The Commission on Culture of UBC initiates traditionally one Session with focus on a special cultural theme each year. Invited are professional lecturers and leaders from various cultural institutions and organizations in the cities of the Baltic Sea region.

The Session in 2005 was organized and successfully realized in Saint-Petersburg 7 - 9 of December under the leadership of Olga Cherkasova, Director of the Museum of N.K. Rerih in Izvara and member of the Board of the Commission on Culture, with support from the Saint Petersburg Government. The 77 participants listened to 26 lecturers who made speeches on various subject related to the theme, for example:
"Tukums City Museum in the context of city development", "Museums as centers of planetary thinking" and "Museums and Theatre in the format of a sociocultural program".

The participants also visited the Hermitage and other cultural institutions and were given wonderful experiences of the rich and qualitative cultural life of Saint Petersburg.

The result was that a great amount of knowledge was exchanged and enriched by new contacts and networking for future collegial cooperation. It gave also the opportunity to inform about the UBC and its Commission on Culture, also directly to the inhabitants of Saint Petersburg through a directly transmitted radio interview. One of several new ideas was to establich a Baltic Museum Forum. It was also announced that the Session in 2006 will be organized by the city of Vaasa 23-26 of November on the theme "Cultural Festivals as Strengtheners of Local Identity".

Olov Gibson, Visby