In Lithuania, the issue of social inclusion and cohesion is mainly related in cultural policy to the equal opportunities of different social groups and inhabitants of different regions to participate in cultural life, i.e. cultural participation is considered to be an important factor of social inclusion and cohesion. The Lithuanian Cultural Policy Strategy 2030 argues that there is a positive correlation between active participation in cultural life and higher quality of personal and social life: people engaged in cultural and creative activities have more trust in other people, they participate more actively in elections, have stronger and more conscious civic identity, feel happier and healthier. Hence, one of the tasks of the Strategy is “to promote the equal accessibility of high quality and various forms of culture for diverse social groups”.
According to the survey Population participation in culture and satisfaction with cultural services (2020) commissioned by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, the inhabitants of villages and small towns (up to 3 000 residents) are less involved in cultural activities compared to residents of the three major cities (42 % and 48 % respectively). Residents of small towns and villages visit cultural heritage sites, participate in books and press related activities less often. As the main reason not to participate in cultural activities, small towns residents indicate the difficulty in travelling to the locations where cultural activities take place, the high price, and poor health.
In 2018, in order to improve the accessibility of culture in the regions and the development of diversity of local cultural expressions, the Lithuanian Council for Culture created the model of the support of Even Cultural Development. The main idea of the model is to create 10 Regional Councils for Culture, which decide independently on funding of cultural projects through local calls for tenders. The Regional Councils for Culture are formed of representatives of regional municipalities, representatives of regional arts and culture organisations and one delegate from the Lithuanian Council for Culture, who does not have voting rights. Each Regional Council forms its own funding priorities reflecting the situation of local cultural communities, infrastructure and potential. The aim of the model is to decentralise cultural funding decisions, enable regions to decide independently on the implementation of cultural and artistic projects that are important for them, and involve local communities, creators and municipalities in decision-making processes. In 2019, the Lithuanian Council for Culture organised the first contest for funding according to the Even Cultural Development Programme. 487 regional projects were granted 2 981 780 EUR. In 2020, funding of 2 887 016 EUR was granted to 615 projects. However, the funding mechanism of the programme was criticised by the Lithuanian Art Creators’ Association because of uneven competing conditions for private and municipal cultural organisations as the latter have guaranteed annual funding from municipal budgets and get the bigger share of finance in this contest as well. The Association proposed to separate the funding of NGO projects from the funding of municipal organisations’ projects, arguing that separating this funding would create the conditions for the continued and sustainable operation of the NGO sector.
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