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Cultural policy a preliminary study

Unesco

Studies and documents on cultural policies 1

Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization Place de Fontenoy, 75 Pari~-7~

First edition 1969 Second, revised edition 1969

Printed by Imprimerie Blanchard, Paris

0 Unesco 1969 Printed in France SHC,69/XIX. 1 a/A

This publication is the ñrst in the Studies and Documents on Cultural Policies series, published as part of the programme adopted by the Unesco General Conference at its fifteenth session for the study of cultural policies. In this context, ‘cultural policy’ is taken to mean a body of operational principles,

administrative and budgetary practices and procedures which provide a basis for cultural action by the State. Obviously, there cannot be oue cultural policy suited to all countries; each Member State determines its own cultural policy according to the cultural values, aims and choices it sets for itself.

It has been largely recognized that there is a need for exchange of information and experience between countries as well as for cross-national investigations on specific themes, research into concepts and methods, etc. The aim of this series, therefore, is to contribute to the dissemination of information by

presenting both the findings of such studies and various national surveys illustrating problems, experiments and achievements in individual countries chosen as representative of differing socioeconomic systems, regional areas and levels of development. This text is the outcome of a round-table meeting organized by Unesco from 18 to 22

December 1967 in Monaco. It was attended by thirty-two participants from twenty-four countries who had been invited in their personal capacity as being responsible for cultural action at the national level, specialists in the social and human sciences, creative artists or representatives of interested non-governmental organizations. The conclusions reached and recommendations adopted by the meeting have been used as a basis for the Unesco programme in the field concerned.

Contents

Introduction 9

The idea of ‘cultural policy’ 10

Evaluation of cultural needs and development of long-term programmes

12

Artistic creation and the training of cultural agents

16

The channels for cultural action 25

Administrative and financial structures 36

Conclusions 48

List of participants 50

Introduction

Rapidly evolving new ways of life and information techniques make people more clearly aware of their needs in the cultural field. In a civilization which is dominated by technology, cultural action has an increasing role to play, supplementing educational work and scientific effort by giving them an aim. Its function is to ensure that development serves the mind. It is no longer enough for a few individuals to take steps to promote exchanges between élite groups, or for specialists to appreciate mutually the wealth and excellence of neighbouring civilizations. It is for all the people to have access to cultural life and an active share in it. Cultural development must now catch up on and keep in step with technological and scientific progress; it must gradually take its place in over-all policies for development, along with those for education and scientific activity.

9

The idea of ‘cultural policy’

The participants to the round-table meeting on cultural policies decided unanimously against embarking on an attempt to define culture; the representative of the Director- General had made a point of recalling that it was not the role of Unesco to define the cultural policy of States. It was considered preferable: (a) that ‘cultural poky’ should be taken to mean the sum total of the conscious and deliberate usages, action or lack of action in a society, aimed at meeting certain cultural needs through the optimum utilization of all the physical and human resources available to that society at a given time; (b) that certain criteria for cultural development should be delbed, and that culture should be linked to the fullilment of personality and to economic and social development.

It was recognized that economic and social development should go hand in hand with cultural development; culture has a beneficial effect on the means of production available and on man himself; every improvement in physical well-being helps to promote culture, by freeing man from enslavement to physical obligations, and by giving him leisure for the activities of the mind. The march of economic progress is generally reflected in the cultural sphere, and cultural activity stimulates economic Me. Emphasis was placed on the need to integrate science in culture, and to study the way in which culture evolves under the influence of science and technology. Attention was also drawn to the fact that literacy programmes and cultural development form an indivisible whole: it is the cultural advancement of the whole people that imparts force to the literacy movement. Over the last twenty years or so, and more especially since 1960, an increasing number of

governments have set up departments of cultural affairs distinct from their departments of education. This trend reflects, on the one hand, a new phenomenon-sometimes referred to as ‘cultural development’-connected with improvements in school enrolments, communication media, town planning and living standards and, on the other, the determination of governments to take deliberate measures, on a national scale, to meet this new demand. Several States have written into their basic laws the idea of making great cultural works accessible to all sections of the population. This cannot, however, be left entirely to individual initiative, hampered as it is by so many economic and psychological difficulties. It must be promoted by the public authorities, which have the necessary means for carrying out such a tremendous task. Each country has a Merent general concept of the action which public authorities should

take in the cultural field, and of its justification and aims. Generally, it appeared that there are four Werent approaches :

10

The idea of ‘cultural policy’

1. Cultural policy is integrated in general planning. 2. The State considers that it has a responsibility for culture deriving from the role it has undertaken towards the nation, and that it is the duty of the State to replace private initiative which is not always capable of carrying out this task successfuliy.

3. One should beware of centralization and of a predominant role for the State in the direct management of cultural institutions, because of the danger of cultural action being reduced to uniformity and lest the controversial element in art be neutralized; those who support this approach prefer to limit State intervention to financial assistance, free from any conditions.

4. In certain developing societies it is considered that cultural development is essential in order to strengthen awareness of nationhood and thus facilitate the growth of an original culture which wili meet both the deepest aspirations of the people and the requirements of the modern world; State intervention is essential, since private action is stili clearly inadequate.

In any event, State intervention must not have a harmful effect on the freedom to create and public passivity must be avoided at any price.

1 1

Evaluation of cultural needs and development

of long-term programmes

Desirability of a general description of cultural activiîy

In working out a cultural policy it is necessary to evaluate needs and to know what exists to meet them. In most countries very little is known concerning either of these aspects: people do not even know what methods can be used to discover the facts of cultural activity and what are the needs of the public. Which members of the public are in fact reached? What is provided? By what types of institutions? With what equipment? With what staff? At what cost? In each sector (creation, dissemination, training, conservation), what are the activities and expenditure of the State, local communities, voluntary associations, individuals? Answering these questions means approaching cultural problems objectively. A philosophy

of culture is not a sufficient basis for action; the facts that we are trying to change must be exactly known. These are the facts which will tell us who is benefiting from cultura1 action (which frequently reaches only the cultured), what proportion of the public is not in any way affected, and what impact the various means of action have. It is then realized how inadequate former practice is in regard to the new problems. It is more readily appreciated that a cultural policy cannot be confined to patronage, even on a larger scale than before. It becomes obvious that a cultural policy must be linked both with a policy for continuing education and a policy for decentralization and regional development. It falls into its proper place in the social and economic development of the nation.

Methods of description

In some countries an economic model is used, which consists in taking over for cultura1 activity the categories used in economic analysis. In fact, the application of the notions of supply and demand to the cultural sector might be productive of many useful results, making possible a better knowledge of the public, its diversity and its requirements and a much closer analysis of existing structures. The same holds good when the categories of production, distribution and consumption are applied: this brings out more clearly the points to which the efforts of the public authorities can be directed with the best effect. Further- more, it makes it possible to combine the data of cultural development with those of economic, social and educational development. It is necessary, however, not to neglect notions of free choice and the claims of the mind.

12

Cultural needs and long-term programmes

Latent needs

The round table emphasized that a distinction should be made between cultural demand and cultural needs, which may remain latent, without being expressed as a demand. Cultural needs are not a fact; they are discovered by sociological research, using as a basis certain data (e.g., the difference between the cultural models of two societies or two groups), bearing in mind desirable and possible objectives. People can only desire something that they know of. In order to understand the cultural needs of a people one must bring it into contact with cultural facts recognized as such, or with innovations, and, by offering it a choice, induce it to indicate its preferences. If offered the possibility of entering into contact with different or new forms of culture, people will have a better understanding of them and take more interest in them. This is particularly important in the case of young people. A n example of this kind of action was quoted: in Japan, at the time when a young

people’s arts theatre was set up to tour rural areas, an inquiry was made into the choice of plays to be put on. The results showed that all the authorities consulted were unanimously in favour of modern works, mostly dramas or operas, on the grounds that the traditional noh and bunraku works, whose rhythm is too slow, would not be understood by young people. It was nevertheless decided, as an experiment, to put on traditional plays in certain places: they had considerable success, and a demand arose for them. In the absence of suitable machinery, systematic methods for evaluating needs have not

yet been devised. Even apart from the conceptual problems arising in connexion with the very idea of ‘cultural need’, the methods of investigation are unusual and unfamiliar. The various approaches may be grouped under the following heads. First, the study of behaviour patterns by analysis of time-budgets, the measurement of

attendance at institutions (the ‘user-hour’ concept), and expenditure accounting gives a better idea of levels of activity and, more particularly, of the areas of inactivity, the ‘cultural deserts’. By means of comparisons over time or between regions, needs can to some extent be estimated. One participant insisted on the usefulness of statistics for research directed towards the future. Tables giving, for example, the number of theatres, cinemas, clubs, sporting facilities, and the number of radio and television sets are helpful in foreseeing the probable evolution of cultural life. Another participant noted that it was not enough to draw inferences; one must study changes in trends, their possible causes, and the means available to bring them about. Secondly, studies of behaviour patterns must be carried out by specialized institutes, using

the appropriate statistical and sociological tools. Opinion polls do not give a really accurate picture of the desiderata, for the samples interviewed speak only of what they know, employing the usual clichés. O n the other hand, opinion polls do provide a means of evaluating the response to a particular offer and, thereby, of estimating the needs. A third source of information is afforded by cultural promoters and persons responsible

for cultural action in the field. The ‘inspectors’ of cultural action inquire into their needs and pass the information on to the central administration. A fourth source is provided by local council members or members of parliament, who are responsible for representing regional or sectional interests. In several countries, it has been felt that some co-ordinating body is required to evaluate

needs. Research departments have been set up in the civil service, generally reporting to a minister; their role is not to conduct studies themselves, but to commission specialized bodies to carry them out. These departments draw up research programmes, follow their implementation, and see that they are turned to account by the various services. They build up documentation, and redistribute information. In Czechoslovakia, a scientific council

13

Culrural needs and long-term Programmes

for cultural development, reporting to the minister, has a membership of leading figures in the world of the arts and scientific research workers. In other countries, commissions of inquiry are set up for a certain length of time to study needs and propose solutions. In Sweden, a commission of inquiry on the decentralization of music gave rise both to a wide- ranging sociological study on musical activity and to controlled practical experiments: by combining the results of the two approaches, the commission is in a position to propose a reform of the organization of music.

Development of long-term programmes

Most participants pointed to the difficulties which arise at present in the development of long-term programmes. Cultural needs are evolving more quickly; new needs are appearing, and public taste changes. As television sets have multiplied, for example, cinema atten- dances have failen 50-70 per cent over a period of ten to fifteen years. One must, therefore, avoid choosing a framework which may become too narrow, and preserve the possibility of a flexible adaptation of resources to the requirements of a rapidly evolving cultural scene. Some countries have preferred to restrict themselves to short-term plans (five or even four years), which makes possible periodic evaluations and the drawing of conclusions from experience. It is extremely difficult to carry out a study of methods in this field, since adequate data are lacking. In some countries, guidance panels are concerned with the establishment of long-term

programmes. Consisting of experts drawn not only from the administration and from cultural circles, but also from economic circles, these panels study long-term projections concerning national trends (population, economic, educational and technological projections) and try to situate the probable trend of cultural development against that background. In the U.S.S.R., a plan for cultural policy over the next twenty years provides for a wide-

spread development of cultural media and an increase in and improvement of the physical and technical bases of culture, together with social measures aimed at facilitating participation by the people in cultural activities. During the last five years, an attempt has been made in Poland to draw up a long-term

cultural programme. From the institutional point of view, this is being carried out in the framework of activities of the main national scientific organization, the Polish Academy of Sciences. The Department of Social Sciences of the academy has set up a sector for research on contemporary culture responsible for working out a scientific basis for planning in the field of culture and its development. The Ministry for Culture and the Arts has a Council for Culture composed of distinguished representatives of art, science and culture. One of the tasks of the council is to assist the ministry in drawing up long-term plans. The firm belief that any set line of policy, in particular cultural policy, may easily become authoritar- ian and runs the risk of embarking on utopian schemes is a decisive element in the growing importance attached to the necessity for scientific analyses as a condition of effective action. The long-term economic development plan and demographic projections provide the

essential starting point for long-term cultural planning. Reference should be made to two of the cultural problems which arise in demographic planning: the vital problem of cultural relations between different generations, which will live together for a longer time than formerly (differing not only in age and in their background of historic experience but also, thanks to educational advance, in their general level of education); and the problem of culture for older people in an environment where most of the ideas in wide circulation are aimed at the young. The work of Polish specialists and planners in the field of culture is at present directed toward developing ‘cultural models’ for the future. These models will serve

14

Cultural needs and long-term programmes

both as an instrument for intellectual analysis and as a standardizing agent, determining the choice of a policy whereby set objectives may be reached. They are drawn up on the basis of three assumptions: (a) extrapolation from a series of statistics typical of the cultural needs of a society; (b) analogy with the cultural development of other countries, bearing in mind differences in their socio-poiitical systems; and (c) a relative stabilization of certain existing structures and factors in the life of a nation. Even those responsible for this exercise nevertheless recognize that it is extremely difficult;

and they point out that there are disadvantages in institutionalizing cultural activities.

