Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

Likhachev Foundation

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

CULTURAL FELLOWSHIPS IN RUSSIA-2011

In 2011, the Likhachev Foundation of St. Petersburg, Russia, announced its 4th open competition for the Fellowships in Russia Program. This program is designed for American and European professionals in the field of arts and culture who currently work on creative projects on (or related to) Russian culture or history.Such projects, supported by the Fellowship in Russia Program, should help in spreading information abroad about Russian culture among a broader Western audience.

Participants of the Program arrive to St. Petersburg for two-week fellowships in late August, their stay organized and financially supported totally by the Russian side. Each fellow will have his/her program individually tailored according to their project and professional interests.

The organizer of the program is the Likhachev Foundation and B.Yeltsin Presidential Center, acting with support of the Committee of External Relations andCommittee of Culture of St. Petersburg.

This is the first Russian program of this kind. For the first time, cultural visit of foreign intellectualsare supported by Russian side. Participants of the program work on important cultural initiatives, which help to attract attention of foreign audiences to Russian history and culture.

Among the Program’s U.S. partners are the OpenWorldLeadershipCenter at the Library of Congress, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, CEC ArtsLink, and the Consulate General of U.S.A. in St. Petersburg. Alumni of the 2008-2010 Fellowships in Russia also help to disseminate information about this Program.

The selection of 2011 Fellows was done from a pool of 67 applicants who participated in an open competition. The selected group consists of 8 American and 2 European professionals in the field of culture, arts and arts history. They will arrive in St. Petersburg on May 9 fortwo weeks. They will visit (according to their individual projects and schedules) the city’s cultural organizations, archives, libraries, and museums, as well as meet and consult with experts and cultural figures of St. Petersburg.

The Program’s organizers believe that contacts between the Fellows and the Russian cultural establishment will:

• Expose western societies to the cultural diversity of contemporary Russia;
• Improve cultural ties between the United States, Europe and Russia;
• Bring to attention of foreign cultural institutions (museums, theaters, libraries) new cultural opportunities in Russia and launch new partnerships and projects;
• Promote and popularize Russian culture in the U.S. and Europe

For additional information contact

Likhachev Foundation:Russia191028 St. Petersburg, Mokhovaya street, 15

Phone/fax: +7 (812) 272-2912, E-mail:

Program Coordinator Elena Vitenberg

PARTICIPANTS OF FELLOWSHIPS IN RUSSIA-2011

1. Arnoult Philip (USA)

Head of the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD), internationally recognized producer and director, curator of a number of important exchange programs with theatre companies from all over the world. He hosted in the US shows by Russian theatres as well as festivals of contemporary drama. His goal is to get acquainted with the space of modern St. Petersburg theatre in order to establish international projects, exchange programs and to invite Russian theatre professionals to the US.

2. Chambers David (USA)

Director, Professor of Yale School of Drama, curator of exchange programs between Yale and St. PetersburgStateTheatreArtsAcademy. In 1997, in collaboration with Russian colleagues, he reconstructed Meyerhold’s version of Government Inspector by Gogol, introducing the great Russian director to American audiences. Last time he was in St. Petersburg 10 years ago. He is very much interested in Stanislavsky’s legacy and in the way how it was interpreted by his followers – in particular, by Tovstonogov, whose work David would like to promote in the US. He would also like to discuss future collaboration with St. PetersburgStateTheatreArtsAcademy.

3. Downey Mike (UK)

Film director, producer and head of F&ME film studio. Having produced a dozen of movies (one of those was presented at the Moscow Film Festival), he is now going to do a feature film which has at its heart Shostakovich’s renowned Seventh “Leningrad” Symphony.

4. Ford David (USA)

Founder and director of the MainStreetMuseum in White River Junction, Vermont. The proposed project would bring Mr. Ford to St. Petersburg to both examine collecting methods and practices at the city’s museums and to gather artifacts for the MainStreetMuseum’s own collection, which has included objects from Russia since its inception in 1992.

5. Fryer Paul (UK)

Associate Director of Research and Head of the StanislavskyCenter at Rose Bruford College (UK), author of many publications on drama, opera and cinema. He would like to establish and develop connections between the UK theatres and theatre schools and their Russian counterparts (TheatreAcademy, Maly Drama Theatre and the Mariinsky Theatre) with regard to student and academic exchange. He has already established a similar program with MoscowArtTheatreSchool and now is focused on St. Petersburg. He would also like to establish the international electronic journal Stanislavsky, for which purpose he needs to meet a number of St. Petersburg theatre experts.

6. Levi Jonathan (USA)

Writer, playwright and librettist, founder and artistic director of a chamber opera theatre in New York. He also collaborates with Opera Guild regarding the preparation of special opera projects. He visited Russia a few times and organized US visits for many Russian directors and companies (Ginkas, Fokin, AKHE, Gelikon Opera). He wrote a libretto for Guest from the Future, an opera about Anna Akhmatova and Isaiah Berlin. At the moment he mostly lives in Rome and writes novels. His current novel is about Meyerhold, Lermontov and the 1917 production of Masquerade at the Alexandrinsky. He is also interested in Russian-Georgian cultural relations.

7. Maloney David (USA)

State Historic Preservation Officer at D.C. Office of Planning. By comparing the historic environments ofSaint Petersburg and Washington, and exploring how each city is addressing current issues in preserving its urban heritage, he seeks to identify opportunities for government officials, professionals, and the public in both cities to learn from each other experiences.

8. McLain Michael (USA)

Professor of Theatre at UCLA, author of books on theatre. He directs shows at the University Theatre. In 1970s he visited the USSR with the famous Arena Stage company and did training with Yuri Lyubimov and Maria Knebel. Currently he is working on an adaptation of Andrei Bely’s novel St. Petersburg, as well as a symposium on the Silver Age involving a number of Los Angeles art museums.

9. Meyer Ronald (USA)

Adjunct Assistant Professor at ColumbiaUniversity (Russian Literary Translation). A recognized translator of Russian literature (Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Akhmatova). He is writing a book about translating Dostoyevsky in the broadest sense of the word. In addition to literary translations, the primary materials encompass adaptations into other media, including film, theater, opera, and the visual arts.

10. Sheehan Beowulf (USA)

A well-known New York based photographer. He has created many portraits of notable cultural and political figures, his CV includes a long list of publications and exhibitions. He would like to create portraits of St. Petersburg ballets artists, both on stage and against city background in order to publish and exhibit them in the US.