On 5 July, for the first time IV Summer School of HSE Cultural Studies Department starts in Satka District (Chelyabinsk Region) at the initiative of the district administration and Magnezit Group. Vitaly Kurennoy, the head of the School, HSE professor, tells about the expectations of the School organizers and participants as well as about its features.

Three features of the School

The first feature of the Schools is less teaching and more real research and practical work. This year, serious scientific projects supported by the leading Russian scientific funds are to be implemented in the framework of the School. The group under the aegis of the social studies department of the Moscow High School of Social and Economic Science is implementing an important social research project, The Culture of Elderly Workers. The project is connected with the task of attentive attitude to elderly people recently mentioned by Deputy Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky in his presentation of the Strategy of Social and Economic Development. In addition, the project on Distributed Life in a Russian Monotown supported by Khamovniki Fund for Support of Social Studies is being partly implemented right in the framework of the School. The School also has groups on development of human capital, development of urban culture and new forms of cultural policy. Another group will make researches to develop the platform for branding of the district. There will be also a media group responsible for the information support of the School, creation of series of important information products about the district, including hi-tech shooting of sights, promotion of the information about the district in the global information and navigation services. The second important feature of the School is its systematic connection with the Strategy of Social and Cultural Development of Satka District as well as with the activity of the Council of Experts of the Fund for Promotion of Satka Municipal District Development. The work of the School will result in the proposals for the Council of Experts and Overseers of the Fund, which means reasoned support of the Fund projects.

Plans

Despite compressed research schedule, lots of events are planned. Meaningful World interactive seminars of the School in summer camps for children and youth of the district, project seminars at schools – all these events are to be held by the group of human capital development in active cooperation with head of Education Department of the District Elena Baranova. The workers of culture and leisure institutions who have joined the School will have the opportunity to take upgrade training courses on modern forms of cultural policy. The course participants will receive the School certificates of our university. As for mass events, I would like to mention the club session, including watching and discussion of one of the modern popular serials. Meetings with special guests of the School, for example, chef editor of Russian Reporter magazine Vitaly Leibin will be arranged. Ruslan Khestanov, HSE professor, the director of the Moscow Institute of Social and Cultural Programs, has scheduled an interesting program of work with local and corporate mass media.

Wishes 

I would like to wish the School participants to make the most of this time to communicate and make friends as well as to implement the scheduled projects.