Irada Ayupova: A breakthrough should happen not in infrastructure, but in public consciousness
A meeting of the final board of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan was held in Kazan with the participation of President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, State Counselor of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky and Executive Secretary of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO Affairs, Ambassador for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Grigory Ordzhonikidze.
The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan Irada Ayupova spoke in the main report on the results of the activities of the ministry in 2018 and the main tasks for 2019.
The main task of the Ministry of Culture in 2019 will be the formation of the Concept for Development of Culture in the Republic of Tatarstan for long term, and the key value of the cultural policy is the preservation of the ethnocultural identity of multinational people of Tatarstan by integrating it into a single Russian cultural space.
In 2019, the industry is facing serious challenges for successful implementation of program activities of the national project “Culture”, which was developed in strategic directions, announced by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in a May 2018 address. The national project aims to eliminate disproportion in availability of cultural life for residents of large cities and residents of remote villages.
“The expected results of the national project“ Culture”are not in number of new buildings to be built, not in number of events to be held. The most important thing is creation of conditions for the preservation of national identity, while combining all its aspects and facets. A breakthrough should happen, first of all, not in infrastructure, but in the public consciousness, ”the minister explained.
At the regional level, the national project is regarded as a set of tools for building a full-fledged and efficient cultural ecosystem. Irada Ayupova presented the concept of development of the industry, based on five "C": creativity, communication, cooperation, capitalization and competence.
As part of the first component, the ministry plans to create an environment that stimulates creativity. The speaker noted that Kazan is one of the centers of the experimental theater in Russia, as well as the laboratory movement. At the same time, there are theater establishments in the republic that are “the bastion of healthy conservatism”. And maintaining a balance between these structures is one of the most important tasks.
Irada Ayupova thanked the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov for his continued support of the projects. It is noted that the ministry also receives tangible support in the framework of federal projects, such as the Theaters of Small Towns and Theaters for Children. Turning to Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan expressed hope for prolongation of these projects.
An important trend of the cultural policy of Tatarstan should be transition to a multi-level communication system. The ministry plans to work more actively with target audiences and interact with communities. Irada Ayupova marked that the importance of cultural institutions as centers of effective cultural communication will increase in the future.
Within the framework of the third concept, on cooperation, the ministry plans to develop inter-branch and business projects, including initiating a joint project with large banks to create a cultural debit card, implementing it on the principle of “thank you” bonuses. Such a bonus system will help to understand the real preferences of the people of Tatarstan in the field of culture and art. With the formation of consumer culture, it became necessary to develop cooperation with shopping centers and airports. An example of successful inter-sectoral cooperation was the republican project “Cultural Diary of a Schoolchild”. As a result, Tatarstan entered the list of pilot regions where this project will be tested on a nationwide scale.
The concept of capitalization of culture implies several directions in its movement at once. The first level is the capitalization of the resource base and investment in this resource base. Further, the cultural industry needs capitalization of the cultural product, the business itself and the individual.
Within the framework of the same concept, the Ministry, in order to ensure transparency and reliability of information within the framework of institutions, together with the Ministry of Information and Communications, plans to create a single information platform containing information about each cultural event, regardless of the site where it is held. In 2019, it is planned to continue the transition of state cultural institutions to the sale of tickets in electronic form. This will make it possible to generate statistics reflecting a reliable history in terms of visits and demand for a particular cultural product.
The fifth component of the concept, competence, implies a new approach to understanding the professional role and competence of cultural workers. Professions that serve the culture, as a result of the introduction of new technologies, will soon become a thing of the past. Digital-Renaissance occurs in the culture, which leads to the emergence of new professions in the industry. In this regard, the Office proposes to rethink the system of training in the industry.
“On the basis of our Institute of Culture and Innopolis University, it is possible to implement a pilot project to test training programs for IT culture,” the minister asked the Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky to support the project.
“The most important thing today is not to limit yourself only within the framework of cultural institutions, to go beyond the boundaries of these boxes. And only when we are everywhere, we will be able to preserve our mentality and culture, and, of course, ourselves and our people, ”- RT Minister of Culture Irada Ayupova concluded her speech.