At the end of September 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Media published “Overview of cultural development and cultural policies in the Republic of Croatia”, providing readers with comprehensive analysis of the current state and trends in the Croatian cultural policy twenty years after the publication “Cultural policy in Croatia: national report” that evaluated the state and trends of Croatian cultural policies in the 1990ies. This new analysis will serve as a basis for designing cultural policy guidelines for the next ten years.
The publication brought together numerous cultural practitioners, researchers and scientists in various artistic fields who deal with specific topics of cultural policy. The editors of the publication are Aleksandra Uzelac, Ph.D., Head of the Department for Culture and Communication at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Romana Matanovac Vučković, Ph.D., associate professor at the Faculty of Law, the Academy of Music, and the Academy of Dramatic Art of the University of Zagreb, and Dea Vidović, Ph.D, Director of Kultura Nova Foundation. The texts were written by 38 authors, among them are four researchers from the Department for Culture and Communication (IRMO) who participated in writing six chapters. Aleksandra Uzelac, Ph.D., along with other co-editors of this publication, co-authored the introductory chapter “Cultural policies on the path towards sustainability” and with Barbara Lovrinić Higgins co-authored the chapter “Digital transformation of the cultural sector”; Jaka Primorac, Ph.D., wrote the chapters “Cultural and creative industries” and “Working conditions in culture, employment policies for the cultural sector”; and Ana Žuvela, Ph.D., wrote the chapter “Organisation and management”, and co-authored the chapter “Cultural diversity and inclusion policies” with Dea Vidović, Ph.D., from Kultura Nova Foundation.
The publication is divided into 6 sections: Introduction, Instruments of cultural policy, Areas of cultural policy, Participation in culture, Transversal aspects of cultural policies and Current topics of cultural development and cultural policy.
Most of the texts were completed before the year 2020. Although the publication documents the situation before the pandemic and the earthquakes that hit Croatia in 2020, Nina Obuljen Koržinek , Ph.D., Croatian Minister of Culture and Media emphasised that this publication “identifies mechanisms and trends and makes proposals for further development of cultural policies in various cultural and artistic areas that will be based on cooperation, mutual understanding, and trust of all involved in the cultural sector and their participation in decision-making processes” .
The publication is available in Croatian on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Media at the following link.
