Pro Helvetia opens liaison office in Moscow

Pro Helvetia is opening a liaison office in Moscow today. The Arts Council has already been operating in Russia since the end of 2012 via its successful «Swiss made in Russia» exchange programme. The new office will enable it to sustain and to strengthen relations built up through this programme.

Over 1,000 events in approximately 70 Russian cities have been carried out with the support of Pro Helvetia’s exchange programme entitled «Swiss made in Russia» since the end of 2012. Its emphasis was primarily on contemporary art production. The programme paved the way for collaboration between art practitioners from both countries and enabled open and ongoing dialogue – not just in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, but also in numerous regional hubs from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. In view of this success, Pro Helvetia’s Board of Trustees decided in 2015 to set up a permanent liaison office in Moscow. It opens on 25 February in the presence of the Arts Council’s President Charles Beer and the Swiss Ambassador to Russia, Yves Rossier.

Focus on visual art, design and performing arts
In terms of content, the focus in the first year will be on visual and performing arts and on design. In addition, Swiss authors are to be given opportunities to present Russian translations of their work at book fairs and festivals. The liaison office will also launch a residency programme enabling Swiss and Russian artists a stay of several months in each other’s country.

The new office will be run by four Russian staff members that have a well-established local network. Following Cairo, Johannesburg, New Delhi and Shanghai, Moscow constitutes Pro Helvetia’s fifth liaison office. The Arts Council also supports the cultural programmes of the Swiss Institutes in Rome, Venice, Milan and New York as well as swissnex in San Francisco, and runs the Centre culturel suisse in Paris. It thereby makes a substantial contribution the dissemination of Swiss arts and culture throughout the world.

Further information at www.prohelvetia.ru

Media relations:
Isabel Drews, Communication
T +41 44 267 71 51, idrews@prohelvetia.ch

Lisa Stadler, Communication
T +41 44 267 71 50, lstadler@prohelvetia.ch

Media Release Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, 25.02.2017