The Russian Academy Of Arts

On May 11, 2010 in the White Hall of the Russian Academy of Arts there was a panel discussion “Continuity of Generations” organized by the Russian Academy of Arts and the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.  The participants included the Chairman of the Council of Federation Sergey Mironov, Chairman of the Commission for Culture of the Council of Federation Alexander Dzasokhov, President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli, Chief Scientific Secretary of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Arts Oleg Koshkin, Head of the Artists’ Union of Russia Andrei Kovalchuk, parliamentarians, members of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Arts, figures of art.

The Chairman of the Council of Federation Sergey Mironov has welcomed the attendees and launched the round table on problems of preservation and development of culture in Russia which, as he believes, require a professional discussion. He stressed the necessity to preserve an academic school of fundamental art education and a significant public role of the artistic and enlightenment activity. He also said, that the current Russian legislation must contain provisions for the support of fine arts, both public and state one, as well as financial and moral incentives for talented young people.

The Chairman of the Council of Federation has noted, that the fundamentals of the Russian laws on culture were approved in 1992 and are sure to be amended according to the current needs. He emphasized the necessity to improve the trade and related laws, in particular, to ensure governmental commissions in fine arts and upgrade organizational and material resources of creative workshops and unions.

Sergey Mironov has stressed the urgent necessity to pass a federal law on patronage which has been in the backlog of the State Duma for 12 years already, as well as a law on creative activity and creative unions. He also accentuated the significance of the discussion of legislative problems with those entities that would work directly in the area of the above laws. 

The Chairman of the Council for Art Education of the Russian Academy of Arts Lev Shepelev has assessed the existing system for training artists and emphasized the need in the re-establishment of specialized art schools which graduate artisans of art, as today’s artists are composers and performers in one person, and the state goal is to provide conditions for creative searches, mastering new materials and technologies. He also asked to support by laws a special status of unique academic lyceums in Moscow and St. Petersburg training gifted children from many regions of Russia.

The parliamentarian, People’s Artist of the USSR Elina Bystritskaya has suggested, that the figures of art taking part in this round table should work out concrete means for solving the problems that are being discussed.

The President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli has appreciated  the initiative of holding panel discussions at the Academy and emphasized the necessity to set up a State Foundation of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Institute for Performing Arts. The Academy, that has preserved its historical traditions, is prepared to be responsible for the problems of art education development and its coordination. 

The Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Arts, Rector of the Moscow Institute of Architecture Dmitry Shvidkovsky has suggested to re-establish an expert council to be headed by the Russian Academy of Arts that proved its efficiency in the implementation of major federal projects such as the construction of the War Memorial on Poklonnaya Hill and recreation of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

The Executive Director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art Vasily Tsereteli appealed to parliamentarians to consider art as an important strategic sector of Russia. He accentuated, that the introduction of an obligatory course of art disciplines in schools and institutes would provide a possibility for specialists in any fields to learn and understand the language of art both historical and actual.

Among other speakers were the young artist-art historian Nadezhda Mukhina, who proposed to revive an old tradition of patronizing art entities and gifted young artists by high ranking statesmen and the parliamentarian Larisa Drabko who raised a problem of the international recognition of Russian art. The art historian Lyubov Shirshova told about the tradition of continuity of generations in the academic community and cited as an example the joint recreation of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow by three generations of artists from academicians to students of art institutes. The Academician Sergey Tkachev, a war veteran noted the significance of art for people, even during the Great Patriotic War in 1944 they marked in their regiment the 100th anniversary of Ilya Repin, the art fought together with soldiers and helped them to survive.

The Chairman of the Artists’ Union of Russia Andrei Kovalchuk informed that creative unions had been also involved in the elaboration of a new law on culture and creative activity and expressed his hope, that such discussions would accelerate the problem solving and create an atmosphere of mutual understanding. 

The Chairman of the Commission for Culture of the Council of Federation Alexander Dzasokhov assured the attendees, that the Council of Federation had made and was making every effort to be aware of the needs of contemporary art: “The members of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Arts and the invitees have stressed the necessity not only to preserve the classical traditions of our art education, but also to promote the search for new forms and methods, to provide a gradual transition of talented young artists from their studies to independent creative work.  All the speakers have been united in the opinion, that it is necessary to pass new laws on culture and solve organizational problems as soon as possible, in particular, to ensure governmental commissions and upgrade material resources of the creative community”.


The text contains information from www.Mironov.ru

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