1. Summary of the Report
Cultural Stages Versus Cultural Policies in Malopolska.
Report on Exploration Research.
Malopolska Institute of Culture 2010
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2. Coordination of the research project: Malopolska Institute of Culture. The project was
executed under the Malopolska Observatories of Culture Programme.
Cooperation: Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities,
AGH University of Science and Technology and Association of Polish Cities
Coordination of the project: Piotr Knaś
Field research conducted by: Natalia Bardzik, Karolina Fidyk, Zuzanna Hołyst, Piotr Knaś,
Wojciech Kowalik, Łukasz Krzyżowski, Małgorzata Matlak, Anna Miodyńska, Zofia Noworól,
Katarzyna Ptaśnik, Agnieszka Nowak, Paulina Świątek, Magdalena Wilk-Serwan, Anna
Wiśnicka
Substantive consultation on the execution of the research project: Professor Janusz
Mucha
Authors of the publication: Łukasz Krzyżowski, Zofia Noworól, Wojciech Kowalik, Piotr
Knaś
The project is co-financed by the National Centre of Culture under the Observatory of
Culture Programme.
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3. Contents
1. Introduction. Cultural stages and policies as an important dimension
of culture in Malopolska
2. Methodology of field research and analysis of collected information
3. Analysis of the local meanings of culture in Malopolska
4. Cultural stages as a space for activities of cultural actors – structural analysis
5. Cultural policies in Malopolska communes
6. Cultural stages and policies. Together or apart?
7. Evaluation of culture
8. Summary and main conclusions
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4. 1. Introduction. Cultural stages and policies as an important
dimension of culture in Malopolska
The report presents a qualitative analysis and a diagnosis of the state of culture in
Malopolska regarding cultural stages in communes and the establishment of local cultural
policies. During field research we interviewed 120 cultural actors from 10 communes in
Malopolska (focus groups, in-depth interviews and participant observation, supportively).
We intended to discover to what extent cultural services (the whole cultural offer available
in the commune) are connected with cultural practices (broadly understood participation
in culture), and the ways cultural policies are managed on the local level (i.e. how the
services programme is established and what it is intended to do).
Our assumption was that local definitions of culture and methods of negotiating the
meanings of culture (which were presented to us during the research) constitute the
locally working ideas and rules which determine the state/change of culture in the cultural
services and cultural policies sector (meaning also local development).
Metaphor of cultural stages
The point of departure for our analysis was to imagine a methodologically sound model of
culture functioning in the commune. On the one hand, we wished to retain the meanings
of broad anthropological definitions of culture, and on the other, we were obliged to
consider the sector meaning of culture in the research. Therefore our definition of culture
is not based on a catalogue of widely recognised ‘cultural activities’, such as book reading,
theatre going or participation in classes held in the local community centre, which are
conducted by formal institutions of culture (these function in three sectors: public, private
and non-governmental) but we will use the metaphor of the commune as a festival with a
number of stages (the main stage, the niche stage, the counter-stage) where varied
cultural activities are practised according to the different capacities and methodologies of
participation or ways to ‘arrange’ the stage. The audience at such a festival behaves as
consumers (prosumers) who can engage themselves in it to a greater or lesser degree
(executing the right to arrange the stage in their own way or the right to use the offer,
respectively); on some stages they have to pay entry fees; they can form communities
based on the resources (the purchased products) of a given stage, and sometimes they can
leave the festival in protest or because the offer was not sufficiently interesting for them.
The complex of stages is a space for the community’s activity which can be termed as
participation in culture. The festival is not organised by an individual – it is a space open to
different organisers, although in practice some stages are regarded as important by some
institutional, collective and individual actors while others are marginalised or considered
non-cultural. Why and how does it happen?
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5. Metaphor of cultural actors
In the present analysis cultural actors denote the people who are active on the cultural
stages or engage in their organisation and arrangement. However, we did not wish to
analyse merely some selected cultural sectors (for example, cultural workers or activists in
non-governmental organisations). The actors’ official position in the cultural sector was not
important for us as we focused on their real role in it. In order to select respondents for the
research we followed a formula which was the point of departure to find cultural actors:
• local government (the commune leader [wójt], officials, councillors),
• cultural institutions (the director and museum, library and community centre staff),
• non-governmental organisations (activists, leaders, project coordinators),
• entrepreneurs who are active in the culture sector (managers and owners),
• parishes (priests, parish activists, project coordinators),
• independent culture creators and cultural animators,
• local leaders (including young people’s leaders), journalists or other reviewers of
culture,
• representatives of schools, tourism development institutions, promotional
institutions, welfare institutions, business support institutions,
• representatives of ethnic minorities; regional organisations activists.
The cultural actor may be considered (in terms of the competences involved) mainly to be
a(n):
• politician (making decisions for culture),
• manager (coordinating and managing the culture sector),
• animator (animating/promoting participation in culture),
• entrepreneur (generating profit on culture),
• creator (creating cultural values),
• educator/instructor/teacher (educating for culture),
• researcher (culture studies).
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6. Metaphor of cultural practices and cultural services
A local community is active in many fields. A concise definition of culture says that in
certain situations that activity is cultural in character (when the model of the cultural
human is fulfilled). A broad definition of culture says that any activity has a cultural aspect
(when individuals participate in the exchange of symbols, use certain rules and codes etc).
