Interview with Silja Fischer, the IMC Secretary General, on the “Russia – Culture” TV channel

While visiting Moscow to participate in the All-Russian Forum “Music Education. Issues and Challenges of the XXI century”, organized by the RMU, Silja Fischer, the Secretary General of the International Music Council (IMC) of UNESCO, became a guest of the “Khudsovet” show on the TV channel “Russia – Culture”. Responding to questions from the show hostess Lada Aristarkhova, Silja Fischer told Russian TV viewers about the most significant IMC international projects and about the difficulties this non-governmental professional organization faces while establishing the intercultural dialogue. They also touched the topic of Russia’s joining the IMC after a 25-year pause. Speaking of the difficulties of this process and the chances of Russia, Silja Fischer said: “Our organization strives to be represented all around the world, therefore we only welcome Russian initiative to return to the International Music Council. But it is important that the national union could fully represent the music life of the country, and I see that our Russian colleagues are really taking a lot of effort.” Taking further into the issue of cooperation with Russia, she stressed: “I think we have much to learn from each other. My colleagues from the regional European group, based in Bonn, are very interested in cooperation with countries outside the European Union, including Russia. There are a lot of unexplored possibilities. In particular, we would like to communicate with colleagues from the former Soviet Union; in fact it is sometimes difficult for us even to contact them. We do not know what music organizations still exist since the Soviet times, and which have been created in recent years. And then we rely on our Russian colleagues who can help us understand what is happening to this huge cultural space.”