Cultural infrastructure
There are effectively three levels to the cultural infrastructure of Slovenia: state or national level, municipal or local level, and the non-governmental level, consisting of artists, art organisations, associations, professional arts managers, and the evolving commercial sector.
National cultural institutions
At the national or state level the management of cultural matters is mainly a responsibility of the
Ministry of Culture, which formulates policy and submits proposals for cultural legislation to the Parliamentary Committee for Education, Culture and Sport. This is made up of representatives from all parties. Policies are then passed into law by the Parliament. In order to ensure the participation of artists and other arts professionals in this law-making process, the
National Council for Culture and the
Chamber of Culture of Slovenia act as consultative bodies. While the Chamber has an open membership consisting mainly of representatives of professional associations, the Council’s seven members are directly appointed by the Parliament and are usually significant public figures. Although these two bodies exert influence, the process is managed within the government and legislature. In addition, the Minister appoints experts to a number of advisory bodies for different cultural sectors.
A major aspect of the Ministry’s work is the formulation of the cultural budget, including individual allocations to national cultural institutions. Originally done on an annual basis, an extended three-year spending plan with targets and measures (the National Programme for Culture 2004-2007) was adopted by the Parliament in February 2004 in order to create a more stable financial environment for all recipients of state funding.
There are 27 national cultural institutions: the four theatre houses -
Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Ljubljana - Opera and Ballet,
Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Ljubljana - Drama,
Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Maribor and
Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Nova Gorica; the
Slovene Philharmonics; the
Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre; the
National and University Library (NUK); the nine museums -
National Museum of Slovenia,
Museum of Natural History of Slovenia,
National Museum of Contemporary History,
Slovene Ethnographic Museum,
National Theatre Museum of Slovenia,
Technical Museum of Slovenia,
National Gallery of Slovenia,
Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana and
Museum of Christianity in Slovenia;
Lipica Horse Stud and
Arboretum Volčji Potok, the
Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (ZVKDS); the two film institutions
Slovenian Cinematheque and
Viba Film Studio; and the six regional archives in
Ljubljana,
Maribor,
Celje,
Nova Gorica,
Koper and
Ptuj. The
Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (ARS) has a special status as a body under a responsibility of the Ministry of Culture.
Several other larger cultural institutions also receive state funds, although management of these institutions generally rests at the local rather than national level. Several galleries, libraries, theatres and other public arts bodies have an independent legal status but are funded through state funds. The State or the municipality appoints the directors of these public bodies, and each body is required by law to appoint a board or council of governors. The council, which is responsible for the fiscal and operational functions of the institution, is composed of appointees from the State or founding municipality, from the staff of the institution and from the local populace or user-group of the institution in three equal proportions. Every institution usually has a programme board of internal and external appointees who act in an advisory capacity on artistic and cultural matters.
Regional and municipal cultural institutions
There has been a debate on the introduction of regions in Slovenia for some years. Regionalisation is also significant for cultural development and the development of the cultural infrastructure. In 2006 the constitutional amendments on local self-government which are crucial for the formation of regions in Slovenia were adopted. This was a starting point for decentralisation and gave the provinces the framework to act as partners for European structural funds and in cross-border regional co-operation.
Regionalisation is also an opportunity to entrust the regions with responsibility (including funding) for cultural institutions of regional and municipal significance. In Slovenia major cultural institutions (mostly regional museums and theatre houses) are located in a number of municipalities; these were established by municipalities but are funded by the state budget. The Ministry of Culture makes financial contributions to the cultural work of local government to assist in the financing not only of programme costs but also of the running and material costs of several regional institutions.
Each municipality has a Department of Social Activities which is also responsible for culture, and a Committee for Culture dedicated to managing cultural activities. Municipalities are responsible for museum and library services and cultural centres (known as
kulturni dom or 'culture houses') which aim to ensure a vivid local cultural life. The 11 urban municipalities publish open tenders for contemporary art projects, usually on annual basis. A certain amount of training and technical assistance in the administrative and production aspects of cultural activities of youth and amateur culture is provided by the
Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia (JSKD). This is a governmental institution funded by the state and comprises a headquarters in Ljubljana and 58 branch offices all over Slovenia, 10 of them functioning at inter-regional level. The network fosters public interest in culture and stimulates the development of youth culture and amateur art.
Our online directory lists 53 of the 210 municipalities, representing only those that have more than 10,000 inhabitants, within the 12 statistical region structure. Slovenia is planning to introduce 14 regions/districts (pokrajine in Slovene) with effect from 1 January 2009.