15

Ar tis tic crea tion and the training of cultural agents

Art and life Traditional cultures

In pre-industrial societies, art was closely linked with life. One participant even observed that in Africa the word ‘art’ has no meaning: objects which today are described as artistic were used as necessities of everyday life; dances and songs were not inspired by aesthetic preoccupations. There was not one culture for the rich and one for the poor: culture was indivisible, the common property of the tribe. Western civilization has also gone through periods when the position was much the same: the master builders of the cathedrals in the Middle Ages were anonymous, and their work had a social role. The idea of ‘art for the chosen few’ should be discarded. Culture is born of the people,

for the reason that it is fed by the deep well-springs of a people’s conscience. A discussion took place on the extent to which, in modern society, work promotes cultural training or, on the contrary, hinders it. For each culture, one must seek out the secrets of its life, growth and subsequent develop-

ment. The ‘traditional arts’ should not be considered as poor relations, or minor arts whose products should be buried in museums or commercialized for tourists.3he developing countries emphasize that it is important for them, ‘firstly, to retrace and make widely known the values of their national cultures, and secondly, to take over the cultural heritage of mankind in order to find a place in the world of today and to be able in their turn to enrich the universal heritage by new creations which, from the artistic point of view, may be worthy of their era’. One participant pointed out that in Japan the national culture has co-existed for a hundred

years with Western culture and that the two have so closely intermingled that it is now often difficult to define what is meant by ‘traditional’ art forms and ‘modern’ art forms; the distinctions between the art of the governing class and folk culture, and between creative artists and the public, are virtually non-existent. Various examples were quoted of the vitality of the ‘traditional’ arts; of efforts made

to revive them and breathe new life into them; and of the results obtained. In Tunisia, one of the main objectives of cultural centres and committees is to contribute

in the first place to the revival of national culture; in each gouvernorat persons responsible for culture are invited to participate in the revival of local folklore and to take an interest

16


in archaeology, folk poetry, and traditional music. The research carried out with regard to traditional Tunisian music (Mulouf) has proved particularly useful, since the old airs were not notated. There is an urgent need to make a collection of them before those who pass them on orally die. Local cultural committees have the task of tracing Malouf singers, recording the tunes of the different regions and arousing interest in them among young Tunisian men and women. In Colombia, Ecuador and above all in Mexico and certain areas of Brazil, displays of

folk culture are both numerous and lively. Fiestas are truly popular, and real talent is used in the arts of costume, dance and music. Some of them, however, have acquired a modern aspect in the sense that they are an aíñrmation of conscious nationhood. They are often expanded into festivals organized by the authorities for public or political celebrations. In Guinea, a particularly original creation is the instrumental and choral ensemble of

the national broadcasting company, which uses only the traditional musical instruments of the country. It has undertaken the task of harmonizing and orchestrating, and bringing back into favour, the old songs and epics which recount the glorious destiny of national heroes. A visible sign of the development of the music of the country is the existence of three orchestras, the records of whose musical creations are widely known both in Africa and beyond.

New art forms

Modem mass media can usefully help in reviving traditional arts. They should not, however, be considered solely as methods for spreading the arts, since they bear in themselves the seed of new art forms. The real masterpieces produced so far by the cinema in half a century, which have raised the cinema to an art, and the results of experiments and research in broadcasting and television, are rich in promise; they are already producing an effect on other fields of artistic creation which can only become more pronounced. In particular, broadcasting and television may perhaps make possible a direct transition from a traditional oral culture to a new oral culture. The problem for them is to evolve a form of expression of their own. Only in this way will it be possible, in the words of one participant, to ‘disinfect the mass media, which now threaten to corrupt civilization’.

The aesthetic element in everyday life

In many countries an effort is now being made to improve the surroundings in which man lives his life, and to raise the level of each day’s cultural content. This brings us to the heart of the matter: the aesthetic element in everyday life; a problem in which architecture, town- planning and industriai design are all involved. Our surroundings, and everyday objects, should not be merely functionai; beauty of form and usefulness should be inseparable. Modern techniques, new construction materials, and new forms of decoration make

architectural innovations possible. Little is done, or known, about interesting, informing and training the public, or even builders themselves. Exhibitions of models and ‘briefing meetings’ are organized in some countries, and a number of countries are taking an interest in the question and studying various solutions. In the U.S.S.R., for example, voluntary art councils settle a variety of problems concerning town planning and the modernization of the appearance of streets, squares and shop windows, and thus try to contribute towards the art education of the peopIe. Such concerns need to be more clearly reflected in cultural policy.

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Assistance to artisüc creation

In the past, princes made a practice of commissioning artists to work for them, either to add glory to their reigns or for their own pleasure. In modem democracies, it is gradually coming to be felt that a society’s greatness in the eyes of the world and in the history of mankind owes much to the form and quality of the works of art it produces.

It is not enough to acquaint people with the vast store of treasures inherited from the past; we must foster the spring of creation itself, for it is that which gives the new society symbolic images of its own distinctive identity and the wealth of values it embodies. Creation is the principie of life in cultural activity. Socially speaking, artists have always been-and often still are, even in the ‘welfare societies’-among the most underprivileged members of the community. Their income is low and irregular. They do not enjoy the protection afforded by membership of the great organizations of modern society. It is therefore now generally agreed that governmental authorities should take a hand ÛI the situation. At present, assistance to artistic creation is most often directed towards group media (cinema and theatre) rather than to individual creative artists. What are the most effective procedures for assisting artistic creation? The methods adopted

should be such as to meet the major requirement for artistic creation: the freedom of the artist. Whatever the method adopted, therefore, the basic problem to be solved is how to secure the freedom of the creative artist, while at the same time giving him the place he should have in economic and social life. Whatever is done to assist artistic creation should be based on indisputable facts. Some

studies have already been made, although much stili remains to be done. The foliowing are examples of work in this sphere: the survey on the professional and social position of artists carried out in 1957 by the International Association of Art and published under the title, Definition of the Professional Artist; in the United Kingdom, a Short Survey of the Situation of the Artist in England: Visual Arts (1960), published by the Congress for Cultural Freedom, and The Book Writers- W h o Are They? (1966), compiled by Richard Findlater on the basis of a survey conducted by Research Services Ltd.; in France, Enquête sur les Débouchés de l’Enseignement Artistique (1967); the United Arab Republic has set up a national council to be responsible for examining the situation as regards artistic creation in the repubiic and how it can be encouraged; and in 1967, Sweden started a systematic survey on creative artists, their numbers and their income, as compared with other categories of citizens. In the U.S.S.R., a socio-psychological inquiry on creativity in the arts has been carried out with the help of a cultural periodical.

Legal assistance It appears that governments, as Weil as artists’ unions in the different countries, are concerned with legal assistance, but the nature of the action taken or to be taken naturally depends upon the laws and regulations in force in each country, which may vary very widely. Another point on which it would be useful to have information is what changes have been made by certain countries in copyright law. The artist also sometimes has a droit de suite in respect of his works. In general, however, the national studies make no mention of action in this sphere.

Social assistance

It is desirable to separate social assistance from assistance to artists, since, in the past, as artists were frequently in straitened circumstances, the public authorities often used to commission work from them for social rather than aesthetic considerations. H o w many pictures

18


and sculptures are cluttering the cellars of ministries-and were not fit to be displayed even when they were delivered ! Such a policy meant that the funds available were frittered away, with very dubious criteria for their allocation and little significance for culture. A sounder procedure would be to define and apply social assistance measures applicable

to all artists who satisfy certain professional criteria. It is desirable that such social measures should be the responsibility of a separate administration, and that those who are responsible for cultural action and the commissioning of works by the State should not have their hands tied by social considerations. In some countries, for example, grants from ‘cultural funds’ are made to artists and their families in case of need. Another country has recently adopted a system of insurance for painters, sculptors and engravers, covering sick- ness, maternity benefits and death.

Tax relief

Many countries allow tax relief not for artists but for the distributors in various sectors. The problem of a policy for the partial or even complete exemption from taxation of artists themselves has been raised by many artists’ unions, societies of authors and so on. In the United Kingdom, for instance, copyright sale is still treated as income, and taxed as such. Some relaxation has, however, been allowed in the possibility of spreading the tax payable on royalties and other sums received over a period of two years. Here, too, artists, generally benefit indirectly from measures providing tax relief for foundations and associations. Re- ductions in taxation, and credit facilities, are sometimes allowed-usually under recent legislation-to distributors in the cinema and theatre sectors. Many countries give direct assistance. In Mexico, for instance, artists are allowed to settle their tax claims by handing over their works to the State.

Prizes, commissions and other forms of State assistance

The award of prizes and State commissions, which was for a long time largely a matter of which artists the authorities happened to know, should also form part of the cultural action policy and be governed by a policy-or, in other words, by principles of action and administration. If contact is to be re-established between the sovereign-nowadays, the people- and the artist, so that the latter may be conscious of a demand from society, the first necessity is to link commissioning with the distribution system.

Public buildings

Public buildings provide the most obvious opportunity for State-commissioned work, either in architecturai design or in the related arts. In the United States of America 0.5 per cent of the cost of public buildings may be used for their decoration by artists. In France, 1 per cent of the cost of school buildings may likewise be set aside for such decoration. In Tunisia, the sums allocated for the decoration of public buildings may amount to as much as 1 per cent of the cost of the construction work. In Sweden, an allocation of 2 million kronor was included in the 1967-68 budget for the purchase of works of art to decorate public buildings. The problem is: (a) to induce architects to make use of these facilities (in France, 4 per

cent of the 1 per cent is paid to the architect to cover his costs); (b) to help the architect in choosing works of art, especially when he lives at a distance from the main centres of artistic creation. Documentation centres are at present being set up for the assistance of

19


architects and to secure the harmonious integration of the different forms of expression. The latest trend is to bring artists into the picture as soon as the preparation of the plans begins, so that their works are not added as an after-thought or superimposed, as mere ornamenta- tion, but form an integral and vital part of the architectural composition.

Exhibitions

Works commissioned by the State should not be left mouldering ‘in store’, nor should they merely adorn the buildings occupied by public authorities; they should be exhibited to the general public. Temporary exhibitions might be organized, to tour various cultural centres and museums.

