On May 16 through 19, 2011, within the framework of St.Petersburg Government program to implement the state policy of Russian Federation concerning the compatriots abroad, St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations held an event in Helsinki and Turku called “Petersburg Spring in Finland” for the Russian compatriots residing in Finland.
On May 16 through 19, 2011, within the framework of St.Petersburg Government program to implement the state policy of Russian Federation concerning the compatriots abroad, St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations held an event in Helsinki and Turku called “Petersburg Spring in Finland” for the Russian compatriots residing in Finland.
The events were prepared and run with the assistance of the literary-memorial museum of Anna Akhmatova, Presidential Library named after Boris Yeltsin, the training center “Chrysostom”, the Russian Center for Science and Culture (RCSC) in Helsinki and the Consulate General of Russian Federation in Turku.
On May 16, in the city of Turku, in the building of the Consulate General of Russian Federation in Turku, the delegation of St.Petersburg met with Russian-speaking community of the city. The meeting was attended by A.B.Sverchkov, Consul General of Russian Federation in Turku, and over 20 compatriots – leaders of the organizations of compatriots in South-Western Finland, representatives of the Russian-languaged media in Finland, the teachers of a Russo-Finnish school Puolala.
V.V. Sakharova, Head of the Office for Coordination of Governmental Programs on Inter-ethnic Relations, Relations with Compatriots Abroad, and Interregional Cooperation at St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations, described the progress of the city program on cooperation with compatriots, answered the questions of the participants, and, on behalf of the Committee, donated the educational and fiction literature, intended for distribution among the organizations of compatriots, to the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Turku.
The next day, May 17, a solemn opening ceremony of the cycle of events entitled “Spring Petersburg in Finland” was held at the Concert Hall of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Helsinki. The opening ceremony was attended by S.A.Medvedev, Acting Director of Russian Center for Science and Culture in Helsinki, V.V.Sakharova, and N.I.Popov, Director of Anna Akhmatova Literary-Memorial Museum. On completion of the opening ceremony, Vitaliy Gordienko, Honored Artist of Russia, presented to the audience a solo performance “ Georgiy Ivanov's Winters in Petersburg Spent Together with A.Blok, A.Akhmatova, N.Gumilev, O.Mandelstam and the Others” (based on the work by G. Ivanov, “Petersburg Winters”).
On May 18, a grand opening of the Center for access to electronic resources of Presidential Library named after B.Yeltsin at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Helsinki. V.V.Sakharova made a point that the opening of the Center for access to the resources of the Presidential Library was a most important milestone in the consolidation of the Russian world and Russian culture abroad. The center, she emphasized, would be a unique bridge in relations of Russian compatriots with their historic homeland. Also at the ceremony, V.V.Sakharova donated to the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Helsinki educational and fiction literature, intended for distribution to the organizations of compatriots.
The staff of the Presidential Library ran a presentation of electronic resources on the history of Russian statehood and showed a film about the activities of the library.
On the same day, a virtual exhibition of Anna Akhmatova Museum devoted to the life and works of Anna Akhmatova and Joseph Brodsky, and for young visitors the museum has prepared a children’s program “The Chest of Sheremetevskiy Attic”, “In a Flat, There lived 44”, a show “Why don’t I fly? ”. The events of the museum were attended by over 60 students of the Finnish-Russian School in Helsinki.
During the presentation of higher educational establishments of St.Petersburg, A.M.Aleksankov, Deputy Rector for International Relations of St.Petersburg State Polytechnic University, introduced the enormous potential of St.Petersburg High School, holding a leading position in the country, to all comers from secondary school students and potential applicants. He also conveyed to the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Helsinki the reference information regarding the terms of enrolling to the universities of St.Petersburg. In the period of May 18 through 19, the refresher courses in teaching Russian as foreign language and working with bilingual children were taken at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture by the teachers of Russian language and literature. Over 20 teachers were registered as participants of the courses. The participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with modern textbooks and manuals and share the experience in organizing educational process at schools and courses in Russian language. Within the course, a master class was held to demonstrate the new methods of teaching Russian language, aa well as an open lesson.
Further information can be obtained at St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations, contact person: Alexander Aleksandrovich Ganin, expert with the Department to coordinate state programs on inter-ethnic relations and relations with compatriots abroad at t St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations, tel. (812) 576-7513, e-mail: compatriots@kvs.gov.spb.ru.
News Source: St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations