Belarusian
National Culture
The cultural
policy of the Republic of Belarus is aimed at guaranteeing cultural rights
both to the entire society and to every individual, and at political,
economic and spiritual renewal of our country. To help achieve these goals
there has been worked out the State Programme “Functioning and Development
of Culture of the Republic of Belarus up to 2005.” Similar programmes have
been adopted in all the administrative regions of the republic and in the
city of Minsk. Identified are the priority avenues of the cultural policy,
elaborated are the regional programmes.
The Fund of
the President of the Republic of Belarus for the Support of Culture and Arts
stimulates the development of culture in this country. A place of prominence
belongs to cultural events of great public interest, to solemn awarding the
prizes “For Spiritual Revival” and special prizes of the President of
Belarus to the workers of culture and arts. Every year the Ministry of
Culture buys works of arts, crafts, drama and music by the Belarusian
authors residing in various parts of our country, with the major part of
these acquisitions being funded from the central budget and grants of the
Fund of the President for the Support of Culture and Arts. Every year the
state scholarships are granted to workers of culture and arts, to the
republic's artistic youth as a financial encouragement in realizing their
creative projects.
High quality
of socially important international and republican cultural events and
culturological projects is achieved by an overall concept of these events
and by involvement of the best creative forces. Among the major festivals
that were held recently are the following: International Arts Festival
“Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk,” International Musical Festival “Minsk Spring,”
International Festival “Slavonic Theatrical Meetings,” International Jazz
Festival, National Harvesting Festival “Dazhynki–2003,&rdq uo; National
Festival “Arts for Children and Youth,” 1st National Festival and
Competition of Youth Variety Show Arts, 7th National Festival of Chamber
Music “Muses of Niesvizh,” Festival of Chamber Music “Mir Castle,” National
Festival of the Belarusian Song and Poetry.
By the
Executive Order of Head of the State “On Approval of the Measures for
Perpetuating the Memory of the People's Artist of the USSR V.G. Mulyavin,”
special prizes named after V.G. Mulyavin have been introduced for the
winners of competitions of young pop song performers at the International
Arts Festival “Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk, and young performers of the
International Musical Festival “Golden Hit.” The V. Mulyavin Grand Prix has
been introduced for the winners of the National Festival of the Belarusian
Song and Poetry.
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professional theatres working in our country are an evidence of successful
development of Belarus' theatrical art. The Theatre Development Programme
has been adopted in the Republic of Belarus.
Today,
fruitfully working in our republic are more than 70 orchestras and
ensembles, and 15 concert agencies.
Premieres of
Belarusian and world's best films are regularly held in all the regions of
our republic, while the areas affected by the Chernobyl NPP accident
annually have the Days of the Belarusian Cinema. Meetings with visiting
cinematographers from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine are arranged every two years
within the framework of the national festival of Belarusian films in Brest;
films from various countries participating at festivals are annually
demonstrated within the framework of the International Arts Festival
“Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk; the International Festival of Animated Cartoon
Films “Animaevka” is held in Mogilev; Minsk plays host to the International
Firm Festival of the CIS and Baltic States “Listapad.”
As of today,
the republic has more than 350 cultural establishments of a new kind and
431centralized club systems. The cultural establishments which specialize in
the problems of revival and development of the traditional culture have
attracted increased interest. In their endeavours they are facilitated by
the National Programme for the Support of Folk Art, Folk Crafts and
Artisanry. Altogether, our republic has 62 Houses (Centres) of Artisanry and
56 Houses (Centres) of Folklore.
The
traditional international, national and regional festivals, which are held
in regular alternation every two–three years, provide a stimulating impact
on amateur artists in improving their performing arts skills. The festivals
held include: the 7th Minsk International Festival of Singing of Orthodox
Psalms, the 7th International Festival of Folk Music “Dulcimers and
Harmonicas Ringing,” the International Folklore Festival “Friendship Wreath”
in the town of Bobruisk, the 3rd International Festival of Children's Arts
“Little Golden Bee” in the town of Klimovichi, Mogilev region, and others.
In April 2003, the 5th All–Belarus Festival of National Cultures was
solemnly opened in Minsk with the participation of more than 20
representatives of ethnic and cultural communities.
Culture and
spiritual values of the State are largely dependent on the work of
libraries, with 41 percent of the republic's citizens being their readers.
Informatization of the society gave rise to active computerization of
libraries and transforming them into modern information centers. Today, 80
percent of public libraries use an automated library system, 123 of them
opened public centers of legal information. Broadly accessible
Internet–classes are also being created on the basis of libraries.
Construction of a new building of the National Library is a major goal of
the current five–year period. A wide range of library resources and various
services provide an opportunity to use the Library for every citizen of our
republic. The National Library has been and will remain to be an
inexhaustible source of knowledge, a centre of intellectual life for many
generations.
With about
16 thousand heritage properties and sites having been identified over the
recent period of time, the most important of them are put on the State List
of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus. Compilation of
the list of natural sites, cultural landscapes above all, is under way with
a view of their stage–by–stage inclusion in the World Heritage List of
UNESCO. The suggestion to include in the List “The Cultural Space of the
Eastern Polesie” as a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity created under specific natural and socio–economic conditions can be
regarded as one of the first preparatory projects of this kind. At present,
with a financial assistance from UNESCO, a concept is being elaborated for
establishing an international cultural and educational centre on the basis
of the Castle Complexes “Niesvizh,” and for the stage–by–stage inclusion in
the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme of the projects for the
digitization of the Belarusian documentary heritage, its preservation and
use in a digital form.
Studying and
realization of history and culture of Belarus, education of national
self–consciousness among the citizens of this republic, their
familiarization with the national and universal cultural heritage are
promoted largely by museums. About 1500 exhibitions guiding visitors through
various topics are opened by museums every year, starting from artistic
collections and ending in natural history exhibits. Many museums have
computerized their museum stocks.
An ongoing
process is searching and finding gifted children and youth, creating
favourable conditions for developing their talents. In that regard, there is
a calendar of traditional festivals in our republic, most of them meeting
the international standards. Annually held are the International Festival
“Youth and Children from Belarus and Russia — Entering the 21st Century
Together,” the Republican Festival of Young Talents “Constellation of
Hopes.” Various and broad–scale activities are carried out under the
patronage of the Head of the State by the Special Fund of the President of
the Republic of Belarus for Support of the Talented Youth. During five years
of the activities of the Fund, more than 1 thousand of young talents
received financial support, more than 500 laureates of republican and
international competitions were granted scholarships.
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