Culture Council Initiates Agency for Slovenian Culture Promotion
The National Council for Culture will propose to the government to establish an agency for the international promotion of Slovenian culture. All preparations for the project are to be made within six months.
The initiative, which was backed unanimously by the council on Thursday, attempts to bring all the efforts for the promotion of the Slovenian culture under one roof.
Mitja Cander particularly highlighted the importance of the project in terms of international promotion of the Slovenian literature. He said the promotion of literature would call for higher funds, which should be raised from the current SIT 40m to 200m (EUR 167,000 to 834,000).
Janez Pipan, who heads the council, said the new agency would also promote the Slovenian language, by granting scholarships for example.
Another project on today's agenda, the Cultural Policy Laboratory, proposed by the Culture Ministry as a body that would perform cultural policy research, was rejected.
Drago Jancar argued that research foreseen in the initiative could be done in existing institutions, such as the university.
Helena Drnovsek Zorko, the new head of culture at the Foreign Ministry, who is not member of the council, backed the initiative, saying that no project could be carried out at home or abroad without project management. She also drew attention to the upcoming projects in culture when Slovenia presides over the EU.
The council today also passed a draft 2005 budget, which amounts to SIT 10m (EUR 41,700). The budget needs approval by the culture minister.
The council at its first session in October discussed the troubled situation of the Slovenian Theatre in Trieste, which was labelled as a major Slovenian culture institution of national importance.
The council called upon the relevant parliamentary committee and the government to work out a comprehensive strategy of the theatre's operations within six months.
It also advocated a comprehensive strategy for the support and development of Slovenian culture in the Trieste province. The council believes that the relevant parliamentary committee should inform EU institutions about the ailing situation of the Slovenian Theatre in Trieste.
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