Round Table Discussion: Museums and Issues of Cultural Tourism

On 28 April 2005 the third annual Round Table discussion entitled Museums and Issues of Cultural Tourism took place in the State Hermitage. The event was organized by the State Hermitage, the Union of Museums of Russia, and the Union of Creative Museum Staff of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast. The agenda included theoretical reports and messages from the staff of both Russian and foreign museums with regard to certain special programs. Emphasis was placed on the particularities of work in “small” museums around Russia.

Deputy Director of the State Hermitage for Exhibitions and Development Vladimir Matveev delivered the welcoming address. He told Round Table participants that this type of meeting has become a fine tradition for our museum. Moreover, he commented on the significant expansion of the geographic bounds of participation, in particular the representation of museums from the Northwest and Siberia, and the creation of a durable “Finnish coalition” among the foreign colleagues who are involved.

E.V. Antipova from the Cherepovets Museum Alliance, E.A. Yachmenev from the Irkutsk Oblast Historical and Memorial Museum of the Decembrists, and V.L. Borisova from the Staraya Ladoga Museum and Park all delivered interesting and noteworthy talks on the specific features of cultural tourism in their regions.

Among the participants of the Round Table, one was impressed by the unprecedented activity of colleagues from abroad. Director-General of the English-Speaking Union Valerie Mitchell (Great Britain), Professor of Tucson University Michael Stanley (USA), and director of a tourist agency Kaarina Kaurinkoski (Finland) all delivered reports. The guests shared their experience in financing cultural projects in the West and also with regard to possibilities for promoting these projects on both domestic and international markets.

In this regard the report by V. M. Akhunov (State Russian Museum) generated special interest. He told the assembled participants about the peculiarities and future prospects of cultural tourism in Australia, and he also shared with them his personal impressions from his time working in that country.

The participation in the Round Table by representatives from the Museum of the Political History of St Petersburg has become traditional. This year A.G. Kalmykov shed light on the specifics of using popular brands in some of the museum’s special programs.

This year there were more than 50 participants in the Round Table, which points to growing interest in the issues of cultural tourism both among museum staff and among representatives of tourist agencies and educational institutions, as well as others.

A number of suggestions were made at the meeting regarding the future development of the Round Table, in particular the possibility of dividing the work by sections for discussion of concrete questions and examination of the issues of cultural tourism using examples from various countries around the world. The organizers also expressed the wish to devote the next Round Table to discussion of joint projects by museums.

Following the session, participants of the Round Table were introduced to the latest exhibitions in the Winter Palace and General Staff, and then the guests were invited to a ballet performance in the Hermitage Theatre.

The results of the third Round Table have been published in a special volume of the collected reports by participants.

Presidium
of the Round Table -
O.B. Arkhipova,
V.Yu. Matveev,
Kaarina Kaurinkoski