Bulgaria's national cultural policy priorities include:
preserving the cultural memory and historical heritage;
creating conditions for development and enrichment of all
spheres of culture as factors for sustainable development;
designing and adopting an effective mechanism of financing
cultural institutions and finding alternative funding forms and sources
improving the statutory framework in the sphere of culture; and preservation of cultural heritage and digitalisation of cultural content.
improving the statutory framework in the sphere of culture; and preservation of cultural heritage and digitalisation of cultural content.
While leading into all-European cultural processes,
Bulgaria's cultural policy must, at the same time, strengthen the place of
Bulgarian culture in Europe by preserving its national identity and values.
Cultural policy aims to support the creation, protection and dissemination of
cultural values, as well as to create an environment which promotes and
protects cultural diversity, freedom and creativity.
The present Culture Heritage Act (2009) introduced
a new concept for cultural heritage and sets up a new national system for
protection, management and sustainable use.
In the last years, access to monuments has been encouraged
by the European Heritage Days (1999 - "Traditional Architecture",
2000 - "Cultural Routes", 2001 - "Children, Youth and Cultural
Heritage", 2002 - "Different Ethnic Communities and Religions -
Common Heritage", 2003 - "Cultural Landscapes", 2004 -
"Cultural Tourism", 2005 - "South-Еast Europe - Shared
Heritage" and 2006 - "Heritage in the Information Society"). The
European Heritage Days arouse an increasing interest, involving an increasingly
wider range of participants of all age groups. These Days successfully apply
the model of partnership among central and local government authorities, state
and non-governmental organisations, the public and private sectors, with the
participation of the media (regrettably, quite insufficient yet).
Traditionally, during the European Heritage Days museums are free, and the
monuments which are undergoing conservation are open to the public.
National policy takes into account the need to raise young
people's awareness of the cultural heritage. The curricula generally include
information on the monuments of culture, in connection with the subjects of
history of fine art, cultural studies, archaeology, journalism and mass
communication. Beyond the educational system, different formats for raising
awareness of the cultural heritage properties are used: participation in the
Council of Europe projects "European heritage class" and "Europe,
from one street to the other", in scientific and exploration expeditions
to cultural heritage sites, conducting research on different themes related to
heritage etc. In recent years, the national movement "Bulgarian
Heritage" organises the initiative "Preserve the Bulgarian
Heritage" with the participation of students and pupils from all over the
country who work on national archaeological sites guided by
archaeologists.
In the course of the National Debate on Bulgarian Cultural
Policy, held in 1998, the executive and NGOs stressed their common view of
minority culture as an integral part of the national cultural heritage.
Despite its limited budget, the Ministry of Culture offers
financial support to projects such as the Roma Cultural and Information Centre,
the Roma Musical Theatre, festivals and projects of different cultural groups,
etc. A Public Council on Cultural Diversity has been established at the
Ministry as an expert consultative body.
NGOs such as the Open Society Foundation, the Interethnic
Initiative for Human Rights, SEGA, and the International Centre for Minority
Studies and Intercultural Relations, provide support for periodicals, media
events and live performances of various cultural groups.
Bulgaria has state- and private-owned radio stations and
television networks providing national coverage, as well as numerous private
radio and television stations providing local news coverage. Cultural events
and issues of international, national and local relevance are covered
extensively in their programmes.
In Bulgaria, social cohesion is a priority, in which
cultural components have multiple inputs at central and local levels, through
various actions and projects implemented by institutions, local authorities and
NGOs.
The theatre is seen as a resource which can help disabled
children to integrate into society, by giving them skills to overcome
isolation, to improve their self-confidence and feelings of self-worth, as well
as to provide them with a greater network of social contacts.
The main issues regarding employment in the cultural sector
are low payments / salaries and a declining number of state-subsidised cultural
institutions. This has prompted many gifted young people to emigrate in search
of better working conditions abroad.
The Ministry of Culture is actively involved in one of the
axes of development in the Information Society for All Programme -
"building a civil society and democratic thinking through art and
culture" Public libraries will thus complement the educational system by
helping children and young people acquire basic knowledge and skills of
searching for and analysing information. The rich multimedia resources
available during after-school activities will help overcome children's unequal
opportunities for access to new technologies.
In 2002, the National Culture Fund held a competition for
funding music information sharing, as well as the creation and maintenance of
an information database and Web page of Bulgarian music culture and authentic
folklore. Since 2002, the National Music and Dance Center has been supporting a
series of 6 educational concerts of the "Ensemble for electro-acoustic
music - EEM", which presents electronic arrangements of classical works
and contemporary electro-acoustic pattern pieces to young people. In the
framework of the annual "New Bulgarian Music Festival", a concert
with works of Bulgarian composers of electronic-music is included.
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