RUSSIA     2006  

Izhevsk
May 22–27, 2006

BACKGROUND
The Udmurt Republic, an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation (?) since 1921, is an industrial center. Until 1991 it was ‘closed’ and a major producer of mechanical as well as chemical weapons. It still is a center for weapons (there is a concern now about how the existing chemical weapons in the area will be destroyed to comply with international mandates); however, many of the factories have closed and unemployment is a serious problem. One factory that formerly produced weapons now makes bicycles (see photograph from National Museum of Udmurt Republic collections).

The rural areas of the Republic are also very poor – the main agricultural products are meat, eggs, and milk. The soil in the area does not lend itself to growing crops for the market; however, as in all of Russia, small vegetable and flower gardens were visible in yards away from the urban centers. Seasonal festivals marking planting and harvesting times are celebrated by indigenous craft manufacture, local markets, and music and dance performances.

The majority of the population (over 50%) in the Udmurt Republic is Russian with lesser percentages being Udmurt (30%+), Tatar, and other ethnic groups. The Udmurts are a Finno-Ugric people who have many proud traditions. These are highlighted in a number of museums and cultural institutions (large and, mostly, small) throughout the Republic almost to the neglect of other cultures.

Our seminar was held in Izhevsk, the capital of the Republic of Udmurtia and its largest city. Our hosts were the National Museum of the Udmurt Republic and the Udmurt National Library.

Our challenge was to present seminars to groups of museum and library professionals in a very short period of time. The museum seminar was originally scheduled as two one-day seminars each for a different group of people (museum workers in Izhevsk the first day and museum workers from rural areas and other cities the second). The National Museum did not anticipate attendees being able to afford an overnight stay in Izhevsk. At the last minute, the length of the seminar was changed to two days in the hopes that people might commute into Izhevsk each day. We recommended that participants read “Managing for Money” prior to the seminar but were told that many of the rural institutions had no internet access so that might not be possible.

THE SEMINAR
Fund consultants Yerkovich and Duke arrived in Izhevsk on Monday, May 22 and after checking in to the hotel toured the National Museum and its collections as well as the International East European University a private university with 6,000 students.

Our second day included a van trip north and east of Izhevsk with staff from the National Museum and the Ministry of Culture. After visits to local administration offices in Debyosy and the Igrinsky District, we toured the Applied Arts Center in Debyosy, Baygurez mountain (a special Udmurt site), several stops on the Siberian Road Museum (a cultural tourism site in development) including one house where inmates stayed overnight and a cultural center, and a Center for Udmurt Culture in Sundur.

Both days provided an overview of the range of cultural institutions in the Udmurt Republic as well as some insight into the issues facing those places.

The two-day seminar opened to a full house on May 24 with a welcome from the Director of the National Museum of the Udmurt Republic, the Minister of Culture Averyan Khristoforov, and the U.S. Consul General John Stepanchuk. Several questions from the media followed these remarks and then the seminar began.

We were pleased to see a full house for the beginning of the seminar and even more pleased that the group did not diminish dramatically during the first day. On the second day there were a few new faces and we received a list of over 100 participants attending over the course of the two days.

We presented an overview of the longer Fund “Managing for Money” seminar, emphasizing audience and program development while discussing the basics of fund raising. The museum audience was particularly interested in issues related to ‘preserving the ethnic in an urban environment,’ thus, we focused upon exhibition and programming strategies used to appeal to diverse audiences in our initial presentations about The New Jersey Historical Society and the International Museum of Folk Art.

During the first afternoon, break out groups created ‘new institutions with specific programs and objectives and on the second day participants created a case statement and argument for funding for a focused program for these same institutions. We heard impassioned arguments for “Adam’s Rib” a collaborative exhibition between two museums on the role of women in society; “Our Wonderful World” a science museum project which would raise the awareness of the need to preserve biological diversity and work to improve the environment; a children’s museum toy theater that would involve youngsters in making art; and “From Hearth to Hearth” an exhibition on iron-making that would not only show the history of iron-making in the region and the use of items made from iron in the household (thus appealing to both men – the iron makers – and women – the users of tools and jewelry made from iron) but also help revive traditional metal crafts. The enthusiastic presentations were greeted warmly by the rest of those present and the seminar ended on an energetic note.

On our final morning, we presented a two-hour seminar to library staff members from the National Library of the Udmurt Republic as well as other libraries in the region. Because we had such a short period of time, we had hoped to have a roundtable discussion with those present about the issues that are most pressing to them. In an early morning conversation with the Director for the National Library, however, we discovered that our audience would be too large (40-50 people attended) and that the group was really interested in fund raising. As a result, we did an overview of fund raising with a focus upon grants, referring the audience to the Fund’s website and on-line publications for more detail. Because the libraries in the Udmurt Republic are well-connected to the Internet, it seems likely that these resources will be of assistance to those attending.

Our stay in the Udmurt Republic ended with a visit to a contemporary art gallery as well as to the Kalashnikov Museum, a museum about the inventor of the AK-47 rifle who spent his working life Izhevsk and is still a resident. A relatively new institution, the museum has been well-supported by funders and is a major tourist attraction in Izhevsk. Other professionals in cultural institutions in the area, however, worry that the Kalashnikov Museum will become the single focus of attention in the region and that guns rather than the rich cultural traditions of the region will be the message that visitors take away. (An effort to re-brand the city, taking the emphasis off its historic relationship to arms and weaponry has resulted in a whimsical monument of a crocodile!) While we can make no claims to having monumental impact, our seminar can be seen as a first effort in helping the cultural institutions become more broadly appealing by attracting a wider range of visitors.

Fund Consultant Duke, who has worked with Russian textile artists through the Open World program, was delighted to find a master weaver, Albina V. Yadygarova, at the Center for Decorative Arts in Izhevsk and will investigate bringing this artist to the United States in February 2007.

Our work in the Udmurt Republic were supported by the United States Department of State, Moscow, Russia, and we had excellent pre-conference support from the office of the US Consulate in Yekaterinburg. We discussed future seminars in the region, including efforts that might tie the Museums of Conscience (Perm-36) with the Siberian Road museum and a seminar for theater professionals in Yekaterinberg.

---