Inna Svyatenko
Vice-Chairman of the Federation Council
Inna Svyatenko, Deputy Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, told the EcoTourism EXPERT about the new laws aimed at integrating arts and crafts into the tourism industry.
- In our country, many arts and crafts are unique and the skills are passed down through generations. Can arts and crafts industry’s workshops become additional tourism attractions?
- There are about 1,900 locations in sixty-seven regions of Russia where folk crafts have been developed since ancient times and where craftsmen and craftswomen keep on working today. Of course, our task is to make arts and crafts items more available and affordable to tourists and create conditions for promoting our brands in our country and abroad.
19 national tourist routes have already been developed that include visiting the places of traditional arts and crafts industry. In this way, visiting the arts and crafts enterprises and workshops become part of our tour programs, and the necessary accompanying infrastructure is created around them, including museums, hotels, cafes, souvenir shops, and stores.
As part of the permanent Senate Commission on the Preservation and Development of the Arts and Crafts Industry, the work is in progress to improve the legal regulation of this sector of the creative economy. In August, the law developed by the parliamentarians on the development of creative industries was approved, and the amendments to the Federal Law on Folk Artistic Crafts also came into force. These measures helped craftsmen and craftswomen working individually have an opportunity to formalize the status of self-employed and thereby legalize their activities and receive the state protection. And the communities involved in the traditional folk crafts can now have the government support and take part in the federal programs for the development of entrepreneurship and tourism.
- Is this legislative framework sufficient for the development of traditional folk crafts? What measures are needed in the future?
- The adoption of these laws is an important starting point for the development of the arts and crafts industry. The plans include developing a special educational strategy to train specialists for the arts and crafts industry and introducing various digitalization tools. We intend to further increase the competitiveness of the manufacturers engaged in this segment. Particular attention will be paid to the development of the places where traditional folk crafts enterprises are located and their tourism potential.
We understand that to preserve the traditions, it is necessary - along with investments in the industry - to train young specialists who can create arts and crafts items and promote them on the domestic and foreign markets. Graduates of specialized educational institutions will be able to work at regional historical centers of traditional arts and crafts located in villages, settlements, small towns, contributing to their economic, social and cultural development.
The facilities, equipment and resources are also constantly improved and they ensure the implementation of the educational process in the areas related to decorative and applied arts and folk crafts. The plans are to set up art studios and creative workshops on the basis of the Bogorodsk Institute of Artistic Wood Carving and the Fedoskino Institute of Miniature Lacquer Painting.
I believe that it is important to support the arts and crafts industry at the regional level, including through the public-private partnerships. Such examples already exist.
- What successful regional practices could be scaled up?
- I’d like to name just a few of them. In the Republic of Tatarstan, self-employed individuals are provided with funding to facilitate their participation in exhibitions and fairs. In the Republic of Bashkortostan, assistance is provided in entering the trading platforms and marketplaces. In the Vologda Region, the authorities help in launching the targeted advertising on social networks. In the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District (Okrug), the help is provided in creating an online showcase for the arts and crafts items. And in the Kirov Region, the arts and crafts enterprises offer an opportunity to undergo training and internships in folk crafts designing and manufacturing.
After the adoption of the federal law, registries are created, and thanks to these registries, each region will have a full and structured record of craftsmen and craftswomen, and the national catalogue (samples) of arts and crafts items created by them will be made at the state level. These include the Golden Khokhloma items manufactured in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Gzhel items and the Dulevo Porcelain items made in the Moscow Region, the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory items created in the Bryansk Region, the Kizlyar items produced in Dagestan, and the items made at the bone carving factory in the Arkhangelsk Region...
A number of the entities of the Russian Federation have begun working on forming their own regional legislation aimed at preserving and developing their arts and crafts industries. For example, in the Republic of Tatarstan, the law on the development of the arts and crafts industry was adopted in June, 2014.
It is also necessary to establish an official Internet resource providing the information and legal support to craftsmen, craftswomen, as well as arts and crafts enterprises and organizations. There are many tasks aimed at protecting them against unfair competition, at combating the counterfeiting, and popularizing arts and crafts goods. We will work on all these issues jointly with relevant departments, experts, representatives of the arts and crafts industry and the tourism industry.