Hence, participation in culture does not comply with one agreed catalogue of designates.
In the circumstances, so difficult for a cultural researcher, we wanted to agree on a
perspective that would reconcile the two definitions (each of which has its strong and
weak points). The metaphor of cultural practices enables us to treat the community in the
local commune not as a phenomenon characterised by a catalogue of cultural needs but
as a dynamic community on several different stages of culture where it sometimes expects
to get something, sometimes creates something on its own, where the sphere of reception
of cultural services may potentially occur anywhere. Cultural services are intentional
activities of cultural actors addressed to somebody and at something, and are usually
undertaken based on the evaluative opinion that a particular sphere of culture is ‘worth
dealing with’ (or, possibly, that it can yield profit).
Metaphor of local development
Culture is often described as a ‘tool’ for local development. In this sense it is not regarded
as autotellic activity connected with local tradition or need for expression but becomes a
lever which activates the desired economic and social processes; hence, culture is
potentially a field for ‘pro-developmental’ activity (or simply an important sector of
economy). The popularly understood concept of social capital refers to exactly that.
Similarly, theories of local development refer to the role of certain ideas and cultural rules
which form a bond for modern, advanced social or economic systems. These rules and
ideals must be cultivated and developed, and culture becomes a space for their creation
and inculturation. In order to consider the concept of culture as a lever for development,
for the purposes of the present analysis we have elaborated the following catalogue of
working categories (which are neither final nor the only ones) whose analysis in local
contexts was supposed to indicate if a given function of culture was taken into account in
the local cultural policies:
• establishment of innovative/creative stages based on local potentials/impulses
from outside,
• entrepreneurship and cultural industries as an important area of culture,
• local animation towards social integration and acquisition of attitudes, knowledge,
skills and competences,
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7. • implementation of cultural education which builds advanced ‘instrumentation’
which supports development of an open-minded human who is ready to innovate
and experiment,
• building the cultural brand of a commune and its location marketing,
• building contemporary circulation of tradition, history, identity, cultural heritage
(not only to preserve them),
• presence of avant-garde, counter-cultures, cultural niches which are a laboratory of
modernity,
• creation of high-quality public services in the culture sector (museum, home,
culture, library programmes, other initiatives).
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2. Methodology of field research and analysis of collected
information
In order to analyse the cultural stages and policies in Malopolska, we decided to conduct
field research in ten selected communes in the region. Each of these was treated as a
unique case study, through whose understanding we wished to d e s c r i b e t h e
construction of local cultural stages and the establishment of
c u l t u r a l p o l i c i e s . We sought common features and features which were significant
for the whole region.
Selection of the communes for field research
We based our choice of the communes for research on the official division of the region
into sub-regions: the proper Krakow sub-region, the wider Krakow sub-region, the Tarnow
sub-region, the Nowy Sącz sub-region and the Oświęcim sub-region. We decided that each
sub-region was to be represented and that the selected communes should display
phenomena and divisions which we consider to be of vital importance to the culture
sector:
• in rural, urban-rural and urban communes,
• in the communes which function on the basis of different types of economy
(industry, services, agriculture, tourism),
• in the communes with strong regional identity (narrative; characteristic for the
Carpathians) and the communes without such meanings of culture,
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8. • in the communes with a homogeneous ethnic structure and those inhabited by
ethnic minorities,
• in the communes which are local centres, those situated provincially from the
former and those which lie within the Krakow metropolis,
• in the communes of high and lower (meaning less spectacular) natural beauty.
Research techniques
In order to describe each commune and collect research material, we decided to conduct
field research using three qualitative research techniques:
• participant observation (5 were conducted),
• focus group interviews (20 were conducted),
• in-depth interviews (20 were conducted).
Main research questions
The analysis stage was conducted based on four main research questions: how culture and
participation in culture are defined locally; how the cultural stages are outlined; how
cultural policies are built and managed; how culture is evaluated in the commune. In many
subsections we describe the different analytical categories and fields of meaning to which
we paid particular attention in writing the report. They helped the authors to elaborate a
strategy of analysing cultural stages and policies. We believe that the following list of
categories and fields will enable us to properly characterise and diagnose cultural stages
and policies.
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3. Analysis of local meanings of culture in Malopolska
Analysis of the concept of culture
In our research we assume that in their, more or less creative, work cultural actors,
regardless of how formalised their position may be, make use of a certain idea of what
belongs to culture and what does not. In other words, cultural actors apply a working
definition of culture which helps them to establish the framework within which they
function. However, it is not a static definition based on explicit criteria; quite the opposite:
it is dynamic and its scope is being continuously negotiated.
To the majority of the respondents, culture means all forms of activity which generate
emotional energy. It is, as it were, the overriding objective of initiatives which may be
termed as cultural events. According to the respondents, these activities should result in
group solidarity and a strong sense of identification with the local community.