Performance of musical works

If a work is commissioned but not performed, the composer may benefit, but cultural action as such is not furthered at all. Systems are now being devised whereby commissioning is linked to performances; either the State commissions the work directly and guarantees that it will be performed, or-preferably-orchestras themselves are asked to commission musical works from composers chosen by them, and receive grants from the political authorities for that purpose. In some countries, grants are made to cover the cost of copying the score.

Hire-purchase of works of arts

Certain cultural centres have devised a system whereby contemporary works, chosen by the centre, can be hired out to private persons for a nominal sum-about the amount it costs to insure the work. If the borrower likes a work, he may purchase it.

Experimentation

An artist’s production may not immediately find a place in social life. The history of pro- gressive art movements abounds in examples of works which were not understood until many years later. Yet research and experimentation are even more vital in art than in any other sphere. Experimental art must be assisted by the authorities; works commissioned by the State may thus not all have a place in the distribution system; some commissions may represent assistance to basic research in the visual arts. Some countries earmark funds for this purpose in the same way as they do for basic scientific research, and sometimes through the same machinery.

Grants and allowances Almost all countries make grants and allowances available to artists and writers. The financial aspect apart, the question is: at what stage in their career and for how long? Then again, are these rewards to go to established artists and writers or to beginners? Formerly subsidies went to the older generation, who became official poets or painters. The modern trend seems to be to encourage new talent on a larger scale by means of limited assistance (at least two years but not more than five) rather than to ‘institutionalize’ a few established careers.

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Experimental studios (for contacts between creative artists and between these artists and the public)

The round table considered there was an urgent need to provide research premises and studios for experiments in the arts (the theatre, cinema, painting, etc.) on the same lines as laboratories where scientists, singly or in teams, and often from different disciplines, enjoy freedom of creation. Such studios, whether national, regional or international, where artists can meet and experiment, would bring about some of the conditions considered favourable for creation in the modern world. The three following courses of action seemed to be the most effective:

1. Contacts between artists and craftsmen using traditional forms of expression : poets, novelists, writers, painters, sculptors, architects, dramatists, actors, musicians, choreo- graphers.

2. Contacts and comparisons between these and specialists in modern techniques of expression or dissemination : film, television, radio, sound or photographic recording.

3. Contacts between these artists and craftsmen, working alone or in teams, and the community, Le., with as diversified a public as possible, ranging from a public assumed to be receptive to new forms to audiences for which this type of experiment is a complete novelty. Such contacts should include experiments in collective creation, grouping artists among themselves, and also grouping artists and the public.

Architecture has a major role to play here, since the question will arise of the forms to be given to these experimental centres, which will be a hive of cells opening into each other and making possible interactions and an exchange of influences between the different art forms. In the field of literature, contacts between writers, poets and novelists would be encour-

aged by the organization of meetings at the national, regional or international level which would be extended to a dialogue with the public, using modern media-broadcasting and, above all, television.

Management machinery

The selection of commissioned works and the allocation of grants pose delicate problems of cultural policy, for they involve personal taste. Who is to select, and according to what criteria? Selection by civil servants is open to criticism on the grounds that extraneous consider-

ations enter into it or else that it is too subjective. Anxiety to be impartial and the guarantee required by public authorities generally lead to the setting up of commissions, which have two inherent defects: their members, even if they are artists, cannot be appointed otherwise than on the basis of recognized qualifications-they are therefore, notabilities-and, furthermore, the decisions are majority decisions. The ‘average’ choice therefore prevails. N o w creative art is generally extreme and refutes established canons. Furthermore, if the commission, in an endeavour to be independent, renews its membership by co-opting, it only perpetuates its original tendencies and underestimates any art which challenges it; in other words, it becomes academic. At all events, art which breaks new ground is not appreciated. To avoid this risk, selection can be left in the hands of responsible individuals, who are free to make decisions quite independently of the authorities, but it should not be left in the same hands too long.

Patronage by firms T o safeguard aesthetic diversity and the freedom of the creative artist to innovate, it is Weil that aid should come from various sources. Private patrons can take risks which public authorities cannot take. Furthermore, in modern countries, financial power (apart from the

21


State and the mass of consumers) is vested mainly in firms. So in some countries they have been approached to aid artistic creation. They grant this aid either by commissioning works to decorate their headquarters or factories, or by organizing exhibitions on their premises. In some countries firms have, in addition to their economic functions, a cultural function: Polish legislation, for instance, makes this compulsory.

Patronage by trade unions

Whether patronage is compulsory or whether experiments are made on an optional basis with a few trade unions, the aim is always to bring the creative artist and the worker closer together. This is done, for example, by providing studios for artists on factory premises. In certain countries, trade unions make grants to a substantial number of creative artists. It would seem, however, that this form of patronage is still not very common in most countries with liberal economies, attempts being hampered by certain reservations on the part of the trade unions.

Foundations

In countries where private fortunes can be built up, foundations have been valuable in fostering patronage. In the United States of America, for example, many aspects of national development have always benefited considerably by private funds. Provisions governing probate duty, and then taxation on private income, granting partial exemption for amounts donated to charitable institutions, have led to the growth of vast foundations. United States foundations today devote from 3 to 4 per cent of their resources to the arts, and this amount corresponds to 80 per cent of all public support. The foundations do not assist continuing activities so much as particular projects or projects which will subsequently be taken over by the public authorities. They undertake what the State cannot yet do and are a factor promoting innovation. However, although they have their advantages, they have corresponding disadvantages: dispersal of their efforts, lack of a long-term programme, lack of specific competence. Therefore, if they are to be effective agents for the promotion of cultural action, they too must be associated with a general cultural policy.

Training

Professional art training

Art education has a long tradition behind it and so presents problems of adaptation. In many countries, there has been a rapid increase in the number of students at specialized institutions-academies of art, music and the like-which has brought with it serious employment problems for those in charge of cultural policy. The point is to balance the supply and the demand: how can a plethora of artists in sectors offering relatively poor outlets, such as the visual arts, be avoided? One method, adopted by Poland, consists in promoting the development of institutes of applied art, for which there is a constantly growing industrial demand. The same problem also arises in connexion with music, where one fairly satisfactory medium-term solution can be the reorganization of training facilities to distinguish more clearly between the training of amateurs and that of professionals. Some countries pay particular attention to the provision of institutions for the purpose of training specialists in the performing arts (theatre, cinema, radio, television). The development of technical media (photographic equipment, cinematographic, projec-

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tion and recording equipment, etc.) and their mass production, which makes them accessible to a large section of the public, make possible the discovery of artistic vocations and of a growing amount of talent. Thus the distinction between professionals and amateurs is gradually disappearing, and the recruitment of specialists continues over an ever-widening field.

Training of arts administrators

Changes in the function of the traditional means of spreading culture and the emergence of new agencies-mass communication media, adult education movements, social and cultural facilities-have brought with them for all countries the problems of running the institutions involved and, at all levels, problems of manpower, whether the people required be arts administrators, adult education organizers, or those in charge of cultural centres. Regular, organized cultural action on the part of government and local communities is something quite new; and like the other sectors, it calls for competent administrators. Similarly, in the great private institutions (symphony orchestras, theatres, etc.) administrative work has become so complicated as to rule out the amateurism which hitherto prevailed. Most countries are today feeling their way towards solutions on a trial-and-error basis. The alternatives are either to provide training in cultural affairs for young graduates of schools of administration, or to give artists, writers, etc., courses in administration. The participants considered that, in most countries, highly responsible posts in the field

of cultural affairs are only too often held either by artists without any administrative ability or even inclination, or else, on the contrary, by civil servants who are entirely unaware of the particular problems facing artists and those who promote cultural activities. Thus the training of those who hold these offices constitutes a problem of great importance, which might perhaps be solved in two ways: by the creation of training centres for groups of countries whose civilization and governmental structures are to a certain extent similar; and by setting up training courses in existing institutions, for example in universities, specialized institutes of higher learning, colleges of social or human sciences. Under certain conditions these centres or courses might also be used to train ‘cultural

activities promoters’ or even technicians (for example, broadcasting or television producers or directors).

Training of cuituraì activities promoters (animateurs culturels)

The promoter is an educator, either professional or voluntary, whose aim is to persuade people to participate of their own will in activities which are not the standard ones of their environment. H e bridges the gap between creative artists and the public, and between works of art and the ordinary man. Studies of the qualifications required in such promotional staff are now being made (Czechoslovakia, Poland, France) and will enable us to specify exactly what should be their level of recruitment, thenature of their training, the type of career offered and their status. Several countries, however, consider that multi-function teachers of this sort should be

university-trained. Others prefer specialized training institutions suited to the specific pion- eering character of cultural activities organization. Some institutions have a country-wide coverage (United Kingdom, France, Tunisia), the aim being to secure consistency, efficiency and optimum utilization. O n the other hand, training may be left to local or sector institutions (museums, libraries, cultural centres), making decentralization possible and a better response to regional or sector needs, as well as the employment of local talent. The current

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tendency is to mix the two combining a common core of theory with specialized field courses for each sector. Whether the subject of recent research, as in Italy, the United Kingdom, France and the

United States of America, or determined by older practices, as in the countries of Eastern Europe, the training programmes for cultural activities promoters are everywhere being re-examined. What theoretical studies are desirable (sociology, psychology, education, art appreciation)? What practical work should be included, how long should this last, when and where should it be done? One participant pointed out that the non-governmental organizations’ Working Party on the Role of Culture in Leisure had carried out a tentative inquiry among its members regarding the training of personnel of this kind.

Training of audio-visual technicians

Several developing countries stress the need for training specialists in audio-visual techniques, which are particularly important among peoplesin the course of becoming literate and lacking the traditional cultural amenities.

Training of technicians for the protcction of sites and monuments

In many countries there are not yet enough qualified local curators to look after the archaeological treasures of the country. International co-operation, highly effective though it already is, is no substitute for regular local supervision, which international experts cannot undertake. Hitherto, national technicians have received their training while working alongside these experts, but the shortcomings of this method and the scale of needs make other measures necessary.

Training of museum specialists

A cultural action policy calls for museums which are no longer merely repositories but go out to instruct the public. The role of the museum curator is, therefore, changing: he must still be a scholar who builds up the collections, classifies them and preserves them, but at the same time he must also be a display artist, a promoter, for museum management is changing and now makes use of audio-visual equipment and provides amenities to attract the public. This calls for specialized training (through theoretical and practical courses), the feat- ures of which could be better defined by means of international discussions. Unesco has already begun to act in this field, with the assistance of the International Council of Museums.

Training of librarians

Similarly, a librarian is no longer merely a keeper who adds to and classifies his collections; he must now ensure that the great works published (in the form of books, records or tapes) reach the widest possible audience. Public reading depends to a large extent upon his promotional abilities (in one city, the number of volumes loaned annually increased fourfold when the library was ‘livened up’). Straight librarianship is thus no longer the only technique in which the future librarian must be trained: he must also be familiar with methods of promoting activities, readership identification and cultural action. In some countries, librarians are required to attend courses in cultural activities promotion, whereas, in others, an initial general training in the promotion of such activities is followed by one year of specialization in librarianship.

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The channels for cultural action

New data

Institutions for the spread of culture are undergoing a radical transformation due partly to technical advances in methods of communicating culture and partly to the expansion of audiences and profound changes in their way of life. Over and above the part they can and should play in creating new art forms, mass communication media provide for greater access to culture than traditional institutions such as theatres, museums and libraries. In France, for example, a hundred times more people go to the cinema than to the theatre and the hours spent in watching television are a hundred times more than those spent at the cinema. The opportunities for bringing people into contact with culture have increased several thousandfold over the past fifty years. Hence the new distribution of tasks everywhere among cultural institutions. What are the

respective parts played by television, schools and cultural centres? What happens to the cinema when shows can be seen in every home? What are the new tasks of museums and the theatre when their public increases? The function of cultural policy will be to apportion tasks in accordance with the purpose of each institution, before allotting funds.

