President of Russia: Joint session of State Council and Council for Culture and Art

Vladimir Putin chaired a joint session of the State Council and the Presidential Council for Culture and Art on the implementation of the state cultural policy. Also, the President announced that he has signed an Executive Order approving the Basics of the State Cultural Policy. According to Vladimir Putin, the document “reflects the attitude to culture as a mission, as a public good and historical legacy, as a system of values and moral ideals”. 

The meeting focused on issues pertaining to ensuring freedom of art, preserving and using material and non-material legacy of the peoples of Russia in education and mentoring, on the development of the Russian and national languages, literature, and the creation of information environment favourable for character building.

The head of State noted: “It feels like it was just recently, at the beginning of this year, that we declared 2014 the Year of Culture; but today, we will be discussing its results. It was full of various events, festivals, openings, artistic evenings and meetings, including, first and foremost, in the Russian regions, where this topic got particular attention”.

The work on the Basics of the State Cultural Policy became a priority. This year, we held three meetings of the corresponding working group, the latest of which was in mid-December. Overall, the discussion of this draft document was open and broad. Various professionals actively engaged in this process, including workers in culture and the arts, educators, researchers and public organisations. But what’s most important is that thousands of citizens took part in this work. This was a truly public discussion, and the debates were intense and heated.

The draft Basics were built on a new ideological platform and proposed rethinking the role of culture, which in recent times has often been perceived simply as part of the social block of issues or as the work of cultural establishments. But most often, it is perceived as the services, leisure or entertainment sector. Of course, this narrow, sectorial approach does not correspond to the nation’s development goals, society’s needs, or the needs of our time. We have talked about this on many occasions.

This comprehensive understanding of culture also represents a radical change in the very priorities of state policy. The processes of educating citizens, especially children and youth, take the forefront. Increased attention is given to their spiritual, creative development, patriotic education, and to the creation throughout entire Russia of a high-quality cultural environment, accessible benefits of culture and equal conditions for creative work.