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9. Institutional actors emphasise the need to maintain communal identity based on regional
traditions which more or less explicitly differentiate one region in Malopolska from
another. Interestingly, the respondents tend to draw on the concept of national culture
more often than on the notion of Malopolska culture however it may be defined (the term
‘Malopolska culture’ was not mentioned during the interviews at all). Emotional energy,
which gathers the local community around regional symbols, may be generated both by
cultural activity and passivity. The respondents often pointed out that essentially we could
already speak of culture when an event drew an audience to it, even if it was coincidental
participation. Local culture and folklore often rely on folk symbolism and the respondents
then referred to folk culture as that which was the closest to the local community, even
though it currently seemed to be unconnected to local contexts.
Another important element of local definitions of the concept in question is the fact, often
pointed out by cultural actors, that it belongs to the sacred sphere. To many respondents,
culture is another dimension of social reality. Everyday routines are perceived as grey by
the respondents. Culture brings another, colourful dimension to everyday life – one which
is unconnected with physicality.
The concept of culture and cultural change is connected with the otherwise interesting
issue of new ideas, ‘avant-garde’. Our informants do not tend to notice practices which
might be termed as avant-garde in their neighbourhood. The very term ‘avant-garde’ is
used here in the broad sense which goes beyond the name of the trend in art and
literature in the first half of the 20th century, and is used to describe the changes in culture
which, from the point of view of the actors themselves, express new ideas and cultural
practices that may s o m e t i m e s be perceived as opposing the established notions of
culture (the dominant culture).
Another characteristic of the definition of culture used by Malopolska’s actors is its close
connection to education and socialisation within a local community. Essentially, the
majority of the respondents (especially representatives of public institutions) identified
culture with education and therefore thought it necessary to ‘familiarise’ residents ‘with
culture’ in many spaces and institutions from a very early age.
Participation in culture
According to the respondents, the minimum condition for participation in culture is a
passing interest in any cultural practice. Even momentary contact with culture generates
emotional energy and stimulates reflection on the cultural aspects of life. It is noteworthy
what else, according to the informants, should result from participation in culture. Firstly, a
very important outcome of participation is historical education about a given region, its
distinctive material and spiritual culture and relationship to the national culture.
Interactive forms of dissemination of knowledge about history are particularly interesting,
according to the respondents. Secondly, active participation in culture is connected with
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10. acquiring skills of group work, organisation of cultural events and the ability to observe
‘culture in action’. In the long run, participation in culture, both passive and active, enables
residents to acquire cultural competences necessary to be independent in that sphere. In
the case of children and young people, participation entails the development of a civic
society, fosters regional traditions, mostly by creating favourable conditions for
intergenerational interaction. According to the respondents, it is an alternative to
spending free time in front of the TV or computer. The main advantages of participation in
culture are connected with socialising and integrating practices. Naturally, cultural actors
address their offer to various groups of residents within local communities. As the
informants point out, the services provided by the subjects they represent should respond
to the needs of all residents. However, it seems that a special group of recipients are
children and young people, which is not surprising given the socialising and integrating
functions of culture. In the past five years elderly people have become a growing group of
recipients for whom institutions have been preparing special offer. The respondents also
point out the groups which are not culturally active. These are mainly working people who
do not usually have time to actively participate in culture. It may be observed, however,
that adults either participate in culture passively or supply culture for themselves on their
own.
Conclusion
Culture in Malopolska is created mainly by cultural institutions. A considerable influence
on the appearance of the different stages of culture is exerted by the Catholic Church,
especially in the smaller localities. The independent stage is poorly represented in
Malopolska. The relations between actors are formal, which however does not interfere
with the joint execution of many projects. Institutional actors and non-governmental
organisations are particularly closely connected. In general, the majority of large outdoor
events are organised by regional associations and co-funded by public institutions. In
some localities there is also cooperation between public institutions and enterprises in the
culture sector. That situation occurs particularly in the regions where folk art is popular or
in the areas rich in natural resources on which enterprises can rely in their activities.
The term ‘culture’ itself is used by the respondents in a very precise, functional sense. It
may be claimed that culture is defined by the actors in three dimensions: spiritual
(historical education, cultivation of regional traditions and religious customs), material
(historical monuments, architecture) and personal (lifestyle, upbringing, the aesthetic
sense). To the majority of the respondents, culture is essentially synonymous with
upbringing. As the respondents emphasized many times, culture begins in childhood, and
the main aim of cultural animators is to maintain the continuity of regional traditions. The
core of the concept is hence regional identity, folk culture and folklore.
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11. 4. Cultural stages as a space for activities of cultural actors – a
structural analysis
The subject of the present analysis is the functioning of cultural stages and the relations
between them as they jointly fill the area of culture in every commune and together form
structures that are unique to each location. Hence, it seems necessary to first describe the
elements of the above mentioned structure. We assume that in each commune there
exists at least one leading stage, which is distinguished from the others by:
• a c c e s s t o d i f f e r e n t r e s o u r c e s : funding, infrastructure and decision
making (through exerting influence on the locally implemented cultural policies or
through being influenced by them), which means that it is legitimised by the local
authorities,
• considerable r e c o g n i s a b i l i t y within the local community.
Acting as a space for the implementation of cultural policy in the commune, the leading
stage performs an important function because it may be a tool for conducting politics in
the commune, so it often legitimises the status quo, as it is itself legitimised by the
authorities. That is why it tends to be an area of tension and conflict between actors or
groups of cultural actors.
