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PROVINCIAL CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AS CENTERS OF LIFELONG EDUCATION
E.V. Komissarova
A network of cultural institutions in districts, small towns and rural settlements mainly includes entities such as a club, library and museum, which in fact perform the mission of preserving the foundations, uniqueness and diversity of the Russian culture. As used in UNESCO documents, a "cultural institution" is understood as any permanent institution which operates for the common benefit to ensure the preservation, study, development and accessibility of cultural values and exists with the consent of a competent government authority [1].
Municipal culture and leisure facilities have a wide arsenal of socio-cultural technologies, including culture-oriented, cultural creativity, socio-protective, recreational, educational, research, project-specific, alternative (innovative), communication, informational, promotional and ethnically oriented techniques of socio-cultural exchange and cooperation, and management technologies (sociocultural management). The specifics of activities of municipal cultural institutions are determined by the local nature of the socio-cultural environment and the necessity to be relevant for the local community by catering to its cultural needs. This promotes ongoing updating of programs, forms and methods of activity. When considering culture as a continuing creative process and synthesis of knowledge, spiritual values and norms created by humans and expressed in the language, customs, traditions, beliefs and world view, we can't help but note the cultural diversity of regions in the framework of overall Russian culture.
Let us consider the role of municipal cultural institutions at creating conditions for lifelong education of the population on the example of the Volgograd Region. It’s worth paying attention to the educational potential of culture protection techniques commonly used in socio-cultural activities as methods and techniques for the preservation and study of cultural and historical heritage, revival and development of traditional forms of folk art culture, and management of work in history, regional studies and tourism. The territory of the Volgograd Region features an outstanding diversity of natural landscapes and culture, which promotes the need for regional studies on the basis of techniques in managing regional studies. Searches and research to study the cultural heritage of the region are aimed at identifying monuments of history and culture, organizing historical, ethnographical, archeological and folklore expeditions, and searching for unburied soldiers who died in battles near Stalingrad. The outcomes of the application of different techniques in studying cultural heritage by workers of culture and education institutions and local historians include identification, registration and attribution of monuments of history and culture and landscape zones, establishment of particularly protected natural territories and historical and cultural reserves, restoration, reconstruction and the use of monuments for educational purposes.
One of the current trends in the development of regional culture is opening new museums, mainly municipal local history museums. The local community
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becomes increasingly aware of the importance of museums as centers of culture and education. Museums become sites for the preservation and revival of folk traditions. The Stalingrad Battle and contribution of our countrymen in Victory in the Great Patriotic War are the key themes pursued by museums in the Volgograd Region. Museums and libraries are local centers of environmental education. The network of museums not only grows in numbers, but also becomes more diverse. There are museums of different forms of ownership, for example private ethnographical museums (the museum of Cossack traditions, the Kazakh yurt, the fairy tales museum). An important resource of the socio-economic and cultural development of the region is the creative implementation of techniques for the development of tourist circuits in activities of culture and leisure facilities. The Volgograd Region, which is mainly known to the world because of the Stalingrad Battle, has a very rich but still untapped potential for the development of different types of tourism (cultural, business, health and educational tourism, and excursions as a form of cultural tourism). The most popular tour circuits have been developed with the participation of museum workers. They cover cultural and historical sites, monuments of nature, history and culture, both in particular districts and in Volgograd and neighboring regions. Introducing people to cultural heritage through excursions is popular among different groups of the population and becomes an important element of lifelong education of students and a compelling means of patriotic education.
The revival of the traditional culture of ethnic groups and subgroups in the region has promoted increased interest in music, rites and religious culture. People show more interest in the restoration and development of folk crafts, the recreation of which has a significant potential both for the development of creativity of an individual and for cultural and socio-economic development of the region. The establishment of national culture centers has added color to the cultural life of the region. The folk craft centers promote, develop and introduce traditional crafts into daily use. The educational and developmental significance of decorative and applied arts is used in work with children who learn the secrets of folk arts in hobby groups offered by culture houses or children's creativity centers. Creativity and proficiency are factors that contribute to the development of young people’s personality.
In activities of provincial cultural institutions, culture protection techniques are organically linked with techniques of cultural creativity which are aimed at the creation and development of cultural values and creative development of individuals in various forms, such as amateur talent groups, scientific, technical and applied creative work and amateur movement; organization of creative laboratories, studios, artistic associations and centers of aesthetic education and creativity. Culture and leisure facilities, in cooperation with national cultural associations, creatively utilize ethnic and cultural techniques as a basis for the revival of national cultural traditions, folklore, decorative and applied arts, folk arts and crafts, and international cultural exchange and cooperation. The ethnic and cultural Cossack center "Koshav-Gora" was established in Kumylzhensky District to conduct research in regional studies, history and ethnography, identify and collect monuments of material and spiritual culture. The center has Cossack singing ensembles "Starina" and "Splokh" and a vertep puppet theatre [2].
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The development of amateur art is promoted by different festivals, such as the Regional Rural Amateur Art Competition "A Bow to You, My Home Village", and national traditional festivals, such as the Trinity, Sabantuy and Nowruz, held in rural districts. In the Volgograd Region there are 1,862 cultural and educational institutions which provide cultural services to the rural population, including 992 clubs, 650 rural library branches, 32 municipal museums, and 8 culture and recreation parks. Membership of club organizations stands at about 78,000 people, of whom 40,000 are children [3]. The revival of Cossack traditions is vividly reflected in the creative work of many artistic groups and cultural and educational institutions.
Provincial centers of culture play an important role in supporting the process of lifelong education on the basis of the preservation and development of ethnical and cultural diversity of the region as a basis for stability and intercultural communication. This function can be implemented on the basis of creative utilization of techniques for protecting culture and cultural creativity in cooperation with different civic institutions, the mass media, and national and cultural associations of people. The Staraya Sarepta State Museum Reserve is known as a center of national cultures of five peoples of Volga Region. Districts have centers and clubs of national culture and children's centers of folk crafts.
Positive trends in the creative approach to the preservation and development of cultural heritage in practices of provincial cultural institutions clearly show their significant potential as drivers of the regional socio-cultural environment. Priorities of the current national and regional cultural policies include the creation of conditions for the development of a spiritual and cultural environment of territories, preservation and development of their historical and cultural identity and multinational cultural heritage, and provision of equal access to cultural values for all people living in Russia. The continuity of artistic and cultural traditions is a prerequisite for successful integration of Russia into the global cultural process and information space. However, rural and village clubs, the number of which in Russia currently exceeds 50 thousand, need government support in carrying out their mission as centers of cultural life in Russian provinces.
References
1. Рекомендация о международном обмене культурными ценностями от 26 ноября 1976 г. / Международно-правовые документы по вопросам культуры. - СПбГУП, 1996. Сост. и науч. ред. сборника проф. Запесоцкий А.С.
2. URL: www.volganet.ru.
3. Информационно-аналитические материалы Комитета по культуре Администрации Волгоградской области. 2005-2009 гг.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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