The festival “Hyperboreya” – the country of winds

For a thousand years the artistic culture of the nations living in northern latitudes was formed as a mean of emotional support of a person living in conditions of cold and lack of sunlight. That is why images of light, fire and warmth are so powerful both in traditional and modern northern culture; and natural components such as snow, ice and frost become a creation source of a new artistic product. The culture ideal of northerners is steady, enduring and solidary nation living in harmonious interaction with severe nature of its territory.

Today the problem is the fact that the present-day person living in a northern city and subject to depressions fails the system of “cultural support” that have been created by his ancestry for a thousand years and that was lost because of the whole levelling tendency of national and territorial cultural peculiarities of country population.

Festivals of ice and snow sculptures took place in Petrozavodsk for several years. They developed into the new complex highly cultural project five years ago. One began to carry out varied creative programs with the figure’s participation of professional and amateurish art alongside with the competition of sculptors. One began to realize social and cultural projects that reflected creative initiatives of citizens.

The peculiarity of the next stages of the winter festival development will be the inclusion of thematic actions devoted to two northern cities, one of them is Russian the other one is foreign, in the program of every annual festival. It will be Surgut City (Russia) and Umeo (Sweden) in 2006.

The project “Hyperboreya” is also planned in the framework of collaboration of cities of Russian North-West and cities situated beyond the 60^th geographical parallel.

The aim of the project is experience combination of northern cities in the use of climatic and landscape peculiarities of the North zone in the positive course, in form creation of cultural life promoting the emotional support of the northerners and uniting of city community.

The basic activity trends of the project:

· Arrangement of conditions for improvement of artist’s skill working with nature materials through the organization of the International Competition of Ice and Snow Sculptures, carrying out of masterclasses of famous “ice” and “snow” sculptors.

· Popularization and stimulation of creation of new works of professional and amateurish art to the subject of life in the North through carrying out of subject performances, organization of concerts and subject exhibitions in the context of the program “The Hyperboreya Lyra”.

· Creation of new artistic forms in which ice, snow and fire are the main expressive means through the realization of landscape enchanting spectacle.

· Rebirth and development of traditional folk games and amusements of northerners: a charitable action of the building of a small snow town, the competition of the best snowman, the competition of weathercocks, “race” of winter-swimmers, the competition of fisherman-lovers and snowmobile drive.

· The development of sports movement forms traditional for the North: the carrying out of the Interregional Skiing Festival.

The support and development of connections between artistic groups of northern territories of the Russian Federation and foreign countries, the search of modern development forms of northern cities culture sphere during the carrying out of “round-tables” with the participation of cultural workers, authority and business representatives.