Owing to an easier access to resources, m a s s e v e n t s are most often organised on the
leading stage, where they also perform promotional and integrating functions. They are
usually comprehensive programmes of cultural and ludic or integrating nature, such as
‘days of the locality’, the feast of the patron saint of the locality or other occasional
festivities. The main organizer of such initiatives is usually the local community centre,
which often treats them as one of the main items on its annual programme. A similar role is
sometimes assumed by the Catholic Church. However, events of that kind are usually
executed in cooperation by several actors or cultural institutions and are held on
cooperating alternative stages (described below) beside the leading stage.
Apart from mass events and processual educational and animation activities, regular
patriotic and commemorative events, whose main organisers are local cultural institutions,
are also held on the leading stage. The Catholic Church plays an invariably important role
in these practices, and in some regions, particularly in the south east of Malopolska, a
similar role is played by the Greek Catholic Church. Interestingly, our informants treated
such events as something obvious.
What is common for the majority of the leading stages in Malopolska is the predominance
of cultural patterns in the understanding of the role of heritage and activities connected
with maintaining local identity, which may be caused by the widespread identification of
culture with spiritual culture. These patterns often organise the practices undertaken on
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12. the leading stages in the communes. The research we conducted made it possible to
designate the categories of the patterns which are present on Malopolska’s cultural stages
at the beginning of the 21st century; of these the most conspicuous and almost
omnipresent is the f o l k - t y p e c u l t u r e or cultures based on economic traditions of
the region (mining traditions, highlanders’ culture). To complement the picture, it is
advisable to discuss briefly the role of the leading stages in the promotion of Malopolska’s
communes. Although that area of culture is commonly regarded as the space for autotellic
or socialising activities, cultural activities are often used by politicians and cultural actors to
their own ends. Undoubtedly, if key cultural politicians recognise the promotional role of
culture, they are more willing to invest in certain initiatives, and expect return of the
investment in the form of increased tourism, development of cultural entrepreneurship,
better opportunities to acquire funding for the improvement of infrastructure. Finally,
investments in culture and conducting activities on the main stage contributes to the
building or reinforcement of a commune’s or town/city’s cultural brand, which obviously
represents activity on a higher level.
Although the considerable majority of cultural actors emphasise that they mostly focus on
animating activities for young people as the ones who are the most receptive and affected
by cultural events, in some localities we observed empty stages which came into existence
as a result of a lack of appropriate spaces for young people’s activity. It does not stem
directly from a lack of infrastructure or insufficient offer but may be attributed to its
inadequacy for the present day realities and needs of young people, particularly as regards
leisure time activities. Interestingly, few cultural actors are aware of that inadequacy.
Conclusion
The cultural stages in Malopolska may be divided into the leading stages, whose main
creators are usually formal actors active in cultural institutions run by the local
government; the alternative stages, which complement the offer of the leading stages; and
the empty stages, i.e. those that do not exist, and that apparent lack results from the fact
that the needs of local communities remain unsatisfied or a locality’s resources are not
properly used. Interestingly, the empty stages were often noted in the area of activities for
children and young people who are generally treated as priority culture recipients.
Simultaneously, new stages are gradually being established in Malopolska; young people
are considered to be makers of culture and cultural actors so they are given the resources
to execute their own cultural projects.
The cultural stages perform multiple functions, and the leading ones tend to represent the
commune as it is there that historic events are commemorated, cultural heritage,
continuity and integrity of the residents’ identity are upheld, and integrating and
educational activities are carried out. The space for more unconventional and less
embedded activities is more often provided by the alternative stages. On the basis of the
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13. material we collected it is difficult to point out counter-cultural stages in Malopolska,
which may however be due to the assumptions underlying our choice of the sample.
The vast majority of Malopolska’s cultural stages is formal, which determines the way they
function within the structure formed at the level of the commune/town/city to whose
creation they contribute. This refers both to the relationship between the stages and the
channels of communication. The whole relationship between the stages largely depends
on the local cultural policy which may either foster the development of the structure and
its constituents or hamper it. Our analysis of the collected material indicates that the
majority of decisions regarding cultural policies is taken in order to open channels of
communication and in the spirit of cooperation; still, the activities themselves tend to be
carried out ineffectually.
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5. Cultural policies in Malopolska’s communes
In this part of the report we will attempt to show how the persons responsible for the
creation and conduct of cultural policy construe their scope of duties within it and how
they perceive their role in those activities. Then we will try to demonstrate what are the
specific aims set under the policy, what they depend on and how they are pursued. The
analysis was carried out on the basis of individual in-depth interviews conducted with the
persons who are concerned with designing and implementing cultural activities in the
commune or town/city. Due to the assumption that the real influence on the policy was
not exerted by representatives of the local authorities, we also included the managerial
staff in cultural institutions (community centres, museums) and persons connected with
private cultural initiatives who have a considerable influence on the image of culture in a
given commune through their activity.
How cultural policy is understood
It is no easy task to grasp what our respondents mean by the term ‘cultural policy’. It does
not mean that their opinions greatly vary. It is because they view the concept of cultural
policy on several levels at the same time.
