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The Innosocium Foundation, the social platform of the Roscongress Foundation, took part in the 8^th 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 women’s agenda and creative industries.

The first session was devoted to the women’s 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, women’s role in the development of culture and preserving traditions as well as the problems related to women’s 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 Foundation’s 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.

Photo Source: TASS

15.11.2019