Schools

In many countries it would seem to be the school which, because of the range of its action, can and should play the essential part for, down to village level, it affects or will affect nearly everyone and at the most impressionable age. The school, it is felt, should provide not only the normal intellectual training but also an introduction to the arts calculated to awaken young people’s powers of appreciation. For it is at school that life-long habits of reading, theatre-going and appreciating works of art are formed. Hence, the need to give prominence to the training function of schools, which should cultivate, not only intelligence, but also sensitivity and creative faculties. The only way of forming the habits and needs that will raise the general cultural level is to make art training compulsory in general education from the primary school on. Art education at school thus becomes one of the most important items in cultural policy.

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Science

Like literature and the arts, science is a creation of the human mind. Its procedures, structures, and diverse forms of expression-in principle, as universal as reason-have varied throughout the centuries; they are a reflection and expression of man’s needs, aspirations and ideas and of his place in the universe, which are all closely bound up with the cultural context of his life. O n the other hand, science is, in itself or through the medium of technology, the decisive factor that is today transforming the destiny of individuals, of societies and of our planet as a whole. Anyone who remains completely impervious to the scientific spirit is thereby cut off from the universe that he inhabits and from the main stream of contemporary culture. This also presents a hazard for culture in general; for, should it fail to absorb the scientific spirit, it stands in danger of developing out of contact with reality, far removed from the true present in which it exists. Finally, if the different cultures wish to survive and preserve their individual identity,

they can only do so by assimilating, each in its own way, that same science and technology which have become their common destiny, as the universal product of the faculty of reason common to all. From the point of view of human rights, a certain acquaintance on the part of everyone with the scientific spirit-its methods of inquiry and research, its conception of ideas, its way of comparing evidence, accepting what it proves and constantly seeking the truth-is indispensable if we want to prevent a minority of initiates, wielding far too much power and the prisoners of their own isolation, from ruling over the masses of mankind reduced to passivity. The round-table participants considered that science teaching should be more closely integrated in school curricula from primary school onwards. They also drew attention to the dangers of premature specialization, which would prevent the acquisition of an adequate general level of education at school: this view coincides with recommendations made by other conferences.’

I n f o d art training

Introducing people to art and science quite apart from the formal system of general education is one of the increasingly important sectors of cultural activity and one of the purposes of cultural action. This particular problem is bound up with the use of leisure. In some countries, where it is felt to be the State’s duty to take an interest in this question, the authorities provide equipment or lay down methods for introducing people to art and science among other things; it was suggested that scientific laboratories be installed in cultural centres. Where there is an active adult education movement, art or science training, in the form of lectures, clubs or working groups, holds a prominent place among the activities offered. In most countries, one of the purposes of cultural centres is to encourage informal art

training. Such training facilities are often requested when new urban districts are built. New instructional methods are sometimes devised there and can subsequently be used in general education. Informal art education helps to raise the level of cultural needs by creating a wider, more receptive and more exacting public. It is therefore a major concern in any cultural policy. In Cuba, visual arts studios are open at all hours to receive amateurs who are keen to study drawing, painting and sculpture under guidance from trained instructors. Experienced artists are showing an interest in this experiment.

1. cf. in particular Recommendation A adopted bu the Conference of Ministers of Education of European Member States (Vienna, 20-25 November 19673.

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Books

The participants were unanimous in acknowledging that, in spite of the increasing importance of all the other media, books remain an irreplaceable instrument of cultural training. Thanks to technical progress, cheap editions are now readily obtainable and their quality has been improved, with the result that books now reach a considerably wider public. Various surveys, however, indicate that readers are stiil drawn from the same categories of the public. The percentage of people who never open a book remains high, even in industrialized countries. Greater use should be made of radio and television to popularize reading. Cultural centres could exert a similar influence. Cheap editions can only show a profit if they seil in large numbers, therefore publishers

too often hesitate to publish the work of young authors. A n international study would undoubtedly throw a useful light on this subject. Quite a valuable part could be played in this respect by State publishing houses, which act in some countries as a method of subsidizing literary production. Because of the number and complexity of the questions involved and the lack of time at

their disposal, the participants did not go deeply into the problem as a whole, although they did not underestimate its importance and realized that it already occupies a large place in Unesco 's programme.

Television

Practical effect on cultural development

The quantitative importance of television is considerable, for in many countries the number of television sets is growing extremely fast. For example, television reaches 80 per cent of homes in Japan, about 63 per cent in Italy, and 33 per cent in Poland. Owing to the size of its audience in these countries, television is the main factor for out-of-school cultural development, whatever the quality of the programmes shown. Quantitatively speaking, it is more important than the traditional means of spreading culture, namely, museums, theatres and libraries. Television is helping to change the very modes of perception of whole popu- lations. By modifying attendance at other cultural institutions, such as the cinema and the theatre, it forces them to change. In certain countries where purchasing power is low, television involves great sacrifices for

State and citizens alike. Many countries consider television an irreplaceable training instrument. Television makes it possible to reconcile different behaviour patterns and can help to reduce undue disparities of outlook between town and country. It is an effective instrument for cultural change. Many countries, therefore, make a special financial effort on behalf of television and manage to arrange collective viewing by providing community centres and various other public institutions with television sets.

The question of programmes

Almost every country recognizes that the three functions of television are to inform, instruct and entertain. This third function is the one that presents problems for the people in charge of cultural policies. Since television ranks high as a means of developing culture, how is the need for quality to be reconciled with the expansion of audiences? Should the coexistence of high-quality broadcasts with programmes that might appear more demagogic than educational be encouraged? Alternatively, should it be agreed that quality must be brought down to an average level in order to avoid lasting schisms among the public? This is one

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of the most serious problems in cultural development; it was discussed by the Prague Conference on Adult Education and Leisure in Contemporary Europe (29 March to 6 April 1965), which recommended that it be studied, and in particular, that research be undertaken on ‘the impact of television on the cultural development of adults’. The round table considered it desirable that the cultural authorities in each country should

be able to take part officially, and with effective results, in the preparation of radio and television programmes; it recommended exchanges of cultural programmes.

Radio

With the introduction of television, the radio has had to reconsider its role, adapt itself to changing demands and strike out a new course more closely in keeping with its technical possibilities. The invention of the transistor radio, something more personal, easy to trans- port, and usable where there is no electricity laid on, has given radio broadcasting a certain advantage over television by providing increased opportunities for dissemination in time and space. This is particularly true in the developing countries, but in some industrialized countries, too, surveys show that more people listen to the radio than watch television. Programming problems are similar to those of television. The wide coverage of radio and television reinforces the penetration of other media, itself

considerably extended by the greatly increased number of reprints, recordings and reproductions. This is not so much a mutation or a break with the past, as a change in the relative importance of different methods of intellectual communication, though there is an obvious predominance of dynamic over static culture, and of the concrete sensorial message over the abstract one.

Cinema

In several countries the cinema, as a form of entertainment appealing primarily to the younger age group, is left to private initiative and thus falls outside the control of the cultural authorities. However, its cultural influence is increasingly recognized and the crisis in the cinema brought about by television has had two advantages: (a) it has created awareness of the importance of the role which the cinema might play in cultural development; (b) owing to the respective technical characteristics of these two media, it has brought about an increasingly marked differentiation in their respective forms of expression. In many countries, therefore, the cinema is one of the major considerations in cultural

policy. The need to train technicians, producers and actors leads to the establishment of special schools or joint training schools for theatre actors and technicians as well as cultural centre and television personnel. As far as production is concerned, aid in the form of sub- ventions or advances is given for high-quality productions which often include the organization of international festivals. O n the distribution side, public authorities can help to ensure high standards by founding

film libraries for the conservation and loan of films and film clubs (in schools, factories and firms, cultural centres, etc.) or experimental theatres and cinemas enjoying special tax con- cessions. The aim of cultural policy in this field should be primarily to improve equipment and promotion and to define ways in which public and private initiative can co- operate effectively. All these media continue to evolve rapidly as a result of the appearance of new forms of leisure, for example tourism, motoring and festivals. The participants emphasized the need to beware lest these all-powerful media, which allow

of a wide dissemination of culture become either, ‘a form of plebeian barbarity’ as feared

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by certain intellectuals or, in the words of the sociologist Adorno, ‘a mass illusion’ the result of which will be to prevent the growth of self-reliant independent individuals capable of conscious judgement and decision. These media are, in fact, a two-edged weapon; being often in the hands of commercial firms which are guided by the profit motive, they run the risk, in catering for the widest possible public, of lowering standards and producing a ‘de-personalizing’ uniformity, and of encouraging the public to be increasingly passive. W e should, therefore, study a technique for using these extraordinarily powerful media in a way which will promote culture. Since the developing countries are beyond question less well equipped with mass media

than are highly industrialized countries, a study should be made of measures to prevent the intake of cultures from other countries having a harmful effect on national cultures.

Press

It is agreed that the primary role of the press is information. However, many daily papers and still more weeklies regularly publish specialized articles which may and do contribute towards expanding cultural knowledge and the dissemination of culture. The illustrated press (photographic reportage, comic strips) has surprising powers of getting through to the public; if comic strips were produced by genuine artists, they might become a new form of graphic literature. The press suffers severely from the competition of radio and above all of television. To

remedy this state of affairs, the Swedish Government adopted a measure in 1966 which, in the shape of a subsidy to political parties, in fact provides financial assistance to newspapers. In the same year it agreed to give regular grants to cultural Magazines.

Theatre

In the Western world the theatre has gradually left its popular origins behind and has become a form of expression for the élite; it is guided chiefly by conservative middle-class taste, the aesthetic promptings of avant-garde artists, or by an intellectual desire to challenge society. The last two factors may go together, but all these types of theatre remain inevitably restricted to a small public. The association with social class acquired by the drama in the course of its evolution is reflected even in the architectural design and internal layout of theatres. During the last fifty years there has appeared the idea of a people’s theatre. An effort has been made to attract a wider public to the theatre by putting on plays more adapted to its tastes and needs, by locating theatres in poorer districts, by using adapted premises, or by increasing the number of open-air performances. In the United States, it has been observed that there is a theatre-going public among the poorer classes, provided plays deal with social questions.

Theatre decentralization

Nowadays, some countries regard the theatre as a public service in the full sense of the word and are trying to broaden the geographical and social basis of the theatre-going public, The first step has been to subsidize touring companies, while longer-term measures are designed to encourage the provision of permanent facilities. In Tunisia, for example, the travelling expenses of touring companies are borne by the government. Theatre decentralization has often been the first step in a general policy of decentralizing the various sectors and has even-as in Sweden and Cuba-been the starting point of an entire cultural programme.

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A number of countries regard the theatre as a driving force in cultural action. This is due to the very nature of the art, which holds a mirror up to social relationships and provides a meeting point for the individual and the community in the contemplation of the great works of mankind. In some countries such as France, Japan and Tunisia, cultural centres have grown out of nothing more than a theatrical company and an auditorium.

Financing of theatre deficit

Theatres everywhere are run increasingly at a loss, since this is a field in which costs are constantly rising because of increased technical overheads and the growing number of professional actors, with no possibility of greater productivity. This means that, if the State wishes to treat the theatre as a public service and keep prices really low, theatres cannot possibly break even and are unlikely to do so at any time in the future. What is more, high- quality productions are very expensive, and money has also to be found for the production of a certain number of contemporary works. This is an expense which those responsible for theatrical development at various levels may sometimes still be unwilling to bear. Opera raises serious problems of balance, since its costs are exorbitant and weigh heavily

on the theatrical sector as a whole, although it plays a minor part in quantitative terms. Some sort of balance between the means of access to culture must, however, be maintained. The problem of reintegrating opera in the life of a modern society is receiving attention in a number of countries.