In the first, broadest sense cultural policy is understood by the respondents to be a wide
range of activities and initiatives for which the common denominator are certain
superordinate categories. They provide a frame of reference for interpretation, which
makes it possible to grasp the global context of the implemented policy. An example may
be the category of the folk-type culture or heritage connected with the local crafts or
industry. Short-term and long-term objectives in the development of a given area are
formulated within those key elements of local culture. The set objectives become the
leitmotif of most events, are a permanent element of the activities undertaken by cultural
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14. institutions (community centres, museums, libraries), they set the thematic areas for
competitions funded with grants for cultural activity, they are repeated in the creation of a
commune’s brand or as a part of their promotional strategy. Put briefly, they are the key
symbolic resources embedded in cultural policy and the pivot for the major cultural
enterprises.
In the more concise context, implementation of cultural policy is defined as all kinds of
activities which are addressed to the widest group of recipients possible. For this reason
(but not only for it) they tend to be connected with celebrations of national and religious
holidays. It concerns also cultural and ludic mass events and festivities which perform
promotional and integrating functions. Put broadly, cultural policy on this level is defined
through the k e y f u n c t i o n s which the specific initiatives fulfil. Thus understood, the
policy is a set of clearly defined priorities and objectives within which resources are
allocated and which are supported. Such priorities may be, for example, orientation
towards maintaining local traditions, integration of the local community and
reinforcement of the civic society, promotion of the commune and construction of its own
brand as a cultural centre, stimulation of local economy or propagation of the healthy
lifestyle.
Examining the multiple functions that different initiatives fulfil according to the
respondents, we can observe two basic approaches to culture as an element of the
conducted policy in the broad sense. These may be described as functional types of
understanding culture. In the presented model we call the first type the a u t o t e l l i c
approach to culture within the conducted policy, and the other type – the
i n s t r u m e n t a l approach.
The autotellic function of the established directions of cultural development in the
commune encompasses mainly socialising activities, aimed at social, educational or
heritage-preserving integration, socialisation of the young generation, maintaining the
continuity of tradition and of the local community’s identity.
In the second case, cultural policy, and hence culture itself, is treated as a tool for achieving
other aims. It may be a means of promotion and building a given commune’s brand,
commercial activity of a cultural institution and other activities which lay foundations of
the so-called cultural industries.
Obviously, the above described categories are not disjunctive. It is hardly possible to point
out a commune where activities of only one of the two types are carried out. Usually, the
cultural policy involves enterprises for the development of several profiles of activities of
key importance to the given location within both types of directions.
The chosen priorities do not necessarily need to be implemented with the use of
institutional resources of the local authorities. Although they tend to act as the
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15. coordinators and main decision-makers, public institutions, which function as a sort of
apparatus executing the agreed cultural policy, often cooperate with other cultural actors,
for example the Catholic Church, associations, local cultural animators and artists or
entrepreneurs.
Strategies for the establishment and implementation of cultural policy
Another issue connected with cultural policy which we would like to focus on in the
present report is the question of designing specific activities in the field of culture. What is
meant here are: 1) the ways the key directions of those activities are formulated 2)
receptiveness towards local cultural actors and their vision of activity within culture 3)
general receptiveness to new ideas in cultural animation. The ways and strategies of
politicians are also of considerable importance to the point in question.
We should begin with the fact that in each of the analysed communes the strategy of
planning and implementation of the objectives of cultural policy was carried out
simultaneously in several cycles. Depending on the temporal horizon adopted for the
establishment and execution of plans, we can differentiate between the l o n g -t e r m
c y c l e , involving a period of implementation of at least several or more than ten years, the
a n n u a l c y c l e and the s h o r t -t e r m cycle or a d h o c a c t i v i t i e s .
In general, we can say that none of the communes we examined has a formal strategy of
cultural development in the strict sense. Although the considerable majority of
representatives of the basic local government units or institutions subordinate to them
refer to relevant regulations and official decisions, these do not come in the form of
separate documents but as fragments of other strategic documents. Those documents are
mainly urban or communal development strategies and, much more seldom, plans of
cooperation with non-governmental organisations or promotional strategies.
The situation in which long-term directions of cultural development do not constitute a
separate, coherent and comprehensive study and are merely a part of a broader
development plan of a given area often conditions what exactly is understood as ‘cultural
development’. Hence, in the light of the respondents’ ideas, specific regulations tend to be
collections of general aims, such as: improvement of the residents’ standards of living,
providing a tourist-friendly infrastructure, sports development or ensuring high teaching
standards in educational institutions. Achieving aims which are formulated in that way is
understood in a special way because the measure of their success are usually investments
in particular facilities connected with culture which provide the material base for activities
in culture (sports and recreational facilities, facilities for conducting cultural activities etc)
Conclusion
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16. To sum up this chapter, it should be stated that the commune’s cultural policy is
influenced by multiple factors, and it is not a holistic and coherent set of activities. It is
carried out simultaneously on several levels. Its overall structure is influenced by the ways
the concept of cultural policy is understood by the persons responsible for its conduct.
Another important issue is the way in which priorities and strategic directions of cultural
development are established, as well as the position which the actors responsible for
cultural policy believe the commune to hold in the broader spatial and semantic relations.
The place where the above described ways of conducting cultural policies are carried out
are the local cultural stages, especially the leading stage on which various actors act and
clash. It may be said that cultural policy is conducted in a dynamic environment where the
meaning of the term ‘culture’ is constantly renegotiated, the role of each actor is redefined,
and the scope of activities which may belong to the leading stage is determined as
opposed to those stages that may at the given moment be called alternative or counter-
cultural.
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6. Cultural stages and policies. Together or apart?
New interpretations of heritage
The appearance of the local cultural stages is sometimes influenced by solutions which
veer away from what we might consider a medium of cultural change. An example may be
the common agricultural policy under the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013,
which by promoting traditional regional products contributes to the recreation and revival
of some forgotten elements of local culture. Looking at the initiatives undertaken under
some programmes (for example the Leader+ programme), we can observe a mechanism
which consists in attributing new meanings and a reinterpretation of the symbolism of
already existing elements of local heritage. It is visible in the way considerable weight is
being attached to the traditions and objects/sites which have not hitherto constituted an
important element of local culture. Trails, high roads and thematic paths are delineated in
Malopolska as a result of a fashion for that kind of products, which has come from Western
Europe and the United States. Such activities influence the way space is symbolically
organised and affect a change of perception of local heritage. It is worth considering
whether the current trends will not change the perception of what is the core of local
heritage or what may be regarded as local heritage (by changing the order of importance
and the value of each object/site in the collective memory) within the decades to come. It
is too early yet to draw definitive conclusions as to that issue because it is not known if the
new elements of local space will permanently enter into the collective consciousness of
the local community and the wider public. It is certainly worthwhile, however, to keep
track of the direction the above described trends will follow.
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17. Folk-type cultures
Another interesting conclusion, which is in a sense connected with the one described
above, refers to the position occupied by the folk-type culture in Malopolska in the 21st
century. We decided to subject that notion to an in-depth analysis due to its omnipresence
on Malopolska’s stages and the fact that it seems to be the most exciting issue for cultural
actors themselves. By this term we understand a collection of cultural practices which is
embedded in local traditions based on the economic and natural conditions and collective
rituals effected by those conditions. In the analysis of the cultural stages it was
demonstrated that the folk-type culture is one of the main meanings around which actors
build the leading stages. It is considered to be an autotellic quality and an indispensable
foundation of local identity. One of the main aims of cultural actors is to maintain the
continuity of regional traditions which, when expressed in the folk-type culture, constitute
the core of the meaning of the term ‘culture’ itself.
An interesting phenomenon in the functioning of that particular type of culture on the
leading stage is the fact that symbolic dominance may be attributed to non-governmental
organisations above the local level, where many actors involved in maintaining regional
traditions gather rather than formal institutions which are the main cultural centres in the
commune. It means that in that field prestige stemming from competence – detailed
knowledge of local regionalisms is more important than power resulting from having
access to resources.
The living folk-type culture, undetached from its own roots, is juxtaposed to the d e a d
c u l t u r e which has lost its natural continuity and may at best be reconstructed only.
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7. Evaluation of culture
Evaluation has a broad semantic scope. Since in the field research carried out for the
present project evaluation of culture was not the main research subject, we collected a
limited pool of data, which enables us to discover the approaches of cultural actors (mostly
at the local government level) that define the local senses of conducting evaluation. On
that basis we can conclude that cultural actors have an increasingly higher evaluation
awareness. They point out its importance in cultural management, improvement of the
quality of procedures, the possibility to assess the effects and increasingly treat the cultural
services offer as a thing which exists in the broader space of participation in culture or an
issue connected with building social capital. Realistically, however, in the local context
evaluation is by no means a norm. Currently, it is very often a toy of a decision-maker who
treats his assumptions and criteria as the only possible ones and often discredits the
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18. desired new quality in management. Another difficulty lies in the lack of local rules of
managing conflict that results from the interests of cultural actors, which is connected with
the formulation of local development plans. Evaluation is not allowed within the scope of
the established local policies of cultural development as a potential source of
destabilisation of local cultural stages which remain governed by the public sector.
First and foremost, the analysis focuses on the area of reception and needs within a simple
assumption of culture as a programme of events, classes, competitions, traditions or the
development of tourism. The general conclusion may be that the locally created
definitions of culture, participation in culture, the importance of culture to the
development hamper the establishment of more advanced programmes of evaluation.
The awareness of individual cultural actors (‘we need evaluation’) does not translate into a
local system of cultural policies management, which tends to be inadequate to the
contemporary challenges facing cultural development.
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8. Summary and main conclusions
In small communes the most important actors turned out to be representatives of local
government institutions, particularly of the community centres in the communes, though
in some locations libraries also play an important role. In big communes, including cities,
they are usually independent major institutions, often governed by the local authorities,
such as museums, libraries and community centres, as well. In small communes more or
less institutionalised actors play a much more prominent role than the community of
residents, while in big communes grassroots pressure on institutionalised actors is more
pronounced (there is a much more extensive ‘market’ of cultural actors who are
independent of the local government).
The special role of Malopolska’s non-governemntal organisations is also notable. The
proportion of such organisations which are active per one commune and focus on local
culture is one of the highest in Poland. However, they very often execute tasks
commissioned to them by public institutions (or remain in heavy dependence on them
based on a kind of ‘symbiosis’). Public and non-governmental partnership facilitates access
to EU grants and subsidies. It should also be added, however, that part of non-
governmental organisations work in opposition to or independently of the cultural
institutions under the local government (the bigger the commune, the more often it
occurs).