Cross-governmental working
Although the
Ministry of Culture is the primary authority on cultural affairs and media, other ministries have played a role in cultural policy making and implementation since the 1990s. The
Ministry of Education and Sport is responsible for cultural education in nurseries and primary schools (2006-2007 was a Year of Culture) and for education for different cultural vocations at secondary level and at music schools, while the
Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology is responsible for graduate and postgraduate studies and research programmes related to culture. The
Ministry of the Economy is responsible for the protection of intellectual property and the
Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning is responsible for conservation of cultural heritage and the cultural landscape. Meanwhile the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs is responsible for co-financing conservation, restoration and erection of monuments and memorials to the victims of war. Ministry of Agriculture is active in the protection of the cultural landscape and the development of rural areas (cultural tourism). The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is involved in international cultural co-operation and exchange. Two governmental offices also have cultural remits - the
Government Communication Office and the
Government Office for Nationalities.
The former is an independent professional service of the Slovene government with responsibility for ensuring that information on culture for the international public is reliable, up-to-date and comprehensive. The Office for Nationalities, which is the central institution for guaranteeing and respecting minority rights, monitors the practical effects of legislative protection, drawing attention to problem areas, preparing suggestions and initiatives for the Government and other state bodies and, together with the relevant ministries, preparing analyses and reports on wider issues relating to the protection of nationalities. The National Assembly also has a special Commission for National Communities.Ministerial collaborations have tended to focus on areas such as the promotion and teaching of the Slovene language, the preservation of monuments and heritage issues, and the development of cultural opportunities in rural areas. The cross-cutting Exercising of Public Interest in Culture Act lays out the framework for this inter-ministerial co-ordination.
(Source: Compendium Cultural Policies in Europe - Slovenia, Council of Europe and ERICarts)Although employment rights and the economic situation of cultural workers in Slovenia is stringently protected, employment in the sphere of arts and culture is decreasing. This is due to the relatively low turnover of staff and the static nature of institutional structures which means that career progression and development is restricted. Artist associations and unions are accordingly less strong.
Funding for culture
Public arts bodies at both the national and local level generally spend a huge part of their budgets on maintaining permanent staff. This effectively means that the state, which is the major funder of these bodies, does not have much fiscal manoeuvrability in relation to investment in the arts. Freelance working and independent consultancy, as it is practised in many parts of Europe and the world, is yet to be fully developed. Funding for independent non-governmental arts organisations is undergoing changes as a result of the new cultural financing regime. For the first time in 2004, a three-year programme of support for cultural programmes in the independent sector was granted. 74 NGOs were selected: 13 in the field of theatre, 19 in the field of music, 6 in the field of visual arts, 10 in the field of intermedia arts and 26 in the field of publishing. For the period 2007-2009 a total of 59 organisations was selected: 12 in the field of theatre, 18 in the field of music, 4 in the field of visual arts, 6 in the field of intermedia arts and 19 in the field of publishing. Concurrently the
Ministry of Culture offers so-called working stipends to individual artists in all sectors. Project grants, scholarships and awards are other major means of public support.
The Ministry of Culture allocates almost 3 per cent of national cultural funds to meeting the social allowances of self-employed persons of special status in the cultural sector - in 2005 out of the 2,341 registered there were 1,546 self-employed artists with this status, which was accorded for exceptional achievement and also in reflection of the government's decision to encourage growth in the number of professionals working in specific cultural professions which are not yet adequately represented in Slovenia (including puppeteers, art critics, cultural managers and sound or lighting designers).
The role of the private sector in supporting the arts is also changing with the introduction of tax incentives for private sponsors and donors, but this system is still in its infancy. There is little tradition of private-public partnerships, although there have been some successful examples such as the high-quality international
SEVIQC Brežice Festival organised in eight Slovene towns by
Ars Ramovš, or the international
Lent Festival run by
Narodni dom Maribor with heavy support from numerous sponsorship deals. Earned income in the form of ticket sales is a growing area of income for most organisations and festivals. However the integration of the arts and cultural sectors with tourism initiatives is not yet fully achieved: however this situation is changing with the opening up of new low-budget airline routes to Ljubljana and Maribor. Similarly, the concept of the ‘cultural industries’ has not made a significant impact in governmental cultural policy as yet, although the work of organisations such as the
British Council Slovenia in this area is attracting interest - see the chapter on
Cultural industries.
