Ukraine/ 4. Current issues in cultural policy development and debate  

4.1 Main cultural policy issues and priorities

On 6 January 2011, the President of Ukraine signed the new Law of Ukraine on Culture. The new law defines the following priorities of the national cultural policy:

• development of the culture of the Ukrainian nation, indigenous peoples and national minorities of Ukraine;
• maintenance, restoration and protection of the historical environment;
• aesthetic education of citizens, first of all, children and young people; and
• enlargement of the cultural infrastructure in rural areas (see also chapter 2.1).

On the basis of the Presidential Edict of 9 December 2010, Nr 1085, on Optimisation of Public Agencies, the structural reform started in the sphere of public culture. During the year, the structure of central agencies was changed, including their functions, staff numbers and budgets (see also chapter 1). New laws which were adopted, like the Law on Culture, Tax Code, and others that are under development, like labour legislation and pension laws, can impact on the public culture system leading to a reduction of funds and staff. Thus, one of the main tasks of the new cultural policy might be to stimulate innovative decisions and creative partnerships (see also chapter 2.1).

The main priorities of the 2011 cultural policy were the restructuring reform and re-evaluation of current challenges on the central level. According to the government, the task for optimising structure, in general, has been executed (see also chapter 1). It is envisaged that during 2012-2013 there will be reformed administrative structures at regional level. Besides, from January 2013 all public cultural institutions funded by different governmental levels are required to prepare passports (explanations) of their programmes based on guidelines of the "programme and targeted budget approach" set out by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy in 2012 for regional and local levels.

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