An important actor is the Roman Catholic Church. Parishes take care to uphold Catholic
values, and numerous actors often draw on religious symbolism. The cultural activity and
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19. assessment of Church agencies may raise tensions when they criticise events for young
people or if they are not able (for example for financial reasons) to profitably use their
possessions and do not want to facilitate access to them. Other groups than the Roman
Catholic Church are not equally conspicuous in the field of culture.
Enterprises in the culture sector are niche actors in Malpolska (apart from Krakow); if their
seats are in the country they definitely address their offer beyond Malpolska. Their specific
activity escapes the notice of cultural researchers in different communes; their influence
on the communes would require another kind of research (such as focusing on the labour
market in the culture sector or the development of innovation management in the whole
region). In Malopolska’s communes the so-called leisure time industries are much more
common (health resorts, recreational and tourist industries and others); their activity
focuses on tourists rather than on local communities. A novelty (we encountered several
examples) are club cafés which function as small community centres (as venues for
concerts, workshops for children or as meeting places for fans of such cultural activities as
board games or fantasy games).
Cultural stages
The repondents pointed out the existence of the leading areas (stages) where multiple
public resources are used, which are also widely recognisable. These are mainly stages for
patriotic mass events which commemorate important local events or the major annual
events in the commune. They tend to be the folk-type stages. The others are alternative
stages which present ‘something else’ and approach culture differently. Empty stages were
also observed – these were potentially important areas, which remained unfilled, and
resources that potentially existed but were not used. An empty stage, for instance, is the
cultural stage addressed to elderly people. However, empty stages were not often noticed.
Following our respondents’ statements, the full stages may be divided into the local ones
and those above the local level. The latter tend to be prevalent and are often used by
politicians. Their prevalence is one of the relations between the stages. Actors and ideas
float between them.
Policies in the field of culture
As we have written above, by policies we mean the more or less formalised initiatives and
activities undertaken in some categories of issues – the folk-type culture, local cultures –
which, according to their initiators, are important matters for the wide public because they
contribute to upholding traditions and to the integration of the local community. The
objectives of cultural policies are formulated by actors-politicians, usually depending on
the scope of their official duties (based on the laws, statutes of the institution etc). Hence
the policies seldom involve designing experiments or developing new solutions, and tend
to focus on fulfilling ‘duties’ instead. There are long-term and short-term strategies of the
creation and implementation of cultural policies. None of the analysed communes has
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20. well-formulated long-term and short-term strategies of cultural development. Cultural
actors are aware of the potential significance of such strategies (particularly short-term
ones, connected with the local calendar and local celebrations of national and state
holidays). Development strategies in communes establish only the general aims and tend
to focus on the development of infrastructure. Sometimes the cyclical nature of certain
events, for example the celebrations mentioned above, forces local authorities to devise
long-term plans. The activities undertaken in practice are seldom connected with any
formulated strategies. It may be concluded that cultural actors move in two different areas
of meanings of culture: imaginary and real. They often claim that ‘it should be done in a
different way’ and can frequently show exactly what is missing, but on the other hand their
activities affirm policies based on a model of fulfilment of the duty to propagate culture
that was formulated in the past.
Main trends in the dynamics of culture
We would like now to refer again to two observations which link all our reflections
concerning the current trends in the dynamics of culture in Malopolska. The first focuses
on why cultural actors (including decision-makers) feel a strong need to remind the public
of local traditions despite the apparent lack of interest in it of young people to whom
animation based on the folk-type culture is mainly addressed. We have pointed out that
the transience of the future and its unpredictability makes people look back to the past
more often than before as the past appears to be more tangible and comprehensible. It is
due to the disruption of the continuity of time that the crucial theme of modernity is to
understand one’s heritage, tradition and to reconstruct them in rituals which are
unconnected with the present day realities. It is probably for the same reasons that the
need to sustain and reconstruct local bonds and local communities is increasing and
expresses itself in the attempts to strengthen identity.
The other observation is closely connected with the first one. In the cyclically regenerating
world (the year of rituals, traditions, commemorative events), meanings are modified and
increasingly take on pop cultural forms, which evokes ambivalent reactions. Yet the
changes are treated by cultural actors as the necessary evil. Equally important to
understand contemporary cultural actors in Malopolska are the processes such as
musealisation of the past (a ‘modern’ rendition of old cultural meanings, recreation of the
climate and aura of the place’s past), folklorisation of tradition (turning tradition into stage
performances), transformation of material and non-material ‘monuments of the past’ into
cultural heritage (the past as a product and root of culture).
Hypotheses concerning cultural stages and policies, practices and services
Here let us present a number of hypotheses which point out to some processes which we
consider important on the cultural stages, in the establishment of cultural policies and in
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21. the relations between them. They call for further research on how the area of culture works
in Malopolska (we shall return to it later).
An increasing number of non-governmental organisations are being established in
Malopolska; they function as professional para-companies or para-formal
institutions. Local authorities often appreciate them because they are more flexible
than the strictly formal institutions, and they are considered less cost-consuming.
