As part of the updated cultural development strategy for 2025-2030, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications (MKSC) plans to grant greater autonomy to its subordinate institutions. This initiative aims to enhance the "resilience of culture as a social system", which is one of the primary goals of the new document.
First Deputy Minister of Culture Halyna Hryhorenko elaborated on this strategy during her appearance on Radio Culture.
"One of the strategic goals is to strengthen the resilience of culture as a social system. Our cultural infrastructure is inherited from the Soviet Union and consists of over 30,000 cultural institutions. We need to transform it, as it is currently overly regulated, and there have been no significant reforms in state support and local community financing since independence.", Hryhorenko emphasized.
As the Deputy Minister explained, cultural institutions face significant limitations and excessive regulation:
"Any innovations or attempts to change something in a cultural institution encounter checks that can lead to penalties... Thus, there is absolutely no incentive for change.".
One of the key objectives of the Ministry is to "liberalize the activities of the cultural sector", meaning to change the system of state governance and support, promoting autonomy for the resilience of various cultural institutions.
To implement this strategy, funding from non-governmental sources is also required, which is why legislation on cultural patronage will be developed simultaneously.
About the Strategy Document
The document "Cultural Development Strategy 2025-2030", adopted on March 28, is considered the first comprehensive government document that proposes to view culture as an element of national security and sustainable development in Ukraine.
Halyna Hryhorenko shares that during the strategy's development, the MKSC held a series of conferences in various cities across Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv, Vinnytsia, and Kyiv. Meetings were also held to gather proposals from the public sector and independent organizations.
The newly created strategy outlines four main goals:
- strengthening human capital through cultural practices;
- protection, preservation, and enhancement of cultural heritage and values;
- increasing the resilience of culture as a social system;
- integrating Ukrainian culture as an active participant and equal partner in global cultural processes.
The first goal of the strategy, which focuses on strengthening human capital, implies that cultural institutions will become more open to the public:
"This means that our cultural institutions should become open spaces for social engagement, not just libraries that store books. Museums, for example, should actively contribute to local identity and history, and collaboratively plan the future based on our past.".
Additionally, efforts are being made to develop mechanisms for evacuating cultural values from frontline areas and fostering horizontal connections with international institutions, ensuring ongoing communication between them and Ukrainian colleagues.