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The work of the forum was divided into three educational sections: “Art Criticism”, “Leadership” and “Media”, in accordance with which the participants were trained in practical skills in organizing and conducting creative projects, underwent psychological trainings conducive to personal and professional development, and studied the latest developments in St. Petersburg School of Journalism.

Among the participants in the sections "Art criticism" and "Leadership" - leaders and members of youth organizations of compatriots aged 22 to 35 years; The participants in the Media section are journalists and editors with professional education aged 22 to 40 years, with at least 2 years of experience in Russian-language foreign media.

 

The opening ceremony of the forum took place on May 17 in the conference hall of the multimedia historical park “Russia - My History”. First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg Sergey Markov addressed the compatriots. He said that the Russian Abroad forum can rightfully be considered a good tradition uniting active Russian-speaking youth around the world, and expressed hope for a further expansion of the project’s geography. “It is so important that all Russian people do not feel isolated from their homeland, regardless of when they left, where they live. Communication with the homeland is one of the important qualities of our modern life. Now, thanks to such purposeful work of the state and its subjects, one can often hear the words of compatriots that they are happy to feel their homeland, they are not only proud of it, but also see its concern. For us, this is a huge potential for advancing the interests of Russia and St. Petersburg in all areas”, said S. Markov.

 

The honorary guests of the ceremony were the deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, member of the Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Vladimir Katenev, head of the Department for Work with Compatriots Abroad of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Alexei Luxurious, director of the St. Petersburg branch of the ”Russian world” FoundationOleg Mukovsky, press secretary of the Moscow House of compatriot Arkady Beinenson and head of the department of the Committee on Youth Policy and Cooperation with Societies nnym organizations Andrei Yakovlev.

 

During the speeches of the honoured guests and the subsequent open discussion with the forum participants, the necessity and importance of supporting the study and teaching of the Russian language, culture and history of Russia abroad, as well as possible options for interaction at the federal and regional levels in the framework of the public activities of Russian compatriots were discussed.

At the end of the solemn and official-business part of the opening, the forum guests were expected to have an interactive lesson “Acquaintance Day” and a meeting with the section leaders. So, the head of the section "Art criticism" was Kristina Sasonko, section "Leadership" - Anastasia Prichislenko, section "Media" - Alexander Potekhin.

 

In general, the educational program of the forum concentrated on several sites: in the TASS news agency, the Pronheim creative and training space, the Arts Square Gallery, the editorial office of the Petersburg diary, the Lenexpo exhibition complex, the Kvartira theater space, and the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda", in the libraries of the network "Interdistrict Centralized Library System named after M.Yu. Lermontov."

 

The training programs of the section “Art criticism” were focused on the development by participants of practical skills in organizing and implementing creative projects from leading St. Petersburg experts. Unique master classes and lectures were held from the leaders and specialists of the Alma Mater Foundation, the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre Theater, the New Art Criticism scientific and theoretical magazine, the Fontanka Youth Theater, the Arts Square Gallery, and the Russian Ballet Academy named after . A.Ya. Vaganova, the Sparta Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, the Oleg Karavaychuk Foundation, the Alexander Foundation.

 

The participants discussed a wide range of topics and, among other things, came to the conclusion that contemporary art needs a lucid explanation of itself to the viewer, that the provocative actions accompanying the activities of the authors have become part of the work, and that in recent years the territory of art has expanded significantly.

Anastasia Zhestovskaya from Kyrgyzstan formulated her impressions about participating in the section in the final summary as follows: “Natalia Shchetinina maximally accessible and informative not only shared information, but also masterfully demonstrated its structuredness and relevance to date in the topic of the legacy of contemporary art in Russia. It was interesting, useful and understandable. Vladimir Grishanin simply charmed everyone - the most lively round table with a high assessment of the involvement of participants in the process. Bravo! The amazing man Svetlana Lavrova. In just two hours, I dug up such depths in our minds ... Down with tunnel thinking! Excellent level of preparation for the lecture. I am very glad to meet you. Very grateful to Christina Sasonko. In such a short time, they received practical advice with confirming real personal examples of success in the implementation of both creative and organizational work. A true example to move forward and up!”

 

The program of the Leadership section included psychological trainings that promote personal and professional development, increase motivation and the acquisition of useful incentives for effective work. The participants got acquainted with the basic concepts of leadership in the modern world, characterized by instability and rapid changes, learned about the evolution of a leader, the stages of leadership potential formation and mastered the basic tools for developing leadership qualities. Through practical exercises, we learned to negotiate, influence, manage emotions, become more aware of ourselves and our place in the world.

As a result of the section, participants formulated existing leadership strategies, received expert recommendations on developing leader skills and techniques for developing leadership potential, learned the algorithm for building a personal leader’s brand to form a community of like-minded people.

 

“I am sincerely grateful to everyone for the lectures, for the time spent and for investing a part of everyone’s soul in it. Meetings have passed, but thoughts from lectures and wishes to be proactive revolve in my head. We do not lose this state. We are generating and improving!”- responded the section participant Kirill Molchanov from Finland.

Lecturers of the “Media” section introduced compatriots to the new practical developments of the St. Petersburg School of Journalism. As part of the section program, meetings were held with specialists from the city’s state and commercial media, such as TASS North-West, the editorial office of the television channel 78, the editorial offices of the Komsomolskaya Pravda, Petersburg Diary and Panorama TV.

At the lecture “Paper Media. Rumors of death are somewhat exaggerated”, the participants examined the factors driving the print media out of the media market and the factors that slow this process down. The editorial board of Komsomolskaya Pravda told the forum participants about the features of the journalist’s work in various types of media (print media, radio, television and Internet portals) and the need to adapt content to different audiences.

 

Feedback from one of the section participants, Dmitry Chernyavsky from Belarus: “Strong professionals in the city. Most of all I liked being at TASS North-West and on Channel 78, where they talked about the media field of the city, placed accents in journalistic practice based on global and many years of experience.”

In addition to the educational part of the program, a cultural part was also organized for young compatriots, including excursions, visits to museums and theaters.

A special place in the additional program was given to a visit to the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery and reconstruction dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade.