The 5th International St. Petersburg Cultural Forum has been attended by nearly 20 thousand people from various countries. 275 events, including drama and film premieres, exhibitions, concerts and lectures were held from December 1 to 3.
The large-scale cultural marathon was dedicated to several events this time, namely the anniversary of Sergei Prokofiev, the 25th anniversary of the CIS, as well as summing up the results of the Year of Russian Cinema and transition into the Year of Ecology. The major venues were traditionally the Headquarters of the State Hermitage Museum, the Russian Ethnography Museum and the Lenfilm Studio.
The forum was attended by more than 750 foreign participants from 66 countries, 37 foreign delegations and 20 foreign culture ministers, as well as delegations from all of the 85 regions of Russia. Altogether 7,800 people registered for the event.
"We are equally happy to welcome both Russian participants and foreign guests. This time we have been visited by foreign delegations, including those from Germany, the USA, France and Italy. This is a good sign, because no sanctions matter for the people who develop horizontal cultural connections to implement joint projects", - the RF Deputy Minister of Culture, Alexander Zhuravsky pointed out at the opening ceremony of the forum.
The first event of the Forum was the international symposium Prokofiev. The 21st Century. A special guest - the composer's grandson Gabriel Prokofiev - showed up at the meeting. In addition, December 1 saw the discussion Media as a Bridge between Government and Culture.
Besides, experts and government representatives discussed the approach to preservation of cultural heritage as a priority national project, talked about the development of reading culture and estimated the perspectives of cultural relations development in the CIS.
More than 60 international agreements in the field of culture, including the agreement with foreign culture and tourism ministers have been signed. Professionals have discussed operational issues and developed new projects at 14 forum sections in the field of culture.
"Contemporary art in various aspects is the core of the discussions that take place at the forum. One of the main themes of discussion is global and national, and these concepts have been actively discussed on the ground of contemporary art", - the head of the section Museums and exhibition projects, Mikhail Piotrovsky mentioned.