Two sectors, which should theoretically complement each other, compete with one
another for the local government’s favour (and it is the local government that is
their main source of funding). It should be added that the process is not based on a
rivalry of the two camps as both institutions and non-governmental organisations
closely cooperate on cultural stages and often ARE the same actors.
Public institutions tend to supply the ‘base’ for both the local government’s and the
non-governmental organisations’ activities. That means that no modern
organisation framework is established for the development of culture.
The role of parishes as community centres for young people is growing (they are
friendly, devoid of aggression, they are an antithesis of lower secondary schools
which are often governed by symbolic and literal violence).
The community centre is becoming an increasingly confusing name for its diverse
designates. It is associated with a venue housing an auditorium and workshops,
with a staff of animators and instructors. In reality community centres tend to house
(often digital) cinema rooms, museums, libraries, galleries; they act as centres of
local activity, as promotional offices or management agencies for the commune,
sometimes even as complexes of one-person companies which offer payable
classes. They may also be one-person institutions for funds flow for events and
festivities (the money is allocated to the related non-governmental organisations)
or conglomerates of a hundred persons which combine the functions of a
community centre with a library and a leisure centre.
Libraries focus on the fields of culture connected with preservation of national
heritage, cultivation of local traditions, supporting local culture creators, and more
infrequently – on developing key competences using the resources and potential of
the library as a source of information, knowledge and new technologies.
The local cultural leader tends to be a person who has a part-time job in a formal
institution, who is a leader in non-governmental organisations and who owns a
private company that renders cultural services. It indicates that such leaders are
innovative and creative but on the other hand it does not favour transparency in
the system or a high quality of such activities.
The offer of cultural institutions is frequently merely a small part of the whole offer
of participation in culture; the local definitions of culture hardly encompass the
non-institutional sphere.
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22. The local government does not manage the activities and does not coordinate
them; instead, it runs its own projects (often behaving like a formal cultural
institution) and invites formal cultural institutions and non-governmental
organisations to cooperate (thus, the authorities force their loyalty); in general, it
focuses on spectacular activities.
To the cultural actors local conflicts are not a part of the normal and important play
(for the establishment of rules and standards and affecting change) but are seen as
destructive to the local community and a threat to its integrity; that is why actors
who enter in a discussion are generally perceived as destructors of the local
community. Thus no local spaces for a debate on development and the meaning of
culture are created. Disputes are held informally, which makes them very personal
and leads to the creation of closed interest groups.
Cultural actors are often convinced that management of the strategy of cultural
development is a matter of bureaucracy and unnecessary discussion when ‘one
should act’. They seldom see the need for a continual strategic dialogue (to sustain
the dynamics of change but with mutual cooperation and understanding).
In communes there is often a discussion going on whether money should be
allocated proportionally (i.e. each village council office should be granted a certain
amount in proportion to the population) or whether it would be better to invest in
several major cultural stages (usually in the centre of the commune). It may mean
that the local community wants to have a share in the decision-making process
concerning the directions of development which should be supported but due to a
lack of tools for discussion all that can be done is to pass a strict law: equal
allocation for all.
The competences of the communes differ considerably due to management and
coordination of policies: in some communes there is complete stagnation while
others are continually developing their potential for culture management through
investment into staff training, implementation of quality management systems,
building of local coalitions for cultural development.
The European Union (EU projects) and the state (development programmes) have
put a halt to the stagnation resulting from a lack of funding for culture and caused a
sort of cultural boom, but the situation reveals the growing problems with the
priorities in investments into culture.
Cultural policies are not constructed according to the principles of social
participation. Decisions are taken informally as local ‘cultural agreements’ which are
sometimes creative and foster development but at times they may petrify the local
norm. Communes do not have many tools to establish cultural policies based on
cooperation with stakeholders.
Complete stability of the existence of formal cultural institutions is established but
the management model causes them to function in an unstable way. Their
independence is limited by interests of cultural actors in the local government.
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23. They cannot develop long-term and more complex activities as they focus on
‘organisation of leisure time’ of the local community and answer the needs of the
authorities.
The model of a cultural institution is inscribed in the triangle of the commune
leader (who represents the commune’s development and wants to retain control
over the local institutions), the commune council (which wants to undertake
activities for the villages, i.e. their own electorate) and the director of the commune
Community Centre (who is dependent of the other two, a hostage of their visions
rather than an executor of his own vision).
Cultural actors pointed out the importance of preservation of local traditions and
identity, which may be called a certain style of culture. It is possible to participate in
culture according to the rules and norms of being cultured; the norms change
slower, the ways of participation change faster, ergo people are becoming
increasingly less cultured and less connected with the local culture, ergo that
process should be opposed and people should be activated because the
willingness to participate in culture is disappearing. This is a description of a ‘circle
of powerlessness’, emerging from cultural actors’ opinions of their own role as
advocates of its protection. They ‘counteract’ rather than participate in culture
change and formulate new models for the localness to function.
Disintegration of social bonds (less and less activity in the common space) is locally
considered a result of progress, and not a consequence of a lack of local space for
participation. The problem of the disintegration of common forms of cultural
activity is positioned beyond individual influence. It can only be ‘saved from
oblivion’.
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