Penza, 20 September 2013. PenzaNews. The two-day inter-regional socio-cultural media forum “Province Search” dedicated to the 350th anniversary of Penza began its work on Friday, September 20.

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The discussion of the role of the media in promoting the cultural and historical heritage of the province was attended by the governor of the Penza region Vasily Bochkarev, the deputy director general of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Rifat Sabitov, director, chief editor “Culture” channel Sergei Shumakov, CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters Natalia Piskunova, vice president of the national channel “Country” Natalia Yatskova, and editors of the broadcasting companies from 15 regions of Russia, including Bashkortostan, Mari El, Mordovia, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Udmurtia, Kalmykia, Dagestan, the Nizhniy Novgorod, the Samara, the Ulyanovsk and the Penza regions.

The duties of a moderator of the media forum were performed by the head of “News of Culture” studio of “Culture” channel Vladislav Flyarkovsky. He marked the main purpose of the forum as promotion of the cultural and historical heritage of provincial cities of Russia, as well as discussion of the role of media in promotion of their image.

“The forum's theme “Province Search” sounds provocative: it is unclear whether it is we who are looking for the province, or it is the province who is conducting the action,” Vladislav Flyarkovsky noted.

He stressed that the objective of the project is to contribute to the formation of a unified information space of the Volga Federal District in promotion of cultural and historical potential of the province, and to develop inter-regional tourism.

The governor of the Penza region Vasily Bochkarev welcomed the participants and thanked the guests of the region for finding an opportunity to come to provincial Penza.

The head of the region drew attention to the rich cultural heritage of the Penza region, told about the reconstruction of the museums of Meyerhold, Klyuchevsky, Ulyanovs’ and other monuments of history and architecture located in Penza, and noted that the forthcoming 2014 is the year of the 200th anniversary of the Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov.

“The Penza region will welcome all the creative people who are to come to our land for the upcoming anniversary of Lermontov,” Vasily Bochkarev stated.

During the opening ceremony the governor awarded the medal “For the glory of the Penza land” the deputy director general of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Rifat Sabitov.

In turn, the guest from the capital noted that he is thankful for an opportunity to work in Penza as director of the branch of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, which he received a few years ago.

“One of the goals of this forum is to show the importance of provincial culture in preserving the culture of the country as a whole, and it is significant that we hold the forum here, in Penza land,” Rifat Sabitov noted.

At the end of the official part of the opening of the media forum, a number of multimedia presentations were held — the one of the project “Russia-10,” the participant of which is Penza sculpture park “Legenda,” the one of the national award “Country,” and of the State Museum-Reserve “Tarkhany,” and also they presented a project of all-Russian festival of TV programs and films “Hero of our Time.”