The event organized by the Vladimir Potanin Foundation will bring together all those interested in the development and popularization of the social sport theme with the goal of presenting and disseminating best practices in this field.
Oksana Oracheva, General Director of the Foundation: "In 2020, when we launched the “Power of Sport” program, we began talking about a phenomenon of social sport. At that time, the concept was not popular at all, and we had to explain what we meant by it. Today, it has firmly entered our lives: we encounter social sport in media and in professional language. There are new competitions on social sports and it has become a program priority for some Russian private and corporate foundations, as well as for government initiatives. The Vladimir Potanin Foundation continues to work with social sport practices – thanks to the “Sports for All” competition, support has already been provided to 210 initiatives totaling 300 million rubles. However, we do not limit ourselves to grant support – it is important for us that project leaders and a wider audience have an opportunity to learn from colleagues' experiences, understand how to expand and introduce something new into existing practices. For this purpose, we are organizing the conference “Sport and Society: Best Practices in Russia”. This event aims to bring together leaders of social sport projects, experts in physical culture, representatives of NGOs, universities – in short, everyone concerned about how sport influences our values and contributes to a healthy, active and vibrant future that we want to build together”.
This year, the conference will be held in a hybrid format. Three sections of the conference will take place in three cities in Russia:
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The focus of the "Equal Opportunities" section (Tyumen) is presentation and discussion of the experience in creating equal opportunities and making sport activities accessible to different social groups.
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Participants in the "Territorial Development" section (Novosibirsk) will showcase the experience of implementing sport projects that have served as starting points for systemic changes and territorial development.
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The key theme of the "Culture of Interaction" section (St. Petersburg) will revolve around projects that emerged at the intersection of sport practices and other spheres: culture, education, IT, charity etc.
The conference will conclude in Moscow with an expert meeting at the State Tretyakov Gallery. The meeting will be dedicated to museum projects connected to sport practices and the social changes achieved through these projects.
The conference will be attended by the leaders of the most successful social sport projects and industry experts. Within the sections, they will get acquainted with best practices, discuss and analyze the latest trends in the field of social sport.
The recording of the expert meeting and useful materials for participants in the form of an expanding database of best practices in the field of social sport will be posted on the conference website: https://fondpotanin-sport.ru/ (in Russian).
"Sport and Society" Conference
The "Sport and Society: Best Practices in Russia" conference is part of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation's "Power of Sport" program aimed at reaching the potential of amateur sports as a social institution capable of positively influencing the value system and improving the quality of life. The program was launched in 2020, and since 2021 it has included the "Sports for All" grant competition intended to support amateur sport initiatives that contribute to addressing social challenges. The "Sport and Society" conference serves as a platform for building a community of individuals and organizations involved in social sport projects and promoting best practices in this field.