Decision-making and the implementation of cultural policy involve procedures and interactions between the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Government and the Parliament, on the one hand, and consultative cultural councils, local government and self-government, cultural institutions, NGOs, and individual artists and their associations, on the other.
The Ministry of Culture and Media drafts laws and other important documents which the government passes on to the Parliamentary Committee for Education, Science and Culture, and/or Parliamentary Committee for Information, Informatisation and Media. When cleared, they undergo parliamentary discussion and enactment. The Ministry of Culture and Media plays a part in drafting the budget and decides on the allocation of budgetary funds to various cultural fields, and it has responsibility for media policy issues.
Cultural Councils have been firstly established in 2001 by the Law on Culture Councils (NN 53/01, NN 48/04, NN 44/09, NN 68/13) as consultative bodies to the Minister of Culture with a mandate of: e.g. proposing goals for cultural policy and measures for achieving them, offering professional assistance to the Minister of Culture, working out a long-term national cultural programme, and giving opinions on the distribution of grants. In 2022, the new Law on Cultural Councils and Financing of Public Needs in Culture (NN 83/2022) has been adopted, and with it a minor change in the fields of cultural councils on the national level has been introduced: cultural councils on the national level exist in the following fields: books and publishing, dramatic and dance arts, music and music-related performing arts, visual arts, international cultural cooperation, amateur arts and culture, and interdisciplinary and new artistic and cultural practices. Specific laws provide for the establishment of four other councils (cultural assets, archives, museums and libraries).
Besides existing cultural councils, there are other councils and committees established by the government having direct and indirect impact on the formulation of cultural policies, such as the government committees for national minorities, youth, gender equality, civil society and others. The internal cooperation between different councils and committees is rather low.
The Ministry of Culture and Media regularly co-operates with other ministries to bring general and related laws into harmony with cultural legislation such as: the protection of cultural heritage (with the Ministry of the Interior), conservation and protection of historical town centres (with the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets), drafting media legislation and regulating audio and audiovisual media services and electronic publications (with the Ministry of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure), and in appointing cultural attachés or organising cultural events abroad (with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs).
Some important areas of culture, however, do not fall fully under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and Media, such as arts education, research and minority cultural groups. The Ministry of Science and Education takes the lead role for arts education and there is a shared responsibility for research in cultural matters between the two Ministries. The Ministry of Culture and Media and the Government Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities share responsibility for ethnic minority cultural groups. Prospects for closer inter-ministerial co-operation are hindered by the strict sectoral division of activities.
The Agency for Electronic Media (AEM) is an independent regulatory body that promotes public interest and media pluralism, encourages media literacy, creates conditions for the production of quality Croatian audiovisual content and ensures equal conditions for media development and media freedom.
The Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) is an arms-length body which is responsible for the production, financing, promotion and distribution of audiovisual activities.
The Kultura Nova Foundation is dedicated to the promotion and development of civil society organisations in the field of contemporary culture and arts. The funding for this arms-length body is obtained partly through the Lottery fund, donations and other sources according to the Law on the Kultura Nova Foundation.
There is no single law regulating the division of jurisdictions. Specific laws regulate different fields and prescribe whether the local and regional authorities or the state are responsible for establishing and financing institutions in that particular field (see chapters 1.2.3 and 1.2.4).
There has not been a significant change in the architecture of the system in the recent years.
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