Belgium/ 3. Competence, decision-making and administration  

3.1 Organisational structure (organigram)

Flemish Community

Since 1 April 2006, the Flemish public administration system has undergone major changes. The main tasks are now organised on the basis of 13 policy areas, one of which is "Culture, Youth, Sports and Media". In principle, one minister would be in charge of each policy area, but in the legislative period 2009-2014, no less than four ministers are assigned to this policy area, belonging to three different political parties:

• The Minister of Innovation, Public Investment, Media and Poverty Reduction; also Deputy Minister-President of the Flemish Government;
• The Minister of Finance, Budget, Work, Spatial Planning and Sports;
• The Minister of Nature, Environment and Culture; and
• The Minister of Education, Youth, Equal Rights and Brussels.

Each of the 13 policy areas are supported by:

• a policy council, where politicians and senior officials involved in a specific policy area meet;
• relevant Departments and Agencies. Departments lend support and offer advice on policy-making and monitoring, while the Agencies apply the policy; and
• a Strategic Advisory Council for Culture (SARC), comprising representatives of community-based organisations and independent experts. The SARC is a separate legal entity. Within its structure there is a general council, a permanent bureau and four sector councils, namely a sector council for Arts and Heritage, a sector council for Social-Cultural Work for Youth and Adults, a sector council for Media and Sport. The General Council is responsible for the conceptualisation of cultural policy fields in a coherent broader social context. The four sector councils are autonomous and empowered to give direct advice on their specific policy area.

Immovable cultural heritage belongs to the policy area "Town and Country Planning, Housing Policy and Immovable Heritage". Formal art education comes under "Education and Training".

The following figure represents the structure of the Flemish Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports and Media as a whole.

French Community

Community level

Department for Arts Education which supervises all public arts schools of the Community and allocates funds to institutions that are dependent on the Community (e.g. Art academies) as well as grants to independent schools.

A General Commission for International Relations was created during the 1980s as a special administrative structure for international relations

Regional level:

Some cultural competencies are ensured by the Regions via:

• Brussels-Capital Region: French Community Commission (Cocof);
• Walloon Region: Department of Town planning, Housing and Heritage- Heritage Division: Protection, Restoration and Archaeology

The Regions also take in charge matters that are of significant importance for the cultural development: tourism, national and regional development, the development of urban and rural life, social integration, employment, economy, new technologies, etc.

Provincial and local level

Each province and many towns and communes develop (their own) cultural policies. In some areas, such as arts centres and libraries, these policies are devised between the French Community, the provinces and the communes.

The French Community offers culture-contracts to provinces and communes who want them. The aim of these contracts is to coordinate every levels of authority for the cultural policies conducted in the area.

German-speaking Community

The cultural portfolio forms part of the Cultural Affairs Department of the Ministry for the German-speaking Community. In addition to cultural affairs, the Cultural Affairs Department also administers the areas of youth, continuing and adult Education, media, sport, tourism, monument and countryside protection and archaeological excavations.

The culture portfolio encompasses the arts (music, theatre, dance, plastic and visual arts, and literature), cultural centres, museums, historical research, protection and preservation of moveable cultural heritage, folklore, cultural initiatives and projects together with inter-Community and international cooperation.

Certain transversal subject-areas are administered by the general offices of the Ministry, such as infrastructure and certain activities in the area of foreign relations.

Organisational chart

Ministry of the German-speaking Community

General Secretariat

Department for Cultural Affairs

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