Archives for 2019
Saturday, November 23rd, 2019 7:00 pm – 1:00 am.
Join us for an evening of enchanting entertainment, a bountiful buffet dinner, wine and champagne, followed by a night of dancing.
Formal Attire General Admission: $110
Russian Center Members & Seniors: $90
Under 21: $75
Table of 10: $900
Advanced reservations required
No tickets will be sold at the door
See reverse for reservation information at the Russian Center of San Francisco 2460 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94115 Parking available across the street
For inquiries, please call (415) 794-2301 or choglokoff@yahoo.com
Members of the Chicago CRA chapter on a visit to Los Angeles CRA chapter.
Members of the CRA Chicago Chapter Mrs. Lydia Swenton and Mr. Igor Alexeev visited the CRA Los Angeles Chapter and met with some of the LA CRA Chapter members. In addition to attending the liturgy at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral on Micheltorena Street in Los Angeles, CRA Chapter member, Ludmila Petlitskaya introduced them to Archpriest Nazari Polataiko, rector of the church. They learned of the history of the church, including some of its more famous parishioners, including Sergei Rachmaninoff and Natalie Wood, and visited the newly established museum, outlining the history of Russians in Los Angeles.
“Taste of Russia” festival in San Francisco.
Russian Imperial Charity Ball in San Francisco.
Russian Imperial Charity Ball
CRA President met with the Mayor of Krasnoyarsk.
CRA commemorates 250 years Fabulist I.A. Krylov with national children’s art competition.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of prolific Russian fabulist, Ivan A. Krylov. To commemorate his birthday and his over 200 fables, Congress of Russian Americans held a national Russian Children’s Art Competition. With over 35 Russian schools from 14 states (and over 70 cities) competing, the competition brought in over 700 pieces of artwork from children in 4 categories: 4-6 years; 7-9 years; 10-13 years and 14-16 years. After the first phase of the competition, which was held in each school, 1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners artwork was forwarded to CRA. 200 pieces of artwork were on display during the exhibit that took place on May 11, 2019 at the Social Hall of the Russian American Women’s League. The jury was comprised of three local artists, who judged each artwork on various criteria. According to them, it was incredibly difficult to pick out only 3 place winners in each category, and thus, they were compelled to add an Honorary Mention in each category. Still, there were a lot of art that didn’t win, but did merit recognition. It was evident that the children read and studied the fables that they chose and used a lot of creativity to capture the fable in their artwork. Following the exhibit and competition, Russian American Women’s League, under the leadership of their President, Alexandra Sabelnik-Whooley invited all participants, children, parents, teachers to a bountiful buffet reception in honor of the feast of Easter and to congratulate the participants and winners of the competition. The winners artwork was on exhibit, the next day at the 88th “Day of the Russian Child” and has been forwarded to Argentina for the international competition which will take place in Buenos Aires, during the regional conference of Russian compatriots of 25 countries of South, Central and North America, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Happy Easter!
Preserve Victor Arnautoff’s mural in George Washington High School
The “Reflection and Action Group” appointed by the San Francisco Unified School District has recommended that all thirteen panels of a mural painted in 1935-1936 by Russian émigré artist Victor Arnautoff at George Washington High School be painted out because, in the words of the group’s recommendation, “the mural . . . glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy… [and]… oppression.”
However, given Arnautoff’s political beliefs, and according to a recent 2017 biography by Dr. Robert Cherny, Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art, the purpose of these murals was to present a counter-narrative to typical high school textbooks of the day and to highlight exploitation and oppression of people of color in the United States.
In other words, through his art, Arnautoff was practicing a commitment to social justice and he was certainly not glorifying slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, or white supremacy. He was, instead, through his unique depictions of scenes of the life of George Washington, condemning those institutions and ideologies.
Arnautoff created the murals to protest both the genocide of Native Americans as well as slavery and oppression of African-Americans at a time when few openly discussed these aspects of American history. High school curricula in the United States, even today, neglect the history of Native Americans and First Peoples.
As such, the mural should serve as a critical educational tool and destroying or removing it only serves to promote an inaccurate perspective of the artist and his work.
There are several workable options that have been suggested to keep the mural intact and to allow faculty to use it to support their teaching. Erasing this work of art will not serve the interests of the students at George Washington High School and will divide the community.
Sign the petition in support of the preservation of Viktor Arnautov’s mural: