The Vladimir Potanin Foundation and L’Institut Français de Russie announce a launch of the French-Russian Bi-lateral Training program in France within the framework of the Museum Bridges program. During the training museum professionals from France and Russia will study museums and objects that are part of the historical-cultural heritage of both countries, familiarize themselves with best practices in museum operations, and participate in educational seminars, lectures and workshops.

The program is aimed at:

• creating sustainable partnership between museums
• developing collaboration among museum professionals from France and Russia
• becoming familiar with new approaches and directions in organizing museum activities.

The program is composed of two stages:

Stage One: a week-long intensive training in May - June 2016 for five museum professionals from Russia. During their time in France participants will familiarize themselves with the national system of museums and institutes of cultural heritage, visit national and local museums, learn about everyday museum practices, and form collaborative partnerships between Russian and French professionals for joint projects and initiatives.

Stage Two: the reciprocal visit of five museum professionals from France to Russia will occur in October - November 2016, in order to strengthen and develop collaborative ties, continue joint studies, maintain professional dialogues, and facilitate the exchange of experiences. French participants will not only visit leading museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg; they will also visit museums in the regions.

The training program is financed by the Vladimir Potanin Foundation and L’Institut Français de Russie. The training is conducted within the framework of the 2016 Russia - France Cross-Year of cultural tourism.

Cultural Attache of the French Embassy in Russiа Edward de Lumley:

In France the development of practices of exhibition planning or of separate objects of contemporary art in traditional museums and historical artifacts has been well represented recently. Clear evidence to that is embodied in the Versailles park, in the Louvre or in other places of cultural heritage, which managed to work out interesting and innovative development policy. That is referred to the Museum of Hunting and Nature (Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature) in Paris, the castle d’Oiron, the Abbey de Fontevraud or the Abbey de Noirlac. There are more examples to that. This policy allows to attract visitors who usually do not frequent this type of museum. With this approach a dialogue between cultural heritage and contemporary art is being created, that enables to look from a new angle at the historical artifacts and the contemporary pieces of art. If this dialogue is reasonable and intellectually strong, it opens up new opportunities that breaks borders between historical heritage and contemporary art.

Exchange program for Russian and French museum professionals will enable participants to get to know different museum approaches, to adopt and share new experiences and findings, depending on the cultural context, thus contributing to the mutual enrichment process within a museum area.

General Director of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation Oksana Oracheva:

Cultural ties between Russia and France are several centuries old, and the power of mutual influence cannot be underestimated. There are some vivid examples connected with France in the history of our Foundation. In 2003 the Hotel des Invalides in Paris hosted a very successful exhibition When Russia Spoke French: Paris - St. Petersburg in 1800-1830, which presented collections from the State Hermitage Museum and The Military Museum in Paris. The opportunity to foster cultural contacts between the two countries by bringing them at a new level is a very important task. Museum professionals in both countries share similar concerns: how to make museums more attractive to a younger audience, how to rethink cultural heritage, how to connect contemporary art with historical landmarks. Interaction between modern art and more traditional museums ca lead to a lot of lively discussions. French colleagues already have extensive experience in this area. Russian museums have also begun to show interesting examples. We are happy that we have managed to set up a bilateral training program together with L’Insitut Francais de Russie. I am positive about the professional impact the program will have on Russian and French museum professionals.

The program is open to museum executives and\or staff (storage specialists, exhibition specialists, curators) responsible for museum development, organization of exhibitions and museum activities, storage maintenance, and the presentation of collections. The competition is open to candidates from a broad range of museums: fine arts, natural science, technical, scientific, etc. Potential candidates should have an intermediate level of English. Preference will be given to the applicants with a working knowledge of French.

Finalists will be selected by the Foundation and L’Institut Français de Russie.

The program covers the following expenses: visa, economy-class round-trip airfare, room and board, and a study program. No additional stipend is provided.

This is a merit-based competition. For more information please visit the following web page (in Russian). 

L’Institut Français de Russie is a division of the Embassy of France in Russia. Opened in Moscow in 1992, it offers cultural and educational programs in conjunction with Russian partners in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other places through the Alliances Françaises network, which is represented in twelve Russian cities. Over one hundred important cultural events are organized in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities annually.

L’Institut Français de Russie is a center for teaching French under the auspices of the Embassy of France and the only official test center of the Republic of France in Moscow. It offers all types of international DELF-DALF exams and theTCF test (test on French language knowledge), as well as the DFP professional exam through the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Ile-de-France region.