CoC about museums in St. Petersburg

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

The session in 2005 was organized and successfully realized in St. Petersburg on 7-9 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 St. Petersburg Government. The 77 participants listened to 26 lecturers who made speeches on various subjects related to the theme. For example: "Tukums City Museum in the context of city development", "Museums as centres of planetary thinking" and "Museums and Theatre in the format of a socio-cultural program". The participants also visited the Hermitage and other cultural institutions and were given wonderful experience of the rich and qualitative cultural life of St. Petersburg. The result was that a great amount of knowledge was exchanged and enriched by new contacts for future cooperation. It also gave the opportunity to inform the inhabitants of St. Petersburg through a directly transmitted radio interview about the UBC and the Commission on Culture. One of several new ideas was to establish the Baltic Museum Forum. It was also announced that the Session in 2006 will be organized by the city of Vaasa on 23-26 November on the theme "Cultural Festivals as Strengtheners of Local Identity".

During the session in St. Petersburg, the Board decided to move the Secretariat of the Commission on Culture from Szczecin to Visby for the period 2006-2007. The next Board meeting was planned to be organised on 21-23 April 2006 in Umea.