Saxophonist Victor Gennadievich Aktisov has headlined several Russian and international jazz festivals with his band, soloed with the Volgograd Academic Symphonic Orchestra, and won admission to the Volgograd Municipal Institute of Arts as the only saxophone student in its higher level. Starting this month, through the Open World Leadership Center's 2004/2005 cultural program, this impressive jazz musician and other emerging Russian cultural leaders will have the opportunity to raise their professional profiles and immerse themselves in the American cultural scene, while sharing their expertise with their American counterparts and host communities.

From late 2004 to early 2005, Open World's cultural program will host a total of 95 Russian participants, including poets, documentary filmmakers, visual artists, arts managers, and more of Aktisov's fellow jazz musicians. The Open World cultural program has been developed collaboratively with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which also provided additional funding for the U.S. component.

"The goal of the cultural leaders program is to forge better understanding between America and Russia by giving emerging Russian leaders in the arts unique opportunities to observe and experience American cultural and community life firsthand," said Geraldine Otremba, Executive Director of the Open World Leadership Center. "There are deep cultural roots from Russia that have shaped dance, theater, music, and the visual arts in the United States. Open World's expanded cultural initiative — made possible through our partnership with the NEA — will extend these ties to a very young group of Russian artists and cultural leaders. This cultural initiative will permit Russian and American cultural leaders to discuss similar challenges and learn from each other's experiences."

Open World has awarded grants to nine U.S. organizations to host the participants [click HERE for Cultural Grantee list]. One of these grantees, the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA) — a highly regarded center for the study, performance, and composition of jazz — has an ambitious agenda planned for the eight Russian jazz musicians it welcomes on September 9. The namesake and founder of the Institute, American jazz legend Dave Brubeck, has a strong connection with the Russian people beginning with his tour of Moscow and St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) in 1987 and continuing to the present with music exchanges and collaborations between Russia and the United States.

The Russian jazz emissaries will appear at the Monterey Jazz Festival (pictured, top); sit in with the Brubeck Institute's artistic director, bassist Christian McBride; attend a music industry analysis class and a briefing on fundraising; and jam with legendary jazz master Jimmy Heath. "All jazz is learning from each other," said Brubeck Institute Executive Director and noted bassist J.B. Dyas, who will also work with the delegates. "While [the Russian musicians are] studying with us, we will be learning from them. At the end of the two-and-a-half weeks, both of our cultural styles should incorporate the other's."

A second group of Russian jazz musicians will spend September 23-October 9 at the University of Louisville School of Music, renowned for its annual Jazz Week series and Jamey Aebersold Jazz Studies Program. Their schedule features recording, improvisation, and rehearsal sessions with jazz names like Aebersold, Jimmy Heath, John La Barbara, and Virginia Mayhew.

Four creative writers arrive in Iowa City on September 16. The University of Iowa International Writing Program (IWP) — often referred to as a "United Nations of Writers" — will host this first group of writers for Open World. Among the subjects their works deal with are life in the Russian army and family alienation.

IWP Program Coordinator Hugh Ferrer explained that while in Iowa, the Russian authors will meet with students and faculty, publishing industry representatives, and well-established writers from around the world. The delegates will hear readings, give lectures, and participate in panel discussions. They wrap up their U.S. visit in New York City.

Other cultural delegates will travel to the United States in November 2004 and early 2005. In Nashville, TN, and Baltimore, MD, Russian arts managers will take part in substantive internships at cultural institutions and engage in group discussions and cultural activities. Groups of filmmakers heading to Park City, UT, and San Francisco, CA, will get hands-on experience with the latest film technologies, brainstorm fundraising strategies, and attend an international public television conference, as well as cultural activities. (Activities are still being determined for two-week residencies for visual artists visiting Omaha, NE.)

Published by The PBN Company for the Open World Leadership Center, whose Open World Program has hosted nearly 9,000 citizens from Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan since its inception in 1999. The Center is an independent legislative branch agency that works cooperatively with the U.S. Department of State and other U.S. executive and judicial branch agencies. For additional information, please visit the Open World Leadership Center's website at www.openworld.gov or contact the office at +1 202-707-8943.