative clusters is of great interest in Russian regions. Many Russian cities have empty industrial venues as a sizable space resources and arts and culture professionals as creative resources. Nevertheless, in regions creative clusters sill not developed, projects of their development are still in their infancy and depend mainly on the enthusiasm of certain people. The main goal of the project «The freedom of creativity – Freedom of self-expression» is support and assists initiatives of this kind.
The goal of the seminars is to analyze the cultural recourses of the city, revelal of the possibilities of development creative industries and creative clusters of the city.
Interactive performance «A Society of Anonymous Artists» is an experimental theater project which enables the creative potential of the people participating in the performance. The performance is some kind of a «creative city model» where different voices are audible through creative collaboration.
Performance «A Society of Anonymous Artists» was created by the Josef Bois Theater in collaboration with Theater.doc and is a continuation of the creative experiment started in the interactive performance «Democracy.doc» by George Genoux, Arman Bekenov and Nina Belenitskaya. In the interactive performance «Democracy.doc» where the audience plays their model of the democracy in Russia and the outcome of the show depends on the participants.
Famous German artist Josef Bois asserted that every man is an artist. This idea underlies the new performance «A Society of Anonymous Artists». «A Society of Anonymous Artists» could be called «verbatim live». This is a performance based on the documentary play which is born on in front of the audience’s eyes. The leaders of the performance are Verochka Polozkova – poet and famous blogger and Mikhail Kaluzsky – journalist and publicist.
In 2008 the following events took place:
· Performance, discussion and seminar in Krasnoyarsk (Pushkin theater – Cultural center «Cinema house», October 15 – 17, 2008);
· Performance, discussion and seminar in Samara («Bumaznaya luna» - «The paper moon» club, October 23-25, 2008). At the seminar two key projects in the field of creative industries were discussed. The first was about creative cluster creation in the space of the former Flour Mill Factory. The second was the «Art-propaganda» cultural center launched on the venue on the former «House of culture» in the center of the city.
Creative Industries Agency web-site www.creativeindustries.ru
In September 2008 the web-site www.creativeindustries.ru was launched.
Series of analytical materials as part of a commission from the Association of Cultural Managers on behalf of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation
Experts and staff members of the Creative Industries Agency completed a series of analytical materials, including «Creative Industries and ethnic cultures», «The project management of the ethno cultural projects», «Legal and financial issues in the field of ethnic cultural projects» and «Ethnic cultures as a resource of regional development» and conducted a series of round tables.
Administrative support of the Josef Bois Theater project «Performance of Pavel Pryazko «The third choice» (January 1 – December 2008). Supported by Autonomous noncommercial organization «Unity of culture and media»
The director of the performance is Philippe Grigoryan, famous for his creative experiments. In the performance «The third choice» Philippe Grigoryan took on two roles – director and set designer. «The third choice» is a play by Pavel Pryazko. It’s devoted to the relationships between a group of children who have arrived for holidays to the summer camp. This play is about switching between the children’s naïve belief in miracles and unskillful attempts to look older. This is about searching for real love and real friendship.
In the performance: Alexei Panichev, Anna Galinove, Alena Balabanova, Alexandra Rebenok, Maria Kostikova, Margarita Kutovaya, Kristina Lebedeva, Oleg Donets, Ilya Glynnikov, Donatas Grudovish. Director, set and lighting designer: Philippe Grigoryan. Costumer: Anna Kudevish. Choreographer: Sergey Zemlyansky. Sound design: THE:HET.
The first nights of the performance took place on November 22 and December 17 and 18 in «Aktovy zal» (Project Fabrika http://www.aktzal.ru). The first performances were successful, the information about the performance was published in «Afisha» magazine and on the web-sites of the partner organizations. For the first night shows the critics, media and young people were invited. The critics appreciated the performance and it was included in the non-competition programme of the Golden Mask Festival. The performance «The third Choice» as part of of the Golden Mask Theater Festival will take place on 11 and 12 April, 2009.
Other activities:
Other activities:
Creative Industries Agency participated in organizing the round table «Art and culture as a resource for city development» held in frames of the Perm Economic Forum (September 12-13, 2008).
Creative Industries Agency participated in organizing the International conference «Museum as a space of intercultural dialogue» held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (November 29-30, 2008). The Director of the Creative Industries Agency was invited as a moderator of the discussions at the conference.