Festivals These have made a great deal of headway in certain countries. In Europe, they have been started either by well-known figures in the world of art or by local authorities, while in Japan the initiative has been taken by the Ministry of Education.

International festivals. These are of a very high standard, take place increasingly at regular intervals, and may be divided into three categories: 1. Those which enrich the education of the public by showing works from different countries and in different art forms (Théâtre des Nations, the film festivals of Acapulco, Cannes, Moscow, N e w York, Sydney, Venice).

2. Those which promote research by providing an opportunity of comparing different creative trends in the arts and of making experiments which give rise to innovations in a particular field (the music festivals of Royan, Zagreb and Salzburg; the biennial exhibitions of painting held in Venice and São Paulo; the Pesaro Mostre Internationale del Nuovo Cinema; the Knokke festival of experimental films, the Annecy Festival of Ani- mation Films; the biennial festival of song held in Varna. . .).

3. Festivals combining several art forms which help to do away with the traditional divisions between art forms and to give rise to new combinations, uniting established forms of expression with others hitherto considered minor (the Avignon festival, the Biennale de Paris, the festivals of Carthage, Baalbek and Shiraz.. .).

Regional or local festivals. These are mostly organized by university students, who find in them an opportunity to experiment in cultural activity; or by local authorities, with a view to adding to their town’s prestige or to giving the local population a stimulating outlet for expression (Bulgaria, France, United States, Yugoslavia).

Festivals with competitive events. These are organized in a number of countries and generally carry prizes. Their main aim is to encourage amateur groups and to search for new talent.

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In Tunisia, prizes are given at the end of the amateur theatre festival to the best actor, the best actress, the best production, the best adaptation, etc. The participating companies are selected by a special committee, with the result that they have an incentive to improve their productions throughout the year and to put on original work in the hope of being chosen by the selection committees. In Cuba, the best actors come under the patronage of the government, which provides their training. In Japan, festivals combine as many as ten different art forms; those responsible for the best stage performances can take them on tour at government expense.

Cuitund centres

New departures require new methods. Cultural centres have sprung up in many countries (Ecuador, France, Poland, Tunisia, U.S.S.R., etc.) which have come to be widely regarded as the perfect vehicle for the new cultural policy, endeavouring to reconcile quality with mass participation. These are multi-purpose, publicly owned cultural centres which organize activities in response to cultural needs in a number of different fields (theatre, music, visual arts, libraries and-as circumstances require-youth clubs and adult education classes). Some countries have a very lofty conception of the role of these centres, regarding it as their job to provide the community with a spiritual nucleus by combining high standards of quality in whatever they present, with opportunities for active participation on the part of a wide public. Elsewhere-especially in the developing countries-greater stress is laid on the centres’ social and educational aspects, and the training they are called upon to provide is often of a practical character. In such circumstances, the cultural centre is primarily an instrument of adult education. Although many-sidedness is fundamental to the whole idea of a cultural centre, this

principle can easily go by the board, especially as public demand or the personality of whom- ever is in charge can sometimes lead to concentration on one particular activity-such as drama, visual arts or science. Generally speaking, the activities of a cultural centre represent a choice between the broad alternatives of cultural policy: the popularizing of masterpieces or workers’ education. In the former case, anything presented will be essentially of an artistic nature and of high-in other words invariably professional-quality, thereby setting a standard and providing a stimulus both for local artists and for the public as a whole. Where workers’ education is the alternative chosen, activities will be far more diversified and will even include practical hints for home handy-men and housewives; in this case, the idea is to stimulate community life by organizing leisure activities while often providing workers’ education and training as well-especially in the developing countries, where this last function is the most important one. The cultural centre is still in an experimental stage and the methods used are on the whole

empirical. The round-table participants asked for arrangements to be made to pool the experience so far gained. A n interesting innovation on these lines was pointed out: in Poland, a large number of ‘coffee-clubs’ have sprung up, even in the villages. These are meeting places where books, newspapers, television, radio and refreshments are available, also a gramo- phone and games. Cultural activities are thus integrated in social and commercial life, to the great beneñt of the community. These clubs make a concrete contribution towards reducing the ‘cultural gap’ between town and country and towards the adoption, above all by young people, of models of urban culture and of new customs and behaviour. They promote social integration by bringing together representatives of different generations and different groups.

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Libraries

Unesco deals elsewhere with libraries and their problems: this paper is concerned with them only from the point of view of cultural policy. Libraries are vital to cultural policy because although there is more than one approach to great works and the main streams of culture, only libraries can combine top quality with low cost, maximum freedom of choice and a high degree of public participation. The minimum price level that will allow a theatre, say, or concert hall to offer a satisfactory standard of quality is very high; moreover, neither theatre nor concert hall can offer the same breadth of choice as a library, and neither requires such an active response on the part of the public. For these reasons, many countries prefer to concentrate on libraries in their development programmes.

Public reading centres

Libraries were originally places of learning where ‘stocks’ of bouks were collected, classified and preserved. To that stewardship of knowledge there has now been added the task of disseminating it. While record offices and university libraries are as essential as ever, cultural development calls for a great increase in the number of public reading rooms. These are very different from the traditional library: space is used for display rather than storage, an effort is made to attract the public and to make them feel at home, and use is made of audio-visual aids. The librarian becomes not so much a curator as a promoter (see ‘Training of librarians’ above). As the material involved need not consist exclusively of printed books but may be recorded on disc or film, the quality of the centre does not depend on the size of its premises, which can be varied to suit the size of the district to be served. Specially equipped and con- structed children’s libraries are springing up everywhere. In one country it is a compulsory requirement that they be run by women, who are more likely to understand a child’s outlook. In order to bring books to the reader, mobile libraries have been set up, which cover even

remote villages. Public reading facilities are fairly easy to run, and this simplifies management. In most countries, libraries are run by decentralized bodies such as local authorities, trade unions, ñrms and other associations. In one country, such bodies have long been required by law to devote a certain percentage of their funds to public reading facilities, which are as a result exceptionally weli developed. Intervention by central authorities is limited to ini- tiating action where necessary, establishing standards, subsidizing purchasing and training personnel. All this can be done more efficiently if public libraries are closely associated with the programme of cultural action as a whole.

New functions of museums

It is part of a museum’s job nowadays to interest the public in its treasures instead of merely conserving them as it did in the past. Hence the museum, too, is an instrument of cultural policy. Because their duties are no longer quite the same as a result of this new departure, museum staffs are having to adopt new methods and may need a different sort of training, while a corresponding transformation is taking place in the architecture and activities of the museums themselves. The public-usually attracted in the first instance by a temporary exhibition-ñnd their interest awakened and held by new amenities, useful adjuncts such as projection rooms and special libraries and more instructive display techniques : thus the museum becomes dynamic instead of static and begins to function as a true cultural centre. It may be linked to a cultural centre, or provide a commercial service by the sale of books of art, reproductions and handicrafts, or fulfil an educational function by offering evening courses in the fine arts, music, town planning, and so forth. New museums are sometimes

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founded in response to contemporary interest in such things as motor-cars (Italy), oil (Venez- uela), and science and technology in general. The problen here, as in other sectors of cultural action, is that of reconciling co-ordination

with decentralization. Its new and important role as a distributor means that the museum is no longer the exclusive concern of one particular town which happens, as an act of piety, to be preserving a collection bequeathed to it by some local worthy: it is now part of a network and must be in a position to house or make loans to temporary exhibitions and in general to discharge its responsibilities to the public as a whole. It must, therefore, adapt its policy to national requirements: but at the same time it must cherish its individuality and tradi- tions and continue to lead a life of its own, or it will become a mere cog in the administrative wheel. In all the attempts currently being made to overcome this problem in various countries there is a tendency towards some degree of concentration, which need not, however, imply control by the central authorities. Particular interest attaches to the large-scale survey, including practical experiments, which is at present being carried out in Sweden. The participants emphasized that museums are called on to play a particularly important

role in cultural training, especially in countries with linguistic problems or those with a high percentage of illiterates.

Sites and monuments

The aim in all countries is no longer merely to preserve ancient monuments and sites but, above all, to present them to the best advantage and give them a place once more in the economic and social life of the community. They are no longer merely places to be studied by archaeologists and art historians, but means of cultural action which can be used to awaken people and make them appreciative of the culture and of the cultural heritage of mankind as a whole. The great archaeological treasures of some countries have led to the development of excavation sites as open-air museums, tourist attractions as well as relics of the past with much to teach. Monuments, in this age of accelerated urban development, can no longer be considered out of their context-an idea which has led to placing the whole area round the monument under the protection of the law (France). Some natural sites are also felt to merit protection by law; though given new importance by the development of tourism, they are also threatened by it. Sites and monuments together are also becoming a link in the cultural action chain.

Other media

Lectures

Alongside the formal ex cathedra lecture, which today affects no more than a minority of intellectuals and trained professional people, are appearing other more attractive kinds of lecture: the ‘teach-in’ in which the public takes an active part (conférence-débat), the lecture accompanied by scenes read or played by actors, and the illustrated lecture (with slides or short films).

Exhibitions

Exhibitions can play an important role, provided they reach a wider and more varied public, by improving their techniques of information and presentation. One country lists the following measures as having produced satisfactory results:

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Information. Documentation which is as live as possible is sent to managers of firms and heads of schools, with a view to its wide distribution. By this means a new public has been reached, often in the form of guided tours.

Presentation. Exhibitions are held in the foyers of theatres, the aim being to reach not only the usual exhibition public but also the cinema- and concert-going public; tape-recorded commentaries are introduced, with a view to addressing the public as a whole, not merely intellectual groups for whom an artist’s work is self-explanatory; background music is broadcast, in keeping with the type and subject of the exhibition; short films and slides on the subject are projected.

Mobile exhibitions can also be extremely effective. Attention was drawn to a plan to hold an exhibition in a train converted for the purpose; and it was suggested that a model exhibition bus should be created for mobile exhibitions. Encouragement should be given to international exhibitions organized with the help of

several countries and grouping works on given themes coming from various museums.

Cultural outings

Organized by cultural associations or centres and prepared by means of briefings and slide or film projections, outings of this kind, which may include visits to historical sites or industrial achievements, are becoming highly successful, particularly with young people. The round table considered it desirable that Unesco, in collaboration with the National

Commissions, should set up in every large region one or more documentation centres for art and music. In fact, it is at present very diûìcult, if not impossible, for research workers, lec- turers and teachers to obtain the material-in particular films, slides and recordings-neces- saiy for studies, lectures or courses on the art or music of a relatively remote country. In the same way the round table hoped that Unesco would recommend each Member State to take steps to ensure that all its artistic masterpieces are reproduced in the form of good- quality slides or photographs: this form of art medium, which is an essential basis for a true dissemination of culture, should naturally have no commercial purpose.

The ìanguage problem

During an exchange of views on the question of the languages used as media, it became clear that the position is quite different for countries in which several languages are spoken, and for those where one widely spoken language is used alongside the national language. ‘A language always corresponds, and necessarily so, to a way of looking at the world and

to a form of social life which in the end make their intellectual mark on those who use it. The future of our peoples, and the possible flowering and expansion of their cultural wealth, are directly dependent on the transformation of our vernacular languages into written ones.’’ Thus several participants emphasized the need to revive national languages and to transcribe, teach and use them widely. One participant remarked that culture was a message, and that since the primary aim is to

transmit it, one should retain and expand the use of foreign languages during the period that the national languages are developing (especially in countries where national languages are numerous). Care should be taken however to ensure that such a measure remains a tran-

1. Sekou Touré, L’Afrique et la Rdvolution. Vol. XVIII.

34


sitional stage, and does not become an excuse for neglecting the cultivation of the country’s own languages. It was emphasized that Japan has succeeded in assimilating elements from other cultures while at the same time preserving her own language.

