RUSSIA     2005  

St. Petersburg

Studio RADIA was commissioned by The Fund to execute a signage and institutional branding system for Peter & Paul Fortress. The project completed and ready for implementation includes a full range of items: brand identity for the Peter & Paul Fortress (to be used for events, projects and programs on its territory), texts and types, and designs for information-bearing signs with options for their installation. This system will become the basis for graphical coherence for all the programs and projects of the Fortress. It will provide for easy visitor orientation, serve to acquaint visitors with architectural and historic sites, and facilitate their access to permanent and temporary exhibitions. See The Fund’s website for more details.

The Fortress director, Eugeny Arakcheev, expressed his gratitude for this project on behalf of his staff and the millions of visitors the Fortress receives. The Fund is grateful to the Starr Foundation for making the project possible.

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St. Petersburg

Development and Fundraising in Museums Seminar
February 28–March 1, 2005

Consultant: Jerold Kappel

Jerold Kappel, an organizational development consultant, conducted a seminar on “Development and Fundraising Functions in Museums” for the School for Young Museum Workers, a program of the Department of Art Museums of the Russian State Museum. The School is a two-week training program conducted for the young and emerging professional museum staff that work in a consortium of Russian art museums. For this topic, participation was extended to directors of museums in the St. Petersburg region. This expanded the number of seminar participants to sixty individuals.

The first day began with an overview of museum philanthropy centered on “The Basics of Fundraising-Developing Philanthropic Resources for Russian Museums”. This was followed by a session on the importance of strategic planning in the fundraising effort. Mr. Kappel stressed the role of comprehensive planning centered on an analysis of community and market needs rather than on internal organizational needs, a concept that is still not a part of the management process for these professionals. However, there was a burgeoning understanding that the lack of community/market-centered planning is a deficit in a market-oriented economy.

The day concluded with an overview of the core fundraising document for any development effort, the case statement. Following this overview, the participants were divided into small groups to develop a case for support for The Museum of Ethnic and Traditional Art, an institution that was wholly imaginary, but based on an amalgam of struggling mid-size museums.

The second day began with a brief overview of the previous day’s work and then the small groups continued their work in developing a case statement.

Following a coffee break, the groups presented their draft case statements and were questioned and critiqued by the other participants. Following the dinner break, Mr. Kappel offered an assessment of the work of the participants, an overview of the project and proposal planning process, and a discussion on corporate sponsorship. The seminar concluded with the presentation of certificates of attendance to all the participants. Participants formally evaluated the semi- nar upon its conclusion and many mentioned that the practical training of creating a case statement was particularly useful.

The Fund is grateful to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for making this consultancy possible.

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St. Petersburg

Interpretive planners and museum designers Robert Staples and Barbara Fahs Charles, principals of Staples & Charles, Ltd., met for a week with Dr. Evgeny Artemov, director, Dr. Elena Kostjusheva, deputy director for Research, and Dr. Aleksandr Kalmykov, historian and project director for the pro- posed Central Exhibition, to review and expand the concepts of the exhibition and the schematic plans for expanding the museum physically.

The museum’s mission is to actively participate in the development of a political culture necessary for civil society. The proposed Central Exhibition will seek to awaken an understanding in visitors that individual participation makes a difference in civil society and help visitors to understand key elements of Russian political history, both intellectually and emotionally.

Lively discussions about the concepts of the exhibition resulted in a core list of 10 events that are pivotal to understanding Russian history of the last 200 years. Ideas for presenting each of these events were developed: imagery, message, voices (perspectives on the events by key players as well as more common people), related events, artistic responses, and artifacts.

Initial plans for expanding gallery space in the museum by building a mezzanine in the largest gallery were reviewed, together with visitor flow through the building. The museum has responded positively to advice that the scale of the largest gallery should be maintained and is presently reviewing other options for increasing gallery space and improving access.

Robert Staples and Barbara Charles look forward to continued collaboration. The Fund is grateful to them and to Trust for Mutual Understanding for making this consultancy possible.

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Yakutsk

Rena Zurofsky, of Rena Zurofsky Consulting, and M. Drake Patten, Executive Director of the Millay Colony for the Arts, conducted a seminar on marketing and fundraising in Yakutsk.

On January 1, 2006, the Russian state system of funding will be revised. It will result in less funding for arts institutions, and therefore obtaining funding will be more competitive for them. For the local museums in Siberia that are isolated and already under-funded, this presents a serious issue, one the seminar was designed to address.

Ms. Zurofsky and Ms. Patten focused their seminar on the importance of a powerful mission statement and how that can be used as the basis of fundraising and marketing appeals. After the mission statement lecture, participants were divided into four “museums”: a local history museum, a literary museum, an art museum and a music museum-in order to reflect the types of museums in which they primarily worked. The groups were to decide what the museum really had/did, then to decide their audience, and then to write their mission. The ensuing presentations and discussions centered on creating statements that were lively, action oriented, and which also informed their audience of what could be expected from the institution.

Marketing was the focus of a lecture on the aspects of a plan and a discussion on the “four ’p’s'” of product, packaging, pricing and positioning. For the workshop, each group was asked to choose an event, suggesting a lecture series, a festival, or a family program. Three out of the four groups really jumped into this assignment. In fact, discussion got so heated during their presentations that people were shouting, “How are you going to pay for that?” It was really marvelous.

