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Sargylana IGNATYEVA
Rector, Arctic State Institute of Arts and Culture
(Yakutsk, Russian Federation)
Arctic Arts & Culture Institute: Creating Online Resources
on Russia’s Northern Indigenous Communities’ Culture
The Arctic State Institute of Arts and Culture (ASIAC) is Russia’s only higher
educational establishment with a mission to protect the culture of the small
indigenous peoples of the North and to pass it on to future generations nationwide
through the system of public education.
The institute’s strategic goals include implementing study programmes as well
as creative and research projects of high academic quality, exploring ways to
preserve indigenous communities’ traditional culture, and promoting what
is known as “living heritage” across Russia and the world using innovative
educational, socio-cultural and information technology.
Founded in 2000, ASIAC has since evolved into an important cultural centre,
making a difference in community life across the region. While preserving
the best of teaching traditions, it seeks to be relevant to the modern-day
requirements for national education. The development of a quality management
system is currently underway here, with the teaching staff trying new creative
approaches and employing innovative teaching techniques.
At ASIAC, conditions have been created for studying mother tongues and
foreign languages, with these latter crucial to the institute’s integration into
the world’s academic community. An Arctic dimension has been added to the
curriculum so as to raise the students’ awareness of local indigenous heritage
and foster their commitment to preserving and promoting it, including through
public education institution.
ASIAC aims to raise public awareness of the value system and the traditions
of northern indigenous communities’ spiritual culture, making use of modern
information technology. IT is crucial to its ambition of growing into a major
centre of education, science and culture in North-Eastern Russia, whose rich
intellectual and information resources could benefit the nation and the world
at large. It is with this goal in mind that the institute works to expand its
online resources, including the academic e-library. The library is comprised
of databases featuring all kinds of material essential for learning, including
digitized textbooks, teaching aids, methodology essays, and so on. A Web
interface has been developed for the convenience of authorized users’ access to
those of the resources whose use should be confined to the local network.
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