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RUSSIA  2010
St. Petersburg, Russia
Collaborative Project Planning.
October 25–29, 2010
Jillian Poole, CEO of The Fund and a frequent Fund seminar consultant, traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, to meet with The State Russian Museums and other museums regarding future collaborative projects.
The Russian State Museums
On October 25th, Ms. Poole had a full afternoon meeting with Natalia Kuleshova, Deputy Director of the Museums; Liudmila Kurenkova, of St. Michael’s Castle; Tamara Yakoleva, and Tatyana Kolpakova to discuss future cooperation between The Fund and The State Russian Museums.
They started by laying plans for a seminar in Orenburg, Russia, to be hosted by the Orenburg Regional Art Museum. This was planned for September 12-14, 2012, and will focus on marketing and audience development. A primary objective of the seminar will be to help the Orenburg Museum build relationships with the other museums of the region, a need expressed by the Orenburg Museum’s Director, who also wants to discuss ways to stimulate tourism and get more young people into the museum. Because Orenburg is considered a regional tourist center, not a national one, they hope this seminar might parallel the seminar The Fund held in Murom in 2007, led by Honee Hess and Deborah Edward, demonstrating the importance of Murom’s museums, as Murom is considered to be the cultural center of that region.
After that, the discussion led to a request from the regional art museums to see if The Fund would help them plan a visit for a group of some fifteen of their museum professionals to Prague. They asked for help in planning extensive meetings with the major museums there and in touring the city and understanding its many cultural sites. The Fund agreed to contact four major museums on their behalf: the Regional Museum, the Decorative Arts Museum, the Technical Museum, and the National Gallery. The Fund will request meetings with the Directors and tours with the people in charge of storage, conservation, and education programs, as well as staff responsible for handling visitors, including those with disabilities. The Fund will explore the possibility of their contact there to guide them around the city.
The next agenda item was planning a major conference in St. Petersburg for regional art museum directors regarding disability access. The dates for this event will be April 12-14, 2011. A major challenge facing these museums in accommodating and developing potential access for the disabled is for them to develop a strategy to attract funding and support from both private and public sources. The museum leaders need to understand how to plan and execute the range of activities, from getting financial support to determining what kind of equipment is available and at what cost, and how to do this without putting a strain on staff. The Fund will be sending Marty Davis, Kathy Southern, Charles Saumarez Smith, and Mark Shoemaker, all distinguished professionals versed in this issue. Simultaneous translation will be offered.
The group also discussed The Fund requesting sponsorship from the Astoria Hotel to accommodate the consultants, and The State Russian Museums agreed in the event of such sponsorship to give the Astoria Hotel official recognition, website recognition, and mention in all publicity and advertisements concerning the conference. The State Russian Museums will videotape the entire conference, which will be edited by The Fund and posted on the websites of the 70 virtual museums which the State Russian Museums has throughout Russia, and also in Estonia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, China, Finland and Greece. Since this seminar, the Astoria has in fact agreed to sponsor the event.
The final project discussed was another potential regional conference in Tyva, a city deep in Asia and a new region for the Russian Museum. Tyva has a new museum in the oil region, and the Russian Minister of Emergency has special interests and would like the Russian Museums to undertake the conference.
Also discussed was the question of branding, a new one for The State Russian Museums, and one in which they may welcome The Fund’s cooperation. Ms. Poole indicated that this is an area which The Fund has highly qualified people who would be happy to assist.
Political History Museum
Ms. Poole revisited the Political History Museum and was guided around the renovations and changes which came about as a result of the consulting undertaken by Staples and Charles and Jonathan Hess. In short, Evgeny Artemov is absolutely delighted with the changes which are being executed and most grateful to The Fund’s consultants. The museum is indeed prepared to accommodate people with special needs. He is still uncertain about some options for equipment and the questions of staff support. The city administration will continue to be involved in this matter.
We discussed the possibilities of the network of history museums being interested in a conference on disability access, but Mr. Artemov noted that for the present, he did not believe their directors would think this topic to be of sufficient priority to attend, even though they have no experience in potential needs and possible avenues to their solution.
Museum of Religion
On October 27th, Ms. Poole met with Boris Arakcheev, Director of the Museum of Religion. This museum has stunning, attractive displays, but little labeling to tell the stories that it seeks to share. They discussed the possibility of The Fund sending someone to consult on the labeling question, as well as the design of the front hall. Mr. Arakcheev at present is concerned that St. Isaac’s Cathedral may recall a number of religious objects that were originally under their care. If they do so, he feels it would seriously threaten the future of the museum.
Military Museum
Ms. Poole visited the Military Museum on behalf of an inquiry from Ralph Appelbaum on behalf of The Jewish Museum in Moscow. This was following- up on an extensive meeting and tour they both had with the Director of the Military Museum, Valery Kirlov. Jillian also met with the Deputy Director, Svetlana Uspenskay, who remembered Ralph Appelbaum’s Fund seminar in 2000. As for the possibility of the Jewish Museum in Moscow borrowing objects from the Military Museum, it was stressed that this would not be a problem unless the museum is a private museum. N.B. It was later ascertained that the Jewish Museum is in fact a private museum.
Royal Academy of Arts, London
A few days later in London, Ms. Poole met with Charles Saumarez Smith, Director of the Royal Academy of Arts, to confirm with him the possibility of his participation in the disabilities conference in Russia. He agreed to do this, and in view of his background with the National Gallery and the Royal Academy, he will be a particularly strong speaker qualified to review British challenges in the disability area. Ms. Poole had planned to meet with Lazlo Ba’an, State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture in Budapest, who was in London representing an installment at the Royal Academy, but this meeting was cancelled because Dr. Ba’an was called to a meeting with the government in Budapest.
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