Fundraising was covered in some detail with discussions on government grants (as they are in America), foundation, corporation and individual giving. Emphasis was given to the importance of learning as much about the target as possible in order form the optimal request. The final assignment was to write a letter of application to a foundation, an individual or a corporation to fund the events that had been developed in the prior exercise. The groups chose which sort of application they wanted to try.

Remaining time was spent on a conversation about memberships and annual fund appeals. Ms. Zurofsky and Ms. Patten finished with descriptions of some museum programs considered “out of the box” to give the participants options to think about.

The Fund is grateful to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for making this consultancy possible.

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St. Petersburg

November 4-7, 2005

Consultant: Jillian Poole and James Bradburne

Peter & Paul Fortress Meeting

In November, Jillian Poole met with Boris Arakcheev, director of the Fortress Museum, Alexei Balakonshki, director of the Fund for the Development of the Peter & Paul Fortress, and Irina Yatskevich, project development director of the Fortress, to review and discuss ongoing and future projects at the Fortress.

Ravelin Project

Fund consultant James Bradburne traveled with Alexei Balakonshki; Boris Arakcheev, a representative of the potential sponsor Siemens, and the Russian Federation of Cosmonauts representative Sergei Kricalev, on a seven-day study visit of science centers in London, Paris, and Zurich. As a result of this study visit the concept of Ravelin was developed. Ravelin, a laboratory for the development of current state-of-the art interactive science museums will be housed in one wing of the Fortress, which will be remolded and re-constructed for the purpose.

Three broad subjects are proposed for initial exhibition initiatives: Space, Time and Money. Each of these subjects will receive emphasis over a period of some years. Mr. Bradburne will be consultant for this period of development. He has recruited British and French visiting curators for initial exhibition, but understands the need to train a local team for the future. The first exhibition will be primarily funded by Siemens who will assist in recruiting potential partners including Gazprom, IFK, and Severastal. The renovation budget will be covered by the City and/or the Federal budget. The proposed budget for Ravelin is presently under review by Siemens, and a decision is expected sometime in November.

Other projects:

Ms. Poole and Mr. Balakonshki also discussed management training for Fortress staff; thrice yearly con- sulting sessions with The Fund; a partnership with the Philharmonic to play at the Fortress, and the option of having the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC as a potential partner for the Ravelin project.

Future Plans: Russia

In a November meetings, The State Russian Museum asked The Fund to organize the following events:

• A seminar led by a management expert and a representative from an art museum for the meeting of museum directors in St. Petersburg in April 2006. Since there are a number of new directors, the Russian State Museum gives this high importance.

• In October 2006 a general museum management seminar to focus on education and new technologies for the Samara Region. Participants will be drawn from twenty to twenty-five museums and possibly other institutions.

• A basic management seminar for the group of museums from small towns, which Barbara Charles worked with to organize an exhibit of their work, as further training in fall 2006 or early 2007. The Russian State Museum will host the twenty to twenty-five museums expected to participate.

• The Russian Museum also asked The Fund to organize a seminar for their regional museum directors in Budapest, Hungary in 2007.

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St. Petersburg

Jonathan Hess, AIA, executive vice president of Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects in Indianapolis, spent a week in St. Petersburg working with the Russian Museum of Political History to understand the goals of the institution in order to consult on the possibilities of additions and/or renovations to the existing facility that would enhance the exhibit themes developed in prior meetings with Bob Staples and Barbara Charles of the design firm Staples and Charles.

The work focused on achievable options. While the Museum desires 500 square meters of new state-of-the-art exhibit space, the reality of site and historic constraints will not allow this because the museum is composed of two historic mansions, the Brandt Mansion and the Kshesinskaya Mansion. Therefore, the team explored avenues of adding to the facility in a way that would provide new space to allow the existing facility to accommodate new exhibition space. While this approach has certain limitations, it does provide the Museum with opportunities for expansion and to provide visitors with a new exhibit experience while enhancing visitor amenities.

A proposed new entry addition will provide needed space to welcome visitors and provide an orientation space, visitor information and, perhaps, small gift shop. New stairs to the lower level, as well as a handicapped lift, will allow ease of entry for individuals. The existing lower level will be renovated to allow this portion of the museum to be in keeping with the new construction.

A second addition was conceived as a space for multiple functions, large artifact display, open storage concepts as well as café, and space for group receptions. Glass walls and roof allow natural light to still reach into the rooms of the Brandt Mansion and areas of the Kshesinskaya mansion as well. A new elevator will connect the lower level, first floor exhibit space, and the second level exhibit space. A ramp is also available to the newly enclosed courtyard from the lower level.

The conceptual plan was reviewed with GIOP, the Architectural Defense Committee of the city of St. Petersburg. Three representatives reviewed this early plan and “found nothing in the proposed additions terribly offensive” but cautioned that full approvals would only come after more fully developed design and engineering documents were presented for their review. The museum directors are optimistic about final approvals.

Following Mr. Hess’s consultation, The Fund received a letter from Eugene Artyomov, General Director of the State Museum, praising the practicality and low cost of the design and noting that it is in full accordance with the mission of the museum: to facilitate the education of tolerant political culture. Mr. Artyomov also noted that the new project does not violate the historic image of the venue, a fact positively appreciated by the officials from the State Inspection for the Protection of Historic Monuments. He also expressed deep appreciation to The Fund for the combined consultancies of Staples & Charles and Mr. Hess. The Fund is grateful to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for making these consultancies possible.