For three days the capital of Russia has turned into the children’s cultural capital of the world: the 3rd International Children’s Cultural Forum arranged by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Federal State Educational Institution of Culture ROSCONCERT was held in Moscow Palace of the Pioneers on the Sparrow Hills between 22-24 August. The event united 2665 participants from 89 regions of Russia and 14 near and far-abroad countries: The Republic of Belarus, India, Abkhazia, Algeria, Serbia, Egypt, South Ossetia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Trans-Dniester, Syria, Cuba, and China. The guests were the eminent culture and art professionals, as well as satellite groups from the regions of Russia.
Tatyana Golikova, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, pronounced a welcome address at the ceremony. She noted that a number of competitions and activities to be held in various sections is unique, and every participant was able to display his talents and share his ideas.
“The beginning artists or children who just love theatre, cinema, music, museums and history of art must receive our support and get acquainted with each other within one big event, where teachers of Children’s art schools, as well as educators of acting skills and choreography will come from various regions of the country to communicate and share their experience”, – noted earlier Olga Lyubimova, the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation.
The slogan of the Forum this year is “Open the world – open yourself!”: young musicians, artists, actors, writers and journalists could meet the eminent professionals of the Russian art and create their own projects, took part in workshop sessions and debates, joined the art-school, visited workshops and excursions.
Every day the eminent Russian art professionals, curators of thematic sectors met with children within their thematic sectors: Sergey Bezrukov, Art Director of the Moscow Governorate Theatre and Edgard Zapashny, General Director of the Great Moscow State Circus on Vernadsky Prospekt (“Theatrical and Circus Art”); Egor Druzhinin, choreographer, Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation (“Choreographical Art”); Dmitriy Bak, Director of the State Museum of the History of the Russian Literature named after V.I. Dal (“Literature and Journalism”); Yelena Pronicheva, General Director of the State Tretyakov Gallery (“Museums and Art”); Gavriil Gordeev, General Producer of Okko streaming service, president and ideologist of the All-Russian Children’s and Family Films and Animation Festival “Medvezhonok” (“Cinema and Animation”); Olga Khomova, Head of St. Peterburg State Academic Capella (“Musical Art”).
The Forum delegates visited workshop sessions, meet-the-artist events, debates and workshops, where the speakers and presenters were the prominent art professionals.
The key event of the Forum was presentation of the shortlisted projects of the Children’s Initiatives Awards in the sphere of culture and art development. 40 applications from 35 regions of the Russian Federation had been submitted this year, of them the contest committee chose four winners: projects “Art Burst”, “Small Motherland as Viewed by a Child”, “The Magic of Buryat Fairytales” and “LiteraTOUR” will receive a financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation for further implementation.
The participants of the hackathon “Digitalization in the Culture” competed not with each other only, but also with artificial intelligence. The winner of the competition is “Culture River” team from Volga Federal District with the project of the mobile game “Moncult” («Памкульт»), which helps to find new information on the cultural heritage with the help of monuments in various regions of Russia.
Much attention at the Forum was paid to the international cultural partnership: young musicians representing their countries at international competitions played at session “Cultural Diplomacy”. The debate participants were saying that the art has no borders, and that the creative power of culture can unite people with the most different opinions.
A community action “A Letter to a Soldier” arranged by the fund “Defenders of the Fatherland” and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation was held during the Forum: the participants could communicate with the Heroes of Russia face-to-face, and wrote their wishes to the soldiers – participants of the Special Military Action.
The Forum concert program involved the performance of the Song and Dance Company named after V.S. Loktev, cinema concert accompanied by the Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra under the baton of S. Skripka, the concerts of the participants of the Forum musical sector, “Friendship” concert of the satellite groups from the regions of Russia and “KED Concert” of Egor Druzhinin team.
The participants of the Russia-wide Social Movement “Volunteers of Culture” helped to manage the Forum at site: the events were hold in three concert halls of the Palace of the Pioneers and on the open-air stage, as well as in partner zones and in more than 15 spaces, arranged for various activities.
Totally 92 activities involving 111 speakers, 47 partners and nine satellite groups from the regions of Russia were hold during the Forum operation. More than 120 media representatives and a team of The Young Journalists League – 30 young reporters from the regions of Russia gave coverage to the Forum events.
The official closing ceremony was hold on the open-air stage of the Moscow Palace of the Pioneers on the Sparrow Hills. The 3rd International Children’s Cultural Forum was completed by a gala concert on the open-air stage of the Moscow Palace of the Pioneers with the participation of “Republic” group.
