International CIS Theater Festival “Meetings in Russia” Kicked Off in St. Petersburg

On 4 April, the XXIV International Festival of the CIS and Baltic Countries “Meetings in Russia” kicked off in the Baltic House Theater. This year the event is dedicated to the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The festival is held with the support of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly.

IPA CIS Council Secretary General Dmitriy Kobitskiy sent a welcoming speech to the organizers and participants of the festival that was delivered by Secretary of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Culture, Information, Tourism and Sport Igor Minin.

The festival opened with the performance “The Government Inspector” of the Chingiz Aitmatov Russian Drama Theater (Bishkek) directed by Konstantin Trishin (Moscow). In the coming days, Russian-speaking artistic teams from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and South Ossetia will also present their vision of contemporary art.

On the same day, the III International Conference “Russian Theater Abroad as an Institute of Russian Culture” began its work and focused on the topic “New Faces of Russian Theater Abroad. Succession and Preservation of Traditions”. The conference brought together young professionals of Russian theaters abroad.

The conference was attended by a member of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Culture, Information, Tourism and Sports, First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Culture Elena Drapeko, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Alla Manilova, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Boris Piotrovskiy, Secretary of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Culture, Information, Tourism and Sport Igor Minin, directors and artistic directors of Russian theaters of the CIS countries, journalists. General Director of the Baltic House Theatre-Festival.  Sergey Shub moderated the event.

The festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg Committee for Culture, the Union of Theatre Workers of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo).