On 15 November, the agenda of the 8th Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum included a panel discussion on “Museum Universities: development and implementation of pioneering youth educational strategies” that was organized by the State Hermitage’s Youth Centre as part of the Russian-Dutch project Museum 15/24.
The many-sided innovation programme Museum 15/24 is an educational project devoted to interaction between the museum and young people that comprises more than 200 events. One of them was this seminar in which specialists from leading museums participated. The discussion was devoted to one of the most topical forms of museum activity – innovative educational programmes for young people.
Vladimir Opredelenov, Deputy Director of the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts for digital development, opened the seminar and divided his contribution into two parts – the museum and the university. Presenting the former, he spoke about how for a few days each year the museum “hands itself over to young children” as part of an action called “I’ll show you the museum”, about the creation and recent opening of a unique facility “Pushkinsky.Youth”, a laboratory of images and the programme “What to be or not to be” about choices of profession. Since he is also head of the department of information technology in the cultural sphere at the Higher School of Economics, Vladimir Opredelenov also spoke about the work of the department and the museum IT lab.
Silvia Burini and Giuseppe Barbieri represented the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, which devotes much attention to exhibition activities. The university, in Silvia Burini’s words, combines two important functions that make it possible to ascribe it to the museum university format: “We are not a museum since we do not have collections, but we do hold exhibitions, and the research stage is very important for us.”
In her contribution, Marina Elzesser, Deputy Director of the State Tretyakov Gallery, touched on two points announced in the programme – interaction between museums and universities in the creation of new concepts for museum education and the topical relevance of museums’ programmes targeted at a youth audience.
Mikhail Yakovenko represented the Polytechnical Museum that is due to open its doors in late 2020. In his words, “The museum is acting as an educational institution and a unique environment, expanding learning opportunities.” The museum may not engage in education, but it will certainly create a unique setting for the educational process.
Fanny Serain, Head of the Public Practices and Programmes Department at the Pompidou Centre, gave a talk entitled “Campus: when the arts meet the sciences” in which she shared the main principles that make it possible to establish contacts with a variety of audiences, including young people.
Sarah Saunders, spoke about how the British Museum in London solves the problem of attracting the young public in by offering one-of-a-kind narrowly targeted events and the opportunity for immersive participation in them. She was followed by another colleague from London. Liat Rosenthal, representing the Tate Modern, acquainted the seminar with the museum’s unusual “lates” programme.
Representing both teaching and museum-work in one person, Ilya Doronchekov shared his thoughts on the topic of museum universities “As a teacher in a higher educational institution, I understand full well that a museum is not capable of replacing it. For that reason, I would draw a boundary in the museum between education and enlightenment. A museum cannot and should not provide regular education, but it is capable of being more flexible and mobile in comparison to a university, which allows us not to repeat each other, but to join forces.”
Concluding the seminar, Sophia Kudriavtseva, the head of the State Hermitage’s Youth Centre, spoke in detail about the unique programmes that are created within its walls and act as an important platform for establishing a dialogue between young people and the museum. And the co-ordinator of the centre’s educational projects, Anna Tyrenko, presented the Museum 15/24 project, during the research stage of which two programmes have already been held – “Catch me if you can” and “Beauty at museum temperatures”.
Education, as Ilya Doronchekov put it, “is necessary for people to orientate themselves in the world.” It is towards the creation of such points of reference that all the projects presented in the course of the seminar are aimed.