It was pointed out that widely used languages play a very important part in the international development of technology and culture. It was also recognized that there was a need to transcribe national languages, teach them, and make their use widespread, to encourage writers to compete with each other and to make these languages gradually capable of trans- lating complex scientific and technological thought. In Malaysia, where a common language has been adopted, a special office has been set up to enrich the language by the creation of new words.

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Administrative and financial structures

Distribution of cultural functions among the various categories of agents

Once concerted action is contemplated, the parts to be played by the different agents must be determined and assigned. With the disappearance of the patron-princes, their property and their cultural functions devolved, more or less, upon the State, local authorities, or voluntary associations. But the distribution of cultural responsibilities was not based upon any logical analysis of the functions to be fulñlied, which were carried out without any great energy or continuity. Once those responsibilities become important enough to need integrating in planned policies, they must be divided out among the different agents responsible for cultural action in the most efficient way. What are the respective roles of the State, municipalities, business and industrial firms,

associations and private individuals? This is a question which is bound to arise when a cultural policy is being devised. It is true that the administrative structures of a country’s cultural flairs necessarily reflect the general structures and mentality of that country’s administration, as the national studies clearly show. It is interesting, however, to analyse the structures at which countries with different types of régimes have gradually arrived after several years of experience. Since this is a sphere in which administrative action is still new and inexpert, everyone, regardless of background, may find support or inspiration in what someone else has done in some other place.

The central authorities

The usefulness of a measure of concentration For a long time cultural life was regarded as a private matter for the individual. It was looked upon mainiy as the social adornment of an individual career, a luxury and not a necessity. Public cultural action, where it existed, was extremely limited. Nor has the gradual take-over by the State always been carried out in the most rational fashion. In some countries even today, for instance, historical monuments come under the ministry of public works, enter- tainments under the ministry of tourism, the people’s theatre under the ministry of labour, books under the ministry of industry, or assistance to the visual arts under the ministry of finance. A great many States, however, have become, or are becoming, aware of the need to place

36


all cultural services under a single department. The acknowledged advantages of this are as follows : 1. The possibility of co-ordinating, at national level, measures which are regarded at the local level as parts of a whole, e.g., the rehabilitation of an old district, assistance to local creative artists, and the organization of a cultural centre are, for one town, a single set of problems, handled by one elected officer of the municipality. If the national structure is to be properly understood and utilized, it must be in line with the local structure.

2. The possibility of arriving at a general conception of cultural action which will give consistency and continuity to what were once disparate and intermittent measures and will therefore lead to a better use of public funds.

3. The possibility of establishing priorities, in keeping with the aims of democratization, with a view to decentralizing cultural activities. A centralization phase is necessary as a preliminary to pressing for genuine decentralization.

4. The possibility of giving cultural affairs adequate moral and political authority at governmental level.

The dyerent types of sector groupings

The number and importance of the sectors brought together under the department of cultural affairs vary from country to country. The following, in order of frequency, are the sectors put together in the countries considered : the narrowest grouping combines the traditional sectors of literature, arts and music in respect of the functions of creation, distribution and preservation (theatre, concerts, museums, libraries). Broadening progressively in scope, the ministry of cultural affairs may also cover: art

education (at school, informal, professional) ; preservation of the national heritage (ancient monuments, sites, archives, of the written word or sound recordings) ; cinema, books ; radio and television; adult education ; organization of leisure-time activities and cultural tourism; town planning and architectural design; industrial design ; popular science; sport.

It is also to be noted that the sectors most often brought together under one ministry are those affecting the fewest people, whereas the sectors involving almost the whole of the population (e.g., radio and television, town planning, leisure) are seldom brought under the public authorities. This situation has been carried on from the past and is not entirely appropriate to the needs of modern life; it might well be the subject of an international study.

Links with the ministry of education

The problem of the links between the ministry of culture or cultural affairs and the ministry of education comes up everywhere-one of its forms being that cultural affairs are often only one department of the ministry of education. This may be due to the fact that a clear distinction is not always drawn between knowledge and culture, between access to knowledge and access to the resources that culture offers. Furthermore, because training is traditionally a matter for the ministry of education, training in the arts is also placed under that ministry. Lastly, it is chiefly during school years that individuals are brought to take an interest in the arts and in the world in general. The tendency seems to be, however, for the ministry of cultural affairs to deal with both informal and specialized art training, while at the same time co-operating with the ministry of education in the matter of art training at school. This is attributable to the fact that the demands of art and creativity are not easily grasped by the teaching profession at large, which is naturally chiefly concerned with what is transmissible. Within the ministry of cultural affairs itself, there may be either an administrative division

37


dealing with training in all branches of the arts or, alternatively, each branch of training may be brought under the division already concerned with creation and distribution in a given sector, by making it also responsible for training. The tendency is to choose the ñrst method at secondary school level (‘art school’, ‘technical art school’, etc.) and the second at the higher education level (for instance, attaching the academy of music to the music division, etc.).

Preservation: safeguarding the cultural heritage

The preservation of the cultural heritage, whether in the form of ancient monuments, land- scapes and sites, or archives of the written and the spoken word, is commonly regarded as within the scope of cultural affairs. But preservation, instead of being pursued for its own sake alone by scholars passionately interested in the past, is now looked upon as the means of defence against an anonymous technological civilization and of safeguarding traditional folk values. It has, therefore, become a part of social and cultural development.

The cinema and book sectors: the role of the State

Films and books are means of cultural action which rest on an industrial and commercial foundation and therefore come into the private sector. But they affect such a high percentage of the population that countries where State action deliberately reaches into most departments of life consider that the State cannot possibly leave their development unsupervised. Generally speaking, however, the State is concerned only with giving general guidance and delegates its powers to autonomous bodies, sponsored by it but commanding non-administrative resources which allow them to be internationally competitive.

The status of radio and television Radio and television started as information media, and neither their cultural importance nor their educational function was appreciated until later. Their power is such that efforts have often been made to ensure that they are independent of governmental control. For these reasons, radio and television, when organized as public services, are as a rule independent departments. They are more often linked with the government through the ministry of information than through the ministry of cultural affairs. But the position at the moment is very fluid, and television’s very great impact on cultural action is everywhere raising the problem of what administrative department it should be attached to.

Adult education and the organization of leisure-time activities

In many countries, the adult education movement is one of the main agencies for promoting cultural action and is treated as a part of it.l Some countries, on the other hand, consider that adult education has more to do with the acquisition of knowledge and social mobility than with the development of cultural appreciation; in this case, it is placed under the ministry of education. The organization of leisure-time activities sometimes comes under ‘cultural affairs’ because

it is in daily, weekiy or annual leisure time that cultural activities are pursued and the State may seek to use such leisure time for individual and social development. In certain countries, however, it is feared that to lay such stress on the organization of leisure-time activities may ‘reduce’ culture to being merely one form of entertainment among others, and they con- sequently refuse to put it under cultural affairs.

1. In one of the countries studied, adult education accounts for 40 per cent of the cultural budget.

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Sport

Sport is often regarded as forming part of an individual’s or a nation’s culture. The idea that sport forms part of culture goes back even further than the Olympic Games themselves; it expresses the need men feel, not only to develop their personal potentialities but also to bring order and beauty into their very nature. From these two considerations, sport is, in a number of countries, associated with cultural action. In other countries, it is regarded as being in a category of its own, with its own special needs in the matter of equipment and staff, and it is therefore either put under a separate government department on its own account, or made a special department of the ministry of education.

Geographical decentralization

All the countries consider the decentralization of cultural activity essential. Some consider it a first priority, a corollary of the democratization of culture. A cultural programme intended not just to reach the educated in the capital but the widest public must get physically and intellectually to the local population. Equipment and programmes must be thought out in local terms after a systematic study of needs and taking into account the experience of the central authorities. Programmes and equipment must be planned in terms of local needs and existing local

activities. Needs will vary according to the occupational make-up of the population. Some aspects of an active cultural life may also exist, and this should be taken advantage of. Again, if it is to be live, the programme must maintain close liaison with the population’s official spokesmen, i.e., its elected representatives. However, decentralization may be in different degrees and forms: here are six examples from the surveys made.

The North Eastern Association for the Arts (United Kingdom)

This association co-ordinates the cultural activities of a region. It includes representatives of the local authorities, industry, business, nationalized industries, unions, chambers of commerce, universities, cultural associations and people of note. The thirty-five-member executive committee has five subcommittees, for music, theatre, the visual arts, oral and written literature and cinema. The association advises and assists local communities and organizes joint undertakings. Three-sevenths of its resources come from local authorities, three-sevenths from the Arts Council and one-seventh from private sources. Each economic region in the United Kingdom is to have a similar association. Their problems are the following: What is the best size for an association? Should it have its own facilities or can it depend on mobile equipment? Will the central authorities be prepared to provide, not instructions, but practical advice and information?

The State arts councils (United States)

Since June 1967, each State has had an arts council. Under the 1965 law introducing federa1 aid for the arts, $5O,OOO is given to each State provided it contributes the same amount. In two years, this has stimulated decentralization in ail the States. The arts councils have now formed an independent, non-governmental association which advises and co-ordinates. The federal authority does not co-ordinate, or propose, cultural policy. Leaving the States

and cities to handle distribution and equipment themselves, it intervenes-and this only since 1965-in creation: experiment, research or isolated projects only if private initiative is inadequate. Federal policy is to help, not to direct. Since 1964, 30 per cent of private or

39


company income can be exempted from tax if assigned to a cultural agency. The total allocated to the arts is estimated at $35 million, 80 per cent from private sources.

A ministry of culture per republic and a federal ministry (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

Decentralization in the Soviet Union is intended to get citizens to help run cultural organizations through their representatives (unions, unions of artists, youth movement, and so on). Each republic has a ministry of culture for its own activities, the federal ministry being responsible only for general guidance and planning, equipment and training.

The Comité Régional des Affaires Culturelles (France)

In France a regional committee for cultural affairs performs, for each economic region, two complementary functions : taking stock of needs and planning; and relaying national cultural activities. Each committee is composed of representatives from each of the following: architecture, museums, archives, cultural centres, art education, cinema. Its activities are co-ordinated by a permanent correspondent responsible to the minister’s office; the regional prefect normally refers to him in any matter to do with cultural affairs. An artistic adviser (professionally employed in some kind of cultural work) is responsible for stimulating artistic creation in the region, especially by arranging for artists to contribute to the decoration of public buildings. In short, decentralization in France is pursued through programming, co- ordination and encouragement; the administrative work, however, is left to the communes, institutions and to the 7,000 associations.

A hierarchical network of cultural committees (Tunisia) A network of cultural committees, under the Secretary of State for Cultural Affairs and Infor- mation, was set up in Tunisia in 1965. The National Cultural Committee in Tunis prepares the annual programme of cultural

and artistic activities for the whole country, co-ordinates the work of the central, regional and local cultural committees, and promotes cultural relations with other countries. The members of the committee are appointed by the President of the Republic on the recommendation of the Secretary of State for Cultural AîTairs and Information. Each of the thirteen central cultural committees (one for each gouvernorat) co-ordinates

cultural activities in the gouvernorat and arranges the annual programme of the Houses of the People. The regional cultural centres, set up in the capital of each délégation, carry out the cultural

programmes arranged in co-operation with the central committee of their gouvernorat. Local cultural committees in small communes form the final links in a highly organized

network which, starting from the capital, extends to the most remote areas. The legislator’s main purpose was to involve the towns, the villages and the countryside,

and to lessen the cultural imbalance between the capital and the rest of the country. This movement away from the centre has produced satisfactory and tangible results in the form of film clubs, libraries and drama and music groups in country towns. The various cultural committees vie with each other in providing their regions with Houses of Culture and Houses of the People. The secretary-general of each central cultural committee is a full-time paid official. H e represents the Secretary of State for Cultural Affairs and Information in the gouvernorat. H e takes a hand in framing, preparing and carrying out the region’s cultural activities.

