Russian-Finnish Cultural Forum to Take Place in Lappeenrante, Finland, October 9-11

The 3rd Russian-Finnish cultural forum will take place in Lappeenrante, Finland, October 9 through 11. The primary areas of cooperation for this year are library work, literature, fine art, artistic education, concert activities, music teaching, museum work, choreography, circus, folk crafts, applied art, photography, cinematography, and the education of cultural workers. What is new are joint programs benefiting the handicapped.

The programme for the first day includes talks between the prospective participants of joint projects, of which the Finns have already suggested 80 and 176 people applied for participation. Russia has so far found 63 prospective partners to join the projects. Traditionally, no more than 100 may participate from either party.

On the second day, the participants will discuss the primary topics. These are 'Lappeerante as Rendezvous Point for East and West' and 'Cultural Cooperation between Border Regions'. The third day will be given to the joint work of the partners and special interest seminars.

The 4th Russian-Finnish cultural forum is supposed to convene in St. Petersburg, October 11 through 13, 2003. Its primary topic will be 'The Culture of the Young'. Initially, there were plans for only four such forums, yet now there is talk of extending the cooperation. The authorities of Turku, Finland, have already said they would host the 5th cultural forum.