2007 Press Releases
American and Russian Theater Managers Met in Yekaterinburg
June 6, 2007
Over one hundred representatives of performing arts organizations from six regions of the Urals and Western Siberia took part in a Theater Management Seminar organized by the Urals Theater Association with support from the U.S. Consulate General in Yekaterinburg, June 5-7. Three American experts--Stephen Brown, Company Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, David Young, professor of theater and Jillian Poole, Chief Executive Officer of the Fund for Arts and Culture--conducted the seminar that focused on contemporary methods for funding theaters through audiences and sponsors.
During the three days of an intense program, the team was able to provide a very diverse audience with a complex approach to creation, promotion and marketing of a theater product, sustaining and attracting audiences, developing volunteer networks and fundraising. Indeed, with the radically different systems of theater financing in Russia and the U.S. it wasn’t easy to find universally applicable tools of managing and developing these institutions. However, as per the participants’ comments, the seminar stimulated new thinking by providing insights and fresh ideas for many.
The seminar provided a valuable opportunity for the Urals theater representatives to meet and share experiences and have discussions with their overseas colleagues. Despite the significant differences existing between American and Russian theater organizations and management, there have always been issues of common interest and perspectives of successful partnership.
Within the cultural component of the seminar the city’s best halls generously opened their doors to represent the vibrant Urals performing arts. The guests enjoyed Le Corsair at the Sverdlovsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, the award-winning Night of the Open Doors and Figaro at Sverdlovsk State Academic Musical Comedy Theater, the Pictures from the Exhibit at Yekaterinburg Municipal Puppet Theater and the Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance at the Sverdlovsk State Academic Philharmonic.
