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American Friends of the
Russian Country Estate (A-Force),
a Washington, D.C. based 501(c)(3),
non-profit organization dedicated
to preserving Russia's historic
country estates and museum-houses,
received funding under the SABIT
Grants Program to further support
its technical assistance efforts.
|
Leo
Tolstoy wrote several of
his most famous works at
Yasnaya Polyana, most notably
War and Peace. Half a million
tourists a year visit the
museum. |
In 2003 A-Force will train two
Russian museum personnel for four
months in museum management, tourism,
historic preservation, and regional
economic development.
The training is aimed at helping
Russian country estates and museum-houses
become self-sustainable business
entities. Whereas in the United
States private donations help
to cover a significant percentage
of museum operating costs and
major construction projects, the
requisite institutional structures
and laws do not exist in Russia
to solicit private donations.
For example, there are no tax
incentives for contributions to
museums. “Under the current
system most museums are funded
inadequately by local or federal
ministries of culture. This has
led to a dire situation where
museum personnel are basically
working for free and really necessary
repairs cannot be made,”
observes A-Force’s President
Priscilla Roosevelt.
Museums also compete directly
for donations with churches (church
restoration is very popular among
wealthy Russians), which are classified
as charitable institutions under
the Russian tax code. Lack of
income transparency also serves
as a significant factor deterring
private donations to cultural
institutions. Some wealthy Russians
do not want the government to
know how much money they have
- a large donation may tip tax
authorities off to potential under
reporting of income. Furthermore,
if an individual does want to
contribute, rural estate museums
lack the visibility that cultural
icons like the Bolshoi Theater
have in terms of drawing private
donations.
A-Force recently trained an employee
from the historic museum-house
of Leo Tolstoy known as Yasnaya
Polyana, which is located in the
Tula Region outside of Moscow.
Tolstoy wrote many of his books
here, most notably War and Peace.
Under A-Force’s grant, Anna
Radinskaya, Special Events Coordinator
at Yasnaya Polyana, spent one
month in Atlanta, Georgia at the
Margaret Mitchell House. During
her training, she helped to organize
an event at which Vladimir Tolstoy,
Director of Yasnaya Polyana, spoke
to members of the Association
of Southern Architecture. Radinskaya
also spent one month training
at Monticello, the historic home
of Thomas Jefferson located in
Charlottesville, VA.
Yasnaya Polyana is one of the
most popular rural tourist destinations
in Russia. Half a million tourists
visit per year. “Real self-sustainability
is a pretty distant goal, but
the idea is that the trainees
pick up ideas from our institutions
for profitable museum-related
activities. The new Director,
Vladimir Tolstoy, is young and
dynamic – thinking constantly
about gift shops, restaurants,
and how to turn Yasnaya Polyana
into a tourist destination,”
said Roosevelt. The museum also
recently acquired a nearby hotel
which they are refurbishing to
house visitors.
Roosevelt strongly believes that
the personal relationships host
organizations form with trainees
can serve as a catalyst for change.
The Director of the Margaret Mitchell
House will attend a conference
at Yasnaya Polyana later this
year. “This may just be
the start of a real collaboration
between the two literary museums,”
commented Roosevelt. |