The minister for culture and media and a culture ministry official, have warned that many of Russia’s museums and cultural institutions face imminent closure because the government cannot fund them and have called for private sector involvement to ease the impending crisis. Minister for culture and media made his comments in an end-of-year report to the government in December last year. He also criticised poor levels of pay in cultural institutions, where the average wage is just 50,000 rubles ($1,800) a year. This must rise, he says, if valuable personnel are to be kept from leaving. He proposed that the private sector be encouraged to promote cultural tourism, and patronise the arts, and suggested new laws to encourage philanthropy. There are 2,100 State museums in Russia and there are no tax concessions to encourage private donors to support them. Director of construction and restoration in the Culture Ministry of the Northwest Federal District, of which St Petersburg is the capital, said during a press conference that the region’s cultural sector is in a crisis and could not look to the government for support. He said that only private funding could help.
February 17, 2005
