Society and culture: Public Council under the Russian Ministry of Culture to take part in the elaboration of the Law on Culture

A specially formed group of the Public Council under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation will take part in the elaboration of the new Law on Culture. The first group meeting was held at the Ministry on July 23, 2012.

The working group included the curator, Olga Sviblova; RBA President, Vladimir Firsov; opera singer, Vladislav Piavko; chairman of the Central Council of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture, Galina Malanicheva; art historian, Joseph Backstein, representative of the Bolshoi Theater Foundation, Alexander Budberg and others. Secretary of State Ministry of Culture of Russia, Grigory Ivliev, who led the first meeting of the Working Group, will co-ordinate the work on the document.

"Initially, we planned to submit the bill to the Government in October, but I think time is too short and we will request to extend this period till February-March 2013, so that the law will be adopted during the spring session of the State Duma. In the autumn the first draft will be submitted for the public discussion, the process will also be joined by experts from the Open Government. It is very important to take into account the opinion of the whole community," said Minister of Culture of Russia, Vladimir Medinsky.