Pro Helvetia launches 'Swiss made in Russia' exchange programme

Pro Helvetia has launched a cultural exchange programme with Russia. The «Swiss Made in Russia» exchange programme was announced at the non/fiction book fair in Moscow.

Over the period 2013 – 2015 the Swiss Arts Council wants to make Russia's contemporary culture scene more accessible to Swiss artists and to strengthen the network of cultural institutions in the two countries. If the programme is successful, Pro Helvetia plans to open a branch office in Moscow.

«Swiss Made in Russia» has a wide brief: it covers the visual arts, literature, design, architecture, art in public spaces as well as music, theatre and dance. Two local employees, based in an office in the Swiss embassy in Moscow, are coordinating the cultural exchange programme on the ground. The programme is working not only with partners in the cultural metropolises of Moscow and St Petersburg, but also includes less well-known cities like Kaliningrad on the Baltic and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. For its total duration of two and a half years and about 50 projects «Swiss Made in Russia» has a budget of 1.85 million francs.

A number of different projects from all sectors are in preparation: for example, the Vidy-Lausanne theatre is working on a coproduction of «Le Syndrome d‘Orphée» with the Chekhov International Theatre Festival, to be seen in Moscow next summer. The successful «Playtime» exhibition at the Maison d`Ailleurs in Yverdon-les-Bains on video game culture is planning to visit Krasnoyarsk and Moscow in 2013. There will be a Swiss focus at the International Contemporary Music Festival in St Petersburg in 2013. And in a year's time, Switzerland will be the official guest country at the non/fiction book fair in Moscow.

For more information on current projects and partner organisations see: www.prohelvetia.ch and www.prohelvetia.ru