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Cultural decentralization integrated in administrative decentralization (Czechoslovakia)

Czechoslovakia has no specific structures for decentralizing cultural activities. Decentraliz- ation occurs however, at each administrative level, as there are cultural sections in the region, district, town and commune administrative committees. The cultural sections have a say in planning, closely linked to the rest of social and economic planning, scope for initiative and administrative scope, with considerable financial independence, and also play a part in encouraging subordinate or parallel bodies. The ministry retains responsibility only for general planning, the budget (and financial control), professional salary scales, and regulations. It also provides advice and information to committees at the various levels.

A cultural policy has to satisfy two apparently contradictory requirements, centralization and decentralization, which do not occur at the same moment or have the same purpose. Centralization is necessary at the initial stage of cultural action. Even in countries with a federal structure, some degree of concentration is considered necessary-to appraise cultural problems in their national perspective, to encourage local authorities through subsidies, to provide a legal framework and administrative rules of procedure, and to intervene directly where there is a lack of initiative and only nationally taken action will produce results (e.g., leader training, experiment). It is only when all this has been done centrally that decentralization can profitably start.

Accordingly, it is not so much administration that the other agencies engaged in cultural activities need from the national authorities as reflection, study, guidance, encouragement, information and co-ordination. Central authorities must as far as possible get rid of all direct administrative involvement. This is a point upon which all countries, irrespective of régime or their definition of culture, seem to agree.

Local communities

Cultural action is a matter more for local communities than for the government. The argu- ments in favour of decentralization crop up again; democratization, free initiative, immedi- acy of the population’s expressed or potential needs. Local cultural life is an important factor in the life of a community, maintaining its awareness of its original identity. The means of action and practical experience of the local community, however, will be even less than those of the government, for which these ideas are already quite novel, and it will often need to be informed and advised. The main questions facing such communities are as follows. What sums should thry devote to cultural affairs? H o w should these funds be administered (directly or through institutions or associations)? What are their relations to be with neighbours and with the central authorities?

Major options in local cultural policy

Like the State, the local community needs to have a cultural policy, that is to say, it must consciously make broad divisions between sectors, functions and methods of intervention. Very often it merely carries forward appropriations from one year to another as circumstances dictate, with no over-all consistency or long-term programme. That is why there are substantial disparities between sectors: in one town opera will account for 80 per cent of cultural expenditure, in another old-established activities leave nothing over for new ones and cultural life becomes paralysed. Lastly, the cultural sector as a whole is not always assessed in relation to neighbouring sectors such as ‘sport and open-air recreation’, ‘education’, or ‘social welfare’. Local councillors must often be taught to make distinctions and

41


reassessments. Among the four functions of cultural action, while towns are generally conscious of their role in cultural dissemination (although they must distinguish between dissemination and ‘fêtes’), they are usually less so in respect of creation (in particular architectural creation) or conservation (old quarters). Lastly, a basic choice must be made with regard to methods of intervention. There are

several types of management: direct management by the municipality, which carries the dual risk of bureaucratization and interference from non-cultural sources; indirect management through private associations subsidized by the town, but with the risk of dispersion and discontinuity of action; lastly, management through independent public institutions governed by committees with three categories of membership : representatives of the public authorities, representatives of the general public, and representatives of specialists in cultural promotion. This solution seems to offer the advantages of consistency, continuity and participation of the general public. The competence of these intermediate bodies may range from management of a particular institution (e.g., the theatre) to co-ordination of all local cultural activities (‘municipal cultural office’).

Local cultural budget

A town’s cultural expenditure faithfully reflects its major options. Such expenditure must, however, be subjected to analytical accounting, which presupposes the existence of exact concepts in the matter of cultural action. The main categories of analysis in respect of towns are as follows: 1. Cultural budget as a percentage of the total budget and of the other budgets of the municipality (sport, education, social welfare).

2. Ratio of capital outlay (indebtedness) to operating costs. Figures show that sport is a higher charge on the capital account than on the operating account, whereas cultural action has very high operating costs.

3. Ratio of subsidies to direct expenditure. 4. Expenditure per ‘operating unit’ (for example, cost of a concert, cost of a theatrical performance, cost per day of running a library).

5. Per capita and sector expenditure. In one country, for instance, it is thought that per capita expenditure on the theatre varies from 3 F to 30 F according to whether the town has a population of under 20,000 or over 100,000.

6. Cost per user: what is the cost of a theatre stall, a conservatoire pupil, a book on loan? In one town, it was found that it costs as much to have a book on loan as to give away a paperback. . . . The preparation of such accounts makes local councillors realize their responsibilities and their opportunities in cultural matters: there is in fact a twofold danger, namely, taking too narrow or too broad a view. Some activities (e.g., the theatre) are beyond the possibilities of small towns, which do not have sufficient resources nor a large enough audience to attain an adequate level of quality.

Inter-town co-operation and co-operation with the State

Once cultural action no longer consists solely of operations which are a matter of local prestige, but forms part of a policy of making the largest possible proportion of the population take part in cultural activities, the towns can no longer stand alone. They must co-operate in order to pool and circulate their resources: it does not pay to organize a temporary exhibition in a single town, or to produce a play only once. Regional distribution circuits are established for several towns, with sharing of joint expenses. The State often

42


intervenes in order to launch such co-ordination and then seeks to hand over to groups of towns. The easy way out is to rely entirely on the State. But once cultural development assumes certain dimensions, it becomes obvious, for both practical and political reasons, that the State cannot do everything. It must confine itself to helping to get things going, and then co-ordinating them. In several countries the State helps the local authorities at the outset with their equipment drive, and then gradually withdraws from the scene.

Private commercial sector When speaking of cultural policy, there is often a tendency to think only of the State and the local authorities and to overlook the private commercial sector. But this sector very often plays a leading part, sometimes more important than that of the public ‘authorities. A study of the nation’s cultural accounts, analysed by category of agents, would make it possible to measure its importance, which vanes according to the economic system. It is of vital concern to cultural policies because of the wide audience reached and the quality of the products distributed. The fields covered include, as a rule, books, records, films and the works-of-art market, which are some of the principal means of getting to know the major works of mankind. The conditions governing their cconsumption’, distribution and ‘production’ are the concern of the public authorities. In the matter of creation and dissemination of culture, the State may wish to give direct

or indirect assistance to the general public, producers or sellers. The democratization drive therefore leads to an artificial reduction of prices of seats in State theatres, cultural centres or even in s3me cinemas. At the same time, ways of lowering the cost of cultural services in the private sector are also sought. In a number of countries, cultural industries and trades are allowed partial or complete

exemption from taxation. According to the country, the theatre may be subject to surtax as a luxury trade or completely exempt from tax as a cultural activity; the same applies to all other sectors. It has even been proposed that bookshops, which have a part to play in guiding ‘consumption’, should enjoy special tax treatment. Such reliefs do not deprive the exchequer of any substantial resources and may act as a considerable incentive. In one country, experimental cinemas have been partially exempted from tax in this manner. In three years the number of experimental cinemas has risen from 10 to 400 and at the same time they have had larger audiences. The cultural balance is positive and the financial balance has become positive also.

Business firms Business firms are important economic agents with considerable financial power, in which numerous members of the public are assembled for many hours; they have accordingly often been approached to take part in cultural action. Examples of industrial patronage may be found in the conservation of historical monuments, the foundation of museums, and the organization of cultural activities for the personnel. But staff reactions seem hesitant. They willingly accept the services offered when these do not call for lengthy participation: lending libraries and record libraries, and the sale of theatre tickets are examples of successful activities. The reception given to events organized in or by the firm outside working hours varies according to the country.

In the case of Poland, for instance, every State enterprise has some cultural activity. Firms with over 100 employees have a culture hall, those with over 1,000 employees a club and those with over 2,000 a cultural centre. These premises are situated outside the works area. Firms must employ and pay trained cultural promoters (from one to five according

43


to the size of the firm). Such centres are managed by the works council and their financial resources are derived from members’ contributions, and grants from the firm’s profits, trade unions and the national budget. Problems arise mainly in small firms where co-ordination is dfficult. Polish research workers are at present engaged in an evaluation of the effectiveness of the system.

Voluntary associations and amateur societies

In most countries there are many voluntary associations operating in all sectors at local and national level, and these have been the principal agents of cultural development. They preceded the public authorities, which they spurred on to action in this field, and today they are often institutionalized. Their importance lies first of all in their enthusiasm: they constitute the driving force and the soul of cultural activity. Secondly, they provide an opportunity for innovation, since they remain free when the public authorities are paralysed. Their limitations may arise from lack of continuity in action or lack of contact with the people. Amateur societies are encouraged in very many countries, with the dual aim of discovering

new talent and of making the public take an active part in various forms of expression. Such participation contributes to individual development and at the same time performs a social function. For this reason the theatre is given preference, particularly among young people, at school but also in many cultural centres. In the developing countries, it is necessary to supervise or simply to guide and advise amateurs in order to avoid the danger of mediocrity, since examples worthy of being followed are not yet distributed widely enough there. In these countries, however, the problem of wide participation of amateurs is directly related to the problem of general training. Any cultural policy should contain clear decisions regarding amateurs and their links with professionals at the level of training, creation, dissemination and even conservation (archaeological sites for young people, etc.).

Cultural budgets

The term ‘cultural budget’ will be used to denote the proportion of government expenditure devoted to cultural action. Emphasis should be laid on this concept, because in most countries, owing to the dispersion of the administrative structures of cultural action, such expenditure is seldom collated. This regrouping is of great importance since expenditure is one of the indicators making it possible to assess how much effort is being made by the public authorities on behalf of culture in comparison with other sectors. This indicator has no absolute value and admittedly does not in any way reflect the spec-

ific quality of cultural action, which cannot be assessed in figures; but it avoids a flood of empty rhetoric, so often released by cultural matters. It is essential for all who wish to understand the place of cultural policy in national life. A first study therefore consists often in regrouping the expenditure items appearing in many different parts of the budget or in the budget of independent para-governmental offices. Once this has been done, it is useful to relate the cultural budget to the major facts of

national life. For instance, the cultural budget may be compared with the other main budgets of the nation. A comparison of the cultural budgets of various countries is not always easy, for the bases of calculation are at present so varied that such a comparison would not be very conclusive. For example, when we say that Sweden and Poland devote 1 per cent of the national budget to cultural matters, and France 0.43 per cent, we are doubly mistaken: on the one hand, in the numerator the content of the cultural budget is not the same (e.g.,

44


it includes archives in France, but not in Poland, cultural industries appear in Poland but not in Sweden, etc.), while on the other hand, in the denominator the national budgets of Sweden, Poland and France do not include the same items. If, in the denominator, we replace 'national budget' by 'national income', we no doubt

reduce the error slightly and obtain a more significant figure: 1 per cent for France, for instance, 0.2 per cent for the United Arab Republic. Similarly, it is not uninteresting to learn that in Sweden cultural affairs account for 6.07 per cent of the education budget. It would be useful to make an international study of the items which should appear in the numerator of this fraction.

