Soros Center for Contemporary Art - Almaty

The Public Charitable Foundation Soros Center for Contemporary Art - Almaty(SCCA) was established in mid - 1998 with the help of Soros Foundation -Kazakhstan.SCCA - Almaty is part of SCCA Network in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and is the only SCCA in all of Central Asian region. Theoverall objective of the SCCA is to integrate Kazakhstani arts into the world community of arts. Since its inception, the SCCA has implemented the following projects:

• Subscription to the “Artists’ journal” (Russia) in 1998 for 7 art museums of Kazakhstan
• “Human rights: Terra incognita” exhibition (Together with the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan) December 1997, Almaty
• Publishing of “Terra incognita” catalogue ( Together with the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan) February,1998, Almaty
• “Human rights: a second wind” international art project (Together with Soros Foundation Kazakhstan ) April 1998, Almaty
• Publishing of the “Artdiscourse-97” catalogue (Together with the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan) December 1998, Almaty
• “Introduction to curator’s school activity” seminar August 1998, Almaty
• “New technologies in the art” grant competition 1998-1999,Kazakhstan
• Archive program
• “Internet for artists” program
• “Library of Contemporary Art” program
• “SCCA discussion club” program
• “Self - identification: future prognoses” annual SCCA exhibition November1998, Almaty
• “Charles Rennie Mackintosh” exhibition (together with British Council) December 1998, Almaty
• Video project "Nordic Contemporary Art" (Together with the NIFCA) February,1999, Almaty
• Web design for artists Traning (Together with the Internet Traning Center ) March,1999, Almaty
• Cultural events information: dynamics of success Workshop (Together with the Goethe Institute ) March,1999, Almaty
• "Even in Africa human rights are human rights" exhibition (Together with HIVOS Foundation) April , 1999, Almaty
• Conference "Avant-qarde and Asia" May, 1999
• Seminar "Studies in CONTEMPORARY ART.History and Theory .New Technologies and media" August,1999
• Workshop "Open Museum Survival Strategy". November,1999

For the first time, in the history of contemporary art in Kazakhstan,artists Elena and Victor Vorobiev were invited to take part in the IstanbulBiennals; Julia Sorokina attended the “Art Management” seminar in Salzburg,Erbolsyn Meldibekov participated in the “25th Youth Salon” exhibit in Zagreb and Aigul Alkina, who is the Chief Archivist for Kazak State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. Kasteev , attended a museum workshop held in Prague.
The SCCA discussion club, library, video library , Internet access ( for all artists) – are all vital contributions to the arts community in Kazakhstan. The SCCA is the only place in all of Central Asia where information on all artistic events in Kazakhstan, as well as in the rest of the world is based. All round-tables , seminars, meetings and discussions between artists, art critics and creative people the world over are held here.
Articles on SCCA-Almaty activities and, in general, on the contemporary arts scene in Kazakhstan have appeared not only in the local press, but also in “Arts magazine” (Russia), “Neue bildende Kunst” (Germany), and we expect more materials to be published in “Art news” next spring. All of this helps to open our country to the world, helps us in making contacts and establishing mutual understanding, and the very activity of the artists assists in democratizing society and breaking down the barriers of conservative thought.