Culture, Arts, Creative Industries, and Tourism Discussed at HSE University’s Conference in Perm

On October 20–22, the second International Conference on Experience Economy: Museum, Event, and Tourism Management was held at HSE University in Perm. Key talks were delivered by Andrea Rurale, the director of the Master’s in Arts Management and Administration at the Bocconi University School of Management, and Guillaume Tiberghien, University of Glasgow.

Elena Shadrina,

Deputy Director of the HSE Campus in Perm, member of the conference programme committee

The idea of the conference first appeared four years ago when we launched the Master’s programme in Experience Economy: Museum, Event, and Tourism Management. The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers and practitioners in the fields of culture, arts, creative industries and tourism to exchange research results and experience.

In Perm, there is a close partnership network of culture and experience economy organisations. HSE University in Perm closely cooperates with the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Perm State Art Gallery, the Perm Museum of Local Lore, and a number of other museums in the region.

Support from the Ministry of Education and Science of the region allowed us to hold the conference on site. The conference programme turned out to be very rich: there were ten sections, two round tables, and three plenary reports. More than fifty speakers presented their research results. Participants of the conference included representatives of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum, Bocconi University, Glasgow University, the National Trust (UK), scientists from all HSE campuses, Kant Baltic Federal University, and Murmansk Arctic State University.’

Ekaterina Shestakova,

Programme Academic Supervisor of the Master’s programme in Experience Economy: Museum, Event, and Tourism Management, member of the conference programme committee

We are really glad that our conference has attracted experts from different countries, including the UK, Italy, Spain, and others. We discussed important trends in the experience economy such as the development of tourism and the preservation of historical cultural heritage. Some topics were quite unusual but very interesting, for example, wine tourism or authenticity in tourism. We are really happy that our conference was finally possible and we hope to strengthen our collaboration with our partners.

Andrea Rurale,

Director of the Master’s in Arts Management and Administration at the Bocconi University School of Management

Taking part in the conference on Experience Economy in Perm was a great opportunity to understand the great effort in research and practice that is happening not only in HSE, but in the activities of the many cultural institutions present in the area.

The warm welcome from the HSE community made me feel privileged to be there. Regarding the community at HSE, I appreciated the passion of faculty and students on the topic of the experience economy applied to art. Visiting the many cultural institutions, it was evident that there is a strong orientation towards improving services and the experience of visitors.

The lack of orientation towards international tourism flow is unfortunately still present in some places, particularly those where older managers work. They have been in their positions for many years and they usually do not speak English nor perceive the urgent need for English-speaking guides and staff.

Nevertheless, a great example of an innovative and modern institution is the Opera theatre, which is working to modernise itself and develop relations with sponsors.

Professor Guillaume Tiberghien (University of Glasgow) gave a talk entitled ‘Understanding the role of authenticity in the experience of place at rural and heritage tourism sites: A multiple case study analysis’. He suggested that ‘the local is the “new authentic”’, which entails ‘living like a local’ with an emphasis on slowness and immersion. He also added that tourists should be viewed as co-producers of their tourism experience, and local communities should be involved in organizing and conducting tours. Professor Tiberghien shared successful cases from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and New Zealand.

Guillaume Tiberghien,

Professor, University of Glasgow

I enjoyed being part of the International Conference on Experience Economy: Museum, Event and Tourism Management’.  The search for ‘authenticity’ in the tourism experience is growing in importance both as a core theme for some tourists and as part of the experience economy as a whole. The discussion we had on this topic would be very useful to students of the Master’s in ‘Experience Economy, Museum, Event and Tourism Management’ offered at HSE University in Perm.

Angel Barajas,

Leading Research Fellow, International Laboratory of Intangible-driven Economy, HSE Campus in Perm

It was great to listen to renowned scholars, top practitioners and young researchers in the field of tourism. I hope that our research on certain economic aspects of the tourism industry, the economic impact of tourism, and factors affecting the demand for tourism was of interest to the attendees. I’m looking forward to future instalments.