Friends' Get-Together at the Hermitage
Charity Event for Disabled Children

On December 1, 2011 the State Hermitage Museum came together with the Ursa Major Regional Public Charity Movement to hold the Friends' Get-Together at the Hermitage, a traditional annual charity event that goes back to 2004 and celebrates the Worldwide Decade of Disabled Persons. The celebration was attended by around 200 challenged children and young people, students of special education programs, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, foster homes and orphanages.

The staff of the Hermitage Research and Education Center and the Hermitage School Center, who have extensive experience of working with diseased children, organized tours through the Museum's unique collections. For many guests, this was their first opportunity to visit the Museum and see its famous collections. The first visit always leaves a lasting impression in the minds of the children and their parents, and they often come back to the event year after year.

After the tour, the guests gathered in the Hermitage Theater for a festive show organized by young performers from the Vaganova Ballet Academy and the Jacobson Ballet Theater.

Before the concert, the guests were welcomed by A. V. Zimin, General Director of the Ursa Major Regional Public Charity Movement and V. Y. Matveev, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Museum.

A. V. Zimin, General Director of the Ursa Major Regional Public Charity Movement	On tour through the Museum's collections
Concert in the Hermitage Theatre	Traditional gifts

The word of welcome by Dr. Vladimir Matveyev, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Museum

S.K. Gurov, Head of the Social Organization Liaison Department of the Social Policy Committee of the Government of St Petersburg

V.N. Stominok, representative of the "World of the Book Culture" fund

I.V. Dyubanova, Head of the Education Center and L.Ya. Shostak, methodologist of the Education Center