Approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan No.273 of February 14, 2014, the Concept of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan reflects the understanding formed in the national cultural policy that cultural creativity and heritage require external support mechanisms from outside the cultural sector to ensure their sustainability and full development. Furthermore, there is a clear understanding that culture does not exist alone, in isolation, but as a social phenomenon. Consequently, culture actively engages with various aspects of societal life, including politics, law, economics and finance, science and education, human capital, international relations, and more. It leads to a state approach designed to foster a harmonious and mutually beneficial interaction between culture and all other facets of societal life, ensuring cultural sustainability that, in turn, supports the sustainability of society.
The national cultural policy considers not only issues of the development of culture itself, namely, issues directly related to the preservation of immovable monuments of history and culture, movable cultural values, intangible cultural heritage, support for theatres, musical creativity and visual arts, the development of cinematography and publishing, museums, libraries, cultural centres and so on. In addition to the above, considerable attention is devoted to the mechanisms for implementing cultural policy, including legislative, administrative, financial, and information support, staffing, infrastructure, and international cooperation. All these cultural policy areas are permanently analysed, appropriate recommendations are provided, and practical development paths are indicated. Thus, the foundations are laid for a sustainable approach to solving practical issues of national cultural policy. In the field of culture, all subsequent state programs, action plans, strategies, and roadmaps, as well as legislative initiatives, financial policies, personnel approaches, and so on, proceed in this manner. In this regard, systematic work has been undertaken throughout 2023-2024 to implement 287 tasks assigned to the Ministry of Culture through 11 state programs, five strategies, five national action plans, four action plans, 23 decrees, and 48 orders approved by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The draft “Azerbaijani Culture – 2040” Concept of the Republic of Azerbaijan proposes developing a “Culture for All” cultural model consisting of culture being an integral part of everyone’s lifestyle, ensuring the functionality of culture, the organic interaction of culture with science, education and innovations, broad access to culture, preventing monopolisation of creativity, preserving the cultural diversity and cultural unity of Azerbaijani society, preserving live communication in an environment of rapid digitalisation, preserving national identity and national-spiritual values in the context of globalisation, expanding the participation of Azerbaijani culture in international cultural exchange.
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