The Innosocium
Foundation, the social platform of the Roscongress Foundation, took part in the
8th St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum on 15 November as
part of the Cultural Codes in the Context of Globalization theme and
organized two sessions on the womens agenda and creative industries.
The first session was
devoted to the womens role in culture, their access, involvement and contribution. The image of women
is one of the key concepts that permeate the art of various nations from
antiquity to the present day. With each passing decade, women are playing a
greater and stronger role, not only as creators, but also as organizers, advocates,
and creators of cultural wealth. The session was moderated by Museum of Russian
Impressionism Deputy Director Dmitry Barsenkov. The session
participants discussed development trends in modern culture, mechanisms for
creating and enhancing its accessibility, womens role in the development of
culture and preserving traditions as well as the problems related to womens
growth and professional fulfilment in cultural affairs.
The second session,
which was organized jointly with the Russian Export Center, was titled Culture
x Economics = Creative Industries. Creative industries owe their emergence to
the ever-growing convergence of economics and culture. Their weight in the
economy is on the rise, and their role in culture is becoming more and more nuanced.
The list of countries that have prioritized developing creativity as one of the
foundations of their economic programmes is constantly growing and includes
nations with a wide variety of economic backgrounds and cultural traditions.
The session was moderated
by Yevgenia Danilchenko, Director of the Creative Industries Export Department
at the Russian Export Center, and Igor Namakonov, Executive Director of the
Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Committee on Intellectual
Property and Creative Industries.
One of the key
discussion themes was the moment of transition between culture and an actual
creative industry. The participants also pointed out the main benefit of a
creative economy: it allows people to create new values at the national level
and achieve economic results, while also developing human capital and creating
unique products, niches, and entire industries. Eliminating the conflict
between the contemporary vision and national cultural traditions could be one
of the bonuses of this development. The discussion participants talked about
developing creative industries based on the example of programmes that have
been implemented in other countries and successful cases in Russia and noted
that much of the positive experience that has been gained could be applied more
broadly and scaled.
«The themes covered at the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum have a lot in common with the key focuses of the Innosocium Foundations work, namely the development of human capital, creative industries, and programmes to involve women in the economy. It is crucial that these issues attract the attention not only of the state and public organizations, but also the art community since their involvement in creating the ideology of the future and new social values is essential and invaluable,» Marinina said.