Azerbaijan/ 8.3 Arts and cultural education  

8.3.1 Arts education

Arts education has a long and deep tradition in Azerbaijan and is marked by a high degree of democratisation and accessibility for the majority of the population. Responsibility for cultural education and training institutions is divided between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (children's music, art and painting schools and the Baku School of Choreography) and the Ministry of Education, which supervises the special secondary and the higher arts education in Azerbaijan.

At present, there are 234 specialised schools teaching music, dance and painting at primary level, which children attend for 4 to 7 years (art - 4 years, dance - 5 years, music - 7 years). Music schools teach classical (piano, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, tuba, bassoon, etc.) and folk (tar, kemancha, nagara, canon, balaban, etc.) instruments, as well as classical and folk singing. Music and art schools are almost totally (99.4%) state-funded. Only 0.6% comes from parents, who pay approximately 0.8 AZN per child, per year. The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan ratified, by order № 309s (2008), "The Development Programme on improving the activities of child music, art and painting schools in the Republic of Azerbaijan (2009-2013)", to improve organisational and infrastructural provisions of this field.

There are 16 specialised schools providing education in culture and the arts at secondary level (11 music schools, 3 cultural technical schools, a college of art and a dance school). Technical schools specialising in music (there are 8, including the Music College of Azerbaijan National Conservatoire) train performers in classical and folk instruments, and also teachers for children's music schools. The Arts College of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts teaches painting, sculpture, carpet-making, ceramics, model-making, theatre design and the decorative and applied arts. Technical schools specialising in culture provide training in the following fields: culture and arts management, museum management, monument conservation, decorative and applied arts, librarianship. They also have music departments, which train music teachers for pre-school institutions and music schools. The second-level course runs for three years, the first-level course for four. Some specialised schools offer both as a continuum; the Secondary Special Music School, named after Byulbyul, of the Baku Academy of Music and the Baku School of Choreography - the country's only training school for ballet and folk dancers - are among them. Training in these institutions lasts 11-12 years, is provided free of charge, and students with good grades also receive scholarships.

The Baku Academy of Music, the Azerbaijan National Conservatoire, the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, and the Azerbaijan State Academy of Art offer third-level courses in culture and the arts. Some universities also run courses for students intending to work in cultural institutions. Composers, musicologists, choir-leaders, classical and folk instrumentalists, and singers receive their training at the Baku Academy of Music, whose graduates have won international recognition, both as teachers and performers. The State University of Culture and the Arts runs courses in the following fields: theatre, cinema and TV (directing, acting, scriptwriting, camera operating, etc.), choreography, museum management, monument conservation, cultural management, performing arts, decorative and applied arts (carpet design, industrial graphics, commercial art, fashion design, interior design, etc.). The Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts offers courses on painting, graphics, sculpture, architecture, decorative and applied arts, theatre design, the history and theory of the performing arts, interior design, carpet design, advertising and model-making. Architects are trained at the College of Architecture and Building Techniques. The State University of Azerbaijan offers the only graduate course for librarians and bibliographers.

Some institutions of higher education have arts departments that train music, history of music, performing arts, piano and folk instrument teachers. Arts departments at some universities have commercial status, e.g. Western University (design, decorative and applied art) and "Khazar" University (design). Some of the above courses are fee-paying, others not. Students who achieve good results qualify for scholarships. Courses last between 4-6 years, depending on the level (bachelors, masters and PhD), in accordance with the Bologna process.

Training and professional development courses for cultural workers have been functioning since 1966. These help people working within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism system (directors of municipal cultural centres, theatre and concert hall managers and staff, librarians, and staff of museums, children's music and art schools, adult art schools, cultural associations and centres, picture galleries, etc.) to improve their skills. The number of students, and the range of categories from which they come, are increasing yearly.