Table 1 Sweden: Cultural budget in the national budget from 1950-51 to 1967-68

1951-52 1960-61 1967-68

Cultural budget (Kr. 1,000) 29,164 99,792 294,181 Cultural budget (%) in the budget of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs 5.07 5.41 6.07

Cultural budget (%) in relation to total national expenditure 0.654 8.712 0.968

Table 2 Sweden: Trend of the cultural budget in relation to the total budget and to the budget of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs (percentage)

Cultural budget/ Cultural budget/ Cultural budget Ministry budget Total budget

1951-56 1956-61 1961 -67

+ 72 + 39 + 59 + 33 + 55 + 52 + 106 + 87 + 57

Sector breakdown

The following examples show the importance of the figures as indicators, although they should be carefully interpreted each time before being utilized. The emphasis laid on cultural centres in Poland, or on popular education in Sweden, is clearly brought out in these figures. Historical monuments absorb a far larger proportion in France and in the U.A.R. than in Poland and Sweden.

Table 3 U.A.R. Cultural budget, 1964-65 (percentage)l

General administration E 36 National library Antiquities E 29 Theatre 1. Cinema dealt with separately.

E 11 ? 24

Table 4 Poland. Cultural budget, 1965 (approximative percentage): some of the objects of expenditure expressed in percentages of the total cultural budget

Cultural centres Meeting-rooms Town libraries Rural libraries

6 Museums 7 3 Protection of monuments 5 10.8 Radio and television 26 3.6 Subsidized cultural industries 9.8

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Table 5 France. Cultural budget, 1967 (percentage)

Arts and humanities (theatres, Archives

Architecture and monuments 31.2 music, museums) 56.5 General administration

4.5 7.8

Table 6 Sweden. Cultural budget, 1967-68 (percentage)

Theatre 19.41 Adult education 16.65 Music 3.99 Youth 6.21 Museums and exhibitions 16.25 Folk high schools 16.66 Monuments 2.03

Fuoctionmil breakdown

The four functions of cuitural action are: conservation, creation, dissemination and training. One of the aims of cultural policy is to balance these functions properly, so that, say, dissemination is not given preference over creation, or the past (conservation) over the future (training). France, for instance, made certain adjustments when changing over from the Fourth Plan (1962-65) to the Fifth Plan (1966-70):

Conservation Creation Dissemination Training

Fourth Plan Fifth Plan

% 55 52

% 2

4

% 25 33

% 18 11

A n international survey, once basic data are available in the countries, would no doubt show, for example, to what extent creation is everywhere regarded as the poor relation of cultural action. A general realization of this fact would allow adjustments to be made in general policy.

Operationlcapital ratio

This breakdown of expenditure, which it is most useful to know at local authority and institutional level, is also useful at national level, especially if we agree that cultural policy is more concerned with people (operation) than premises (capital). In one country’s budget of $ 1 0 million, the breakdown is: operation $54 miüion and capital $46 million.

Cultural accounts

The above breakdowns are meaningful only if they cover all cultural agents. W e then have a table reminiscent of the national economic accounts, with various agents. Such tables are useful for defining an over-all policy of cultural action, with a rational division of labour. Are they possible? They raise important problems of concepts, since many of the services provided are free and it would perhaps be necessary to introduce non-monetary units. The preparation of national cultural accounts is being studied in France and Czechoslovakia.

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Introduction of statistics into the cultural field

Culture cannot be reduced to statistics. The figures quoted above do not concern cultural Me, but the material means promoting it. Admittedly, no cultural action will ever be measured with the statistics to be compiled, as the realities measured with the same figures dif- fer from country to country. Statistics do not permit quality comparisons, but provide indications for administrators or local councillors who wish to promote culture.

Most countries feel the need for definitions, norms, or analysis grids which form, as it were, a control panel for leaders of cultural policy. Within these broad frameworks each country will put what it likes, but-by this means-it wiil know exactly where it is, what it is doing and how it is placed with regard to the objectives it has set itself. Statistics have no value in themselves, but have become one of the instruments of cultural action. After a wide-ranging discussion the round table noted that each country is almost wholly

unaware of the achievements or plans of other countries in the field of cultural action. It was considered most desirable to have comparative documentation on this subject (year- books, guides or booklets) on the lines of that which already exist for education and scientific ressarch. It was nevertheless recognized that it would be too difficult in present conditions to publish a work corresponding to the World Survey of Education, which would in any case almost certainly be out of date by the time it appeared. It was, however, recommended that Unesco undertake surveys at an early date covering certain countries, grouped according to geographical, historical and cultural considerations, which would enjoy possible means of contact (e.g., periodical conferences). The results of these surveys should be published without delay in the form of booklets which could be easily compared. In order to ensure that data are comparable one should in the first place define the cri-

teria to be used as a basis for the surveys and, secondly, plan an introduction and descriptive text for each booklet, using standard terminology and indicating the basic trends and main ideas resulting from the surveys. The definition of criteria should be left to an expert committee, which would pay particular attention to certain factors difficult to codify, being qualita- tive rather than quantitative. In addition to these surveys it would be useful for countries, singly or in groups, to carry

out studies, using the ways and means indicated above, but concentrating on certain general topics, for example: (a) economics and culture; (b) spread of culture among the masses in preindustrial, industrial and post-industrial societies; (c) the socioeconomic conditions most favourable to the work of the cultural agent in these three types of society. The round table recommended the establishment of an international documentation

centre on the cultural institutions, policies and needs of different Member States. Continu- ing to bear in mind the desirability of facilitating exchanges of information and experiences, the round table recommended that Unesco organize international or redonal meetings of those responsible for national cultural action at different levels; and that in particular Unesco should contemplate holding a meeting of ministers of culture. In conclusion, the round table considered it desirable that in States where this does not

yet exist, a government office or an independent body should be set up to co-ordinate cultural action at the national level and to ensure liaison with Unesco in this field.

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Conclusions

For the first time, administrators, specialists in the social and human sciences and creative artists met round the same table, invited by an international organization to discuss cultural problems. The participants differed in their cultural origin, the socio-economic structure of their countries, their professional interests and their conception of the role of public authorities in cultural development. Yet in spite, perhaps because, of these differences, the work of the round table resulted in general agreement on the following points.

Culture in the modern world is evolving rapidly; it is at present undergoing profound changes, which must be taken into account in approaching any problem of cultural policy. Cultural policy must be placed in a dynamic perspective. The democratization of culture must not imply a dilution of standards; it is no longer a question of handing out ‘high- class culture’ which is unfamiliar to the masses, but of enabling everyone, men and women alike, whatever their social origin or economic condition, to develop their personality to the full and to participate fully in cultural activities in accordance with their tastes and their needs. In many cases large sectors of the population are not yet in a position to do this, owing to lack of time or resources, or because they have not attained the necessary level of education. Making people participate in cultural activities does not mean inviting them to be pre-

sent as passive spectators at a cultural event; it means associating them increasingly with cultural action and endeavouring to stimulate their powers of creation. It was recognized that cultural and economic development are closely linked; it was also emphasized that physical resources are not enough in themselves, and that equipment serves no purpose if it is not backed up by the necessary personnel and administrative machinery. Attention was drawn to various problems particular to the developing countries. The

civilization of highly industrialized countries, powerfully equipped with mass media, has considerable force of penetration and is likely to stifle the national cultures of developing countries by distorting or misinterpreting the national cultural values of these countries. Some of these problems particularly affect Africa, and it was thought that they were suffi- ciently important to justify organizing a meeting of representatives of the cultures of the African continent. Discussion showed that in countries where this does not yet exist, it would be desirable to

set up a body responsible for cultural affairs at the national level. The round table emphasized the importance of the part played by non-governmental

organizations in cultural development.

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Conclusions

Culture does not yet occupy in the life of the nation the front-ranking place which it deserves in the light of modern conditions of life and scientific and technological development. The round table expressed the hope that Unesco would ask the National Commissions to undertake an extensive campaign in order to arouse public opinion on this subject. While the atmosphere of mutual understanding and co-operation persisted throughout

the meeting, there were certain divergences of view. It was generally recognized that these concerned chiefly problems about which information is not yet sufficient for a considered judgement to be made on them. For this reason the round table recommended that various studies should be carried out.

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List of participants Round-Table Meeting on Cultural Policies

Monaco, 18-22 December 1967

Mr. Nigel ABERCROMBIE Secretary -General, Arts Council of Great Britain.

Mr. Mulk RAJ ANAND President, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.

Chef du Service des Maires Culturelles au Ministère d’État (Monaco).

Mr. Ivan BOLDIZSAR Writer, Budapest.

Mr. Pierre BOURDIEU Directeur d’Études à I’JhIe Pratique des Hautes Études, chargé du cours de sociologie de la culture, Paris.

Mr. Alejo CARPENTIER Cultural Attaché, Embassy of Cuba, Paris.

Mr. Carlos CHAGAS Ambassador of Brazil, Permanent Delegate of Brazil to Unesco.

Minister Plenipotentiary, Chairman, Monaco National Commission for Unesco.

Maître de Recherches au Conseil National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.

Mr. Abdel Moneim EL SAW Under-Secretary of State for Antiquities, Ministry of Culture, Cairo.

Cultural Affairs Officer,

Mr. Antoine BATTAINI

Mr. Arthur CROVETTO

Mr. Joffre DUMAZEDIER

Mr. Albert HOBA

Ministry of Education, Abidjan (Ivory Coast).

Mr. Yacine KATEB Playwright, Algiers.

Mr. Carl-Johan KLEBERG Financial Officer, Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, Stockholm.

Professor of French Literature, Tokyo University; Chairman, Cultural Affairs Committee, Japanese National Commission for Unesco.

Director, States and Community Operations, National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.

Artist.

Directeur Général des Arts et Lettres au Ministère d’État chargé des Maires Culturelles, Paris.

Commissioner for Culture, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Dar es-Salaam.

President, Italian Committee, International Association of Art, Turin.

Directeur de l’Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle et Techniques de Diffusion (INSAS), Brussels.

Mr. Yoichi MAEDA

Mr. Charles C. MARK

Mr. Roberto MATTA

Mr. Pierre MOINOT

Mr. Sam Joseph NTIRO

Mr. Enrico PAULUCCI

Mr. Raymond RAVAR

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List of particioants

Mr. Rafik SAID Directeur de l’animation culturelle en Tunisie.

Film producer, Dakar.

Executive Office of the President, Washington, D.C.

Mr. Stefan ZOLKIEWSKI Professor, Social Sciences Department, Polish Academy of Sciences.

Mr. Anatoli A. ZVORYKIN Professor of Sociology, Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences, Moskva.

Mr. Ousmane SEMBENE

Mr. Roger STEVENS

International non-governmental organizations Mr. Jack BORNOFF Executive Secretary, International Music Council.

Mr. Maurice GASTAUD Chairman, Non-Governmental Organizations Working Party on the Role of Culture in Leisure.

Mr. Hans Erling LANGKILDE International Union of Architects.

Mr. Jean d’ORMESSON International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies.

Mr. A. F. E. VAN SCHENDEL President, International Council of Museums.

International Theatre Institute. Mr. Jean VILAR

Mr. Silvio ZAVALA President, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies.

Unesco Secretariat Mr. Mahdi ELMANDJRA Assistant Director-General for Social Sciences, Human Sciences and Culture.

Director of the Division for the Cultural Advancement of the Community.

Mr. Enrico FULCHIGNONI Head of the Creative Arts and Literature Section.

Consultant.

Head of Press Division.

Office of Statistics.

Creative Arts and Literature Section.

Mr. Roger CAILLOIS

Mr. Augustin GIRARD

Mr. Jacques GUÉRIF

Mr. Milan BABIC

Mrs. Adella KAY

Observers Mr. Yves BRUNSVICK French National Commission for Unesco.

Professor Richard HOGGART Director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies University of Birmingham (United Kingdom).

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