The Russian Gnesins’ Academy of Music as a Foundational Methodological Center for Development of Education in the Sphere of Culture and Art

Abstract

The article is devoted to the relevant problem of meeting the strategic challenges of artistic education determined by Russian state documents. A foundation for the existing system is the early professionalization of the students, which is connected in the tightest way with an active involvement of the most gifted children with art and creativity. As practice shows, the achievement of success requires the traversal of a lengthy path of education, beginning with the music school and continuing it on the middle level – the musical college and then the institute for higher education. Of special significance in this process is the methodological provision of the process of education and upbringing. From 1962 to 1991 the Ministry of Culture of the USSR had an affiliate branch which was the Soviet Methodological Cabinet for Educational Institutions for the Arts and Culture. Parallel with this in the 1980s activities were carried out by the Republic’s Methodological Cabinet affiliated with the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR, where the leaders of the scholarly-methodic sections were representatives of the Gnesins’ Musical Pedagogical Institute (presently the Russian Gnesins’ Academy of Music). Presently on the basis of the Russian Gnesins’ Academy of Music there exists a Center for In-Service Education and Retraining of Employees of Culture and Art. Within the structure of the academy the Federal Resource Methodological Center for Development of Education within the Sphere of Culture and Art was established, the main task of which was the preservation and development of the unique three-level educational system of “music school – music college – institute of higher education,” provision of methodological and consultative aid for educational institutions and the advancement of the quality of education. Keywords: the cultural polity of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, musical education, methodological center, Russian Gnesins’ Academy of Music.