Cultural heavyweights debate creative industries at Calvert Forum in Kazan

The latest Calvert Forum conference, an event dedicated to discussion of the developing creative industries in Russia and east European cities, took place in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, on Saturday. The sell-out event, which took place at Kazan’s IT Park, gave international experts and local practitioners a platform to discuss the future of creative economy in Kazan and other regions.

Throughout the event, speakers including Rustam Minnikhanov, acting President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Alexei Kudrin, Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St Petersburg State University and Martin Roth, director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, gave talks on ways in which Russian regions can become more attractive for creative entrepreneurs and how to involve local citizens in the systematic development of a creative environment in cities.

The event featured a competition in which local startups were invited to pitch ideas for business projects for a chance of winning a business trip to London. The winner was Rrate, an online resource that hosts interactive maps evaluating the location of houses and hotels according to the attractions, shopping and entertainment centres and transport hubs in the vicinity.