The VIII Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum started its work today. In 2019 the main topic of the Forum is "Cultural Codes in Globalizing World". Traditionally, the Forum attracts thousands of experts in the sphere of culture all across the world every year: stars of theater, opera and ballet, renowned directors and musicians, public figures, government officials and business people, members of the academe and other opinion leaders. Participants of SPBICF-2019 will be the film directors Nikita Mikhalkov and Fyodor Bondarchuk; the pianist Denis Matsuev, conductor and violist Yuri Bashmet; theatre directors Theodoros Terzopoulos, Tadashi Suzuki, Valery Fokin, Konstantin Bogomolov; writers Dmitry Bykov and Pavel Basinsky; jazz stars Till Brönner and Igor Butman; directors of the main Russian museums: Mikhail Piotrovsky, Zelfira Tregulova, Vladimir Gusev and many others.
Irina Nikitina, the President of the Musical Olympus Foundation, will be the speaker of two discussions of the Forum: the panel discussion "The art of production: how to win the hearts of Russian and foreign audience", held on November 15th in The Russian Museum of Ethnography within Business venue track and round table discussion "Culture and children", organized on November 14th at the General Staff Building of the Hermitage. The purpose of the discussion of this section is to analyze the process of introducing younger generations to the values of high culture as a key component of educational work. "The Musical Olympus Foundation has been supporting young and promising musicians for 25 years. And we devote considerable attention to the subject of education of an understanding audience among young people. There is a huge variety of forms and genres of art in the world and it is wonderful. But without basic knowledge of classic music, painting, architecture, literature, it is impossible to be a truly cultural person, to distinguish what is genuine, valuable, and what is fake", — Irina Nikitina said, commenting on the topic of the round table.