On April 13, 2020, the director of the Association of Private Museums of Russia Alexey Shaburov appeared in a live broadcast of Radio Rossii, where, together with the presenters of the Raznoye Time program, Valentina Veretennikova and Anatoly Kruglov, he took part in a conversation on the topic “How to Survive being a Private Museum during a Pandemic?”
In an interview with the presenters, Alexey Shaburov talked about what private museums do, being in quarantine, how they fight for survival, what problems they face and what kind of support they expect from the state.
Answering the questions, Alexey Shaburov noted that despite the serious losses that the museum industry has suffered, he is optimistic about the future: “I have no doubt that we can withstand it,” he said. –“People who undertook the revival or preservation of a certain stratum of culture are unusual, they have not plunged into dissipation before to make money. This is, as it were, an island of healthy ideology that still finds expression in our society. “Such people are aware that what has been accumulated must be preserved for future generations, and they will do everything possible for this.”
Alexey Shaburov also recommended that the founders of private museums think about the ownership form of their museums. According to him, at present, only 35% of the members of the Association are registered as non-profit organizations. Meanwhile, it is this form of ownership that opens up wide opportunities for them to receive grant support. In addition, the cultural values possessed by museums must undergo examination and be registered in the non-state part of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation. This will allow them to obtain the legal status of a museum, and the Association of Private Museums of Russia to become a spokesman for a collective opinion that will no longer be impossible to ignore.