What is culture in the context of decentralisation? Representatives of line ministries spoke about it with experts and members of AHs during a round table discussion at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre on 4 June.

On the eve of the round table, the Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre within the framework of the USAID DOBRE Programme conducted a study on the state of the cultural infrastructure in 75 hromadas in 7 oblasts of Ukraine. The monitoring showed that there are 488 culture houses, 271 libraries, 19 museums in 75 AHs, but there is not any cinema available. Moreover, most of the surveyed hromadas do not have any line department that would deal exclusively with culture - as a rule, it is one of the adjacent competences, along with tourism or even education, youth and sports. Besides, according to the survey, employees dealing with culture in rural and urban-settlement hromadas are less in number than in urban ones, despite the fact that much more people live there.

Almost all of the surveyed hromadas said they have a need in trainings, and among the top topics there are an ability to write projects and to study the international experience.

The full presentation of the monitoring results can be reviewed via the link.

Culture unites people

The Minister of Culture of Ukraine Yevhen Nyshchuk noted that the studies show a clear cut of the state in the culture sector, by which one can determine the desired vector of development. The minister stressed that premises of culture houses should be reformatted into more multifunctional spaces, which will unite people from different settlements of AH.

“Decentralisation is one of the greatest achievements of the society and the state. It makes possible to define the agenda and not to wait for "some guidance" from high offices. This concerns both budgeting and the priority of certain issues, an understanding of what is going on in hromadas," says Yevhen Nyshchuk, Minister of Culture of Ukraine. “As for culture, the decentralisation is an opportunity to create cultural centres, for example, hubs combining different directions. It can be upgraded with an exhibition hall there, or a musical band may be created on its base, where there will be a drummer from one village, a guitar player from the other, and a vocalist from the third. So, the principle "We have our own club - do not come here" will be destroyed. The culture has to give this psychological impetus, that is a possibility of creating something common, which will push the development of infrastructure," added the Minister.

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE