编号 1 (59) (2023)

Between 2010 and 2019 the attendance of Moscow museums has been growing steadily. The endurance test however came about during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021. The lockdown led to shrinking of attendance twicefold, down to 2010 levels.

To return to the previous indicators, museums should provide ambience for the psychological comfort of its visitors, they should attract professionals to create online content, and set up events to increase audience loyalty. Right after the lockdown Moscow Department of Culture together with other executive authorities of Moscow launched a number of projects: the online ticket booking service was set up, the museums received digital equipment for making digital content, the “Museum Moscow online” portal was launched equipped with the possibility to post virtual exhibitions. In order to attract more visitors, inter-museum events are being held – “A night in museum”, “An evening in museum”, “Moscow museums week.” The improvement of economic indicators is already underway.

Breadth of knowledge, guided tours experience and interests of contemporary museum-goers change steadily, and in their wake similar change befalls museums’ approaches and museography. In the Fall of 2022, the International Council of Museums attended by the Russian delegation adopted a new definition of “museum.” Its main content features non-commercial status of a permanently operating establishment serving the public interest. The State Museum of urban sculpture in St. Petersburg is fully consistent with that definition. A major museum’s collection is contained in the city’s several buildings, including the new exhibition space “Nevsky, 19.” The staff employs all the bold, effective modern forms of external exposition to lure the public. The track record of previous experimental exhibitions goes to show that given able and ingenious feed, even hard to grasp material can be made attractive to the visitors. Bolstering people’s craving for the new provides a power boost to the very museums to progress, to continue their educational work and thus preserve the nation’s cultural heritage.

A new system of state bodies’ interaction with the society is under development in the State of Russia, where a citizen is seen as a client in what regards providing state services.

The customer centricity becomes the theoretical foundation of the state apparatus works, while customer orientation will be the practical approach to its work. Transiting from the time-consuming way of citizen – public servant interaction towards effective catering to the needs of the Russian people was much aided by the digitalization of the society and the ensuing digital transparency. The speeding up of the transition was facilitated by directions from the highest levels of authority and by setting up methodologies of self-evaluation of state bodies. One example of a successful introduction of customer centricity model of operation is represented by Moscow Government structures. Nonetheless many a state organization is yet to start coming along that path. Citizens are the external clients to the state offices, while civil servants will be internal clients, where the needs of both types of clients need to be served.

Corporate surveys represent a convenient instrument to collect workers’ opinions about various aspects of their own work and that of the organization as a whole. Given a competent survey procedure and use of its results, it is possible to achieve a significant improvement in the life of the corporate bode, as well as to improve its performance results. “The HR services of Moscow Government” Project team has developed a line of surveys intended for the capital’s public offices. These methodologies allow to conduct diagnostics of the working environment in organizations, reveal needs and opinions of employees and evaluate the results of the accomplished projects. The surveys help the manager to identify “problem zones” in the organization’s management procedures, in the personnel interaction process, and to apply timely measures of forestalling risks to the benefit of the team.

Expanding the city’s inclusive environment is one of the powerful trends that’s been sustained in the Russian Capital for several years. Inclusion, however, goes way beyond removal of physical barriers for the people with limited mobility. The inclusion’s intrinsic part means “incorporating” every single citizen into active city life. Any person routinely interacts with public offices that provide them various public services. One of the quality indicators of their work can be the comfort level that is felt by the petitioner. At Moscow Metropolitan Governance Yury Luzhkov University there’s now a new program for the personnel of Sivil status registration offices. Its function is to teach the civil servants the algorithms of proper dealing with people with disabilities, who turned for the service of a wedding ceremony. The program’s content and the methodologies were elaborated in partnership with “DEYSTVUY!” charity foundation, whose experts are people with health problems too. The project’s mission is to make a social approach to inclusion work in civil service as an instrument of removing social barriers.

Since 2017 Moscow Metropolitan Governance Yury Luzhkov University has been holding a contest named “The XXIst Century Metropolis – a city to live in” of research and projecting works among school students of Moscow’s and Moscow Region’s educational organizations. The most important task of this event is to identify projects that are up-to-the minute and highly sought after by a modern city. Every year in their works schoolchildren address various issues in the field of history, ecology and preservation of the environment, education, healthcare, communal services and volunteer activities. News about the winners and prize-holders are being fed into the State Information Resource of children who show exemplary abilities of the “Talent and success” foundation. Participants get their certificates, giving them additional points to their ratings when applying to Moscow Metropolitan Governance Yury Luzhkov University. Certificates can also be added to competition portfolios for Moscow Government grants and scholarships.