In Lithuania, State power is exercised by the Parliament (Lith. Seimas), the President of the Republic, the Government, and the Judiciary. The Seimas is the national legislative body composed of 141 members elected for a four-year term on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. The Seimas Committee on Culture deals with various cultural development issues, discusses questions of current interest and adopts decisions, and analyses culture-related legislation. Advisory and expert bodies of Seimas are the National Commission for Cultural Heritage, the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, and the Council for the Protection of Ethnic Culture. All these institutions also have several cultural policy implementation functions. Their governing bodies are composed of members delegated by the Seimas, the President and/or NGO’s working in the relevant areas.
Three independent media policy institutions are established by and accountable to the Seimas: the Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics, the Council of Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT Council) and the Media Support Fund. LRT Council is the highest collegial governing body of Lithuanian Radio and Television Company, exercising management and supervisory functions, as well as representing the public interest. The Media Support Fund was created in 2023. It replaced the Press, Radio and Television Support Fund, which was established in 1996 and was the first independent cultural policy implementation body of the “arm’s length” type in Lithuania. The Media Support Fund has the legal form of a public institution (Lith. Viešoji įstaiga) that ensures its greater autonomy and independence from political institutions.
The Government of the Republic of Lithuania exercises executive power in Lithuania. The Ministry of Culture is an institution of the Government, which develops, organises, coordinates and controls the implementation of state cultural policy. The main functions of the Ministry of Culture, laid out in the Statute of the Ministry of Culture and other legal acts, are to draft laws and other legal acts regulating the field of culture; develop concepts and programmes for the development of various fields of art and coordinate their implementation; finance museums, libraries, fine arts, film, concert and other organisations, as well as important art and culture projects; coordinate the implementation of the system for the protection and enforcement of copyright and related rights; coordinate the implementation of state policy in the field of public information; ensure the registration and protection of cultural property; prepare and implement intergovernmental cultural programmes; draft international agreements; initiate the strategy for regional cultural development. The Ministry also approves annual activity plans and reports of 38 state cultural institutions (theatres, museums, libraries), and strategic plans of 10 national cultural institutions.
The Ministry of Culture has 18 advisory councils that provide advice and consultations on current issues of interests in different fields: Media Council, Literature Council, Council on Ethnic Culture and Intangible Cultural Heritage, Council for Cultural Education, Lithuanian Culture and Art Council, Library Council, Film Council, Museum Council, Council for Professional Performing Arts, Culture Centres Council, Council for Granting the Status of Art Creator and Organisation of Art Creators, Council for Digitisation of Lithuanian Cultural Heritage, Archive Council, Lithuanian Design Council, Song Festivals Council, Council for the Art of Architecture, Visual Arts Council, and Patronage Council. All these advisory councils are composed of representatives of non-governmental organisations active in the relevant fields of culture and persons delegated by ministries. The councils meet approximately 1 to 5 times a year, as needed.
The Ministry of Culture also have two departments dedicated to special areas – the Department of Cultural Heritage and the Department of National Minorities. The Department of Cultural Heritage is an institution responsible for implementing the national policy for the protection of immovable cultural heritage and movable cultural property (listed in the Register of Cultural Property). The main tasks of the Department are to coordinate and organise the process of recording and inventorying cultural heritage and to maintain the Register of Cultural Property; provide methodological guidance for the protection of cultural heritage and offer advice on the issues of the maintenance of cultural heritage; draw up programmes for the management and compensation of immovable cultural heritage and to organise their implementation; organise specific territorial planning for the protection of immovable cultural heritage; deal with issues relating to research into immovable cultural heritage and movable cultural property, organising and carrying it out; organise and coordinate international cooperation related to the protection of cultural heritage; organise and coordinate the identification and dissemination of knowledge of the immovable cultural heritage and movable cultural property. Currently, the structure of the Department consists of 8 central and 7 territorial divisions, the Cultural Heritage Research Board and the Heritage Conservation Library. The Department of National Minorities is an institution of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania involved in the formulation and implementation of national minorities policy. The Department compiles, systematises, analyses and summarises information on issues related to the implementation of the national minorities policy, drafts, coordinates and implements strategic planning documents in the field of national minorities policy; etc.
The two most independent cultural policy implementation bodies under the Ministry of Culture are the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Lithuanian Film Centre. According to the Law on the Council for Lithuanian Culture, the Council consists of 10 members and a chairman. The members of the Council are elected in two rounds following the principle of proportional representation of all spheres of culture and arts, including all geographic regions. Both natural and legal bodies can delegate candidates to the first round of the elections. Out of them, 20 candidates are selected for the second round by a secret ballot cast by the voters delegated by culture and arts organisations. Out of the selected 20 candidates, the Minister of Culture selects 10 candidates to form the Council, that are submitted for the approval of the Government by following the principle of broad representation. The Chair of the Council is appointed to the office for a term of four years and dismissed from it by the Government on the recommendation of the Minister of Culture.
Functions of the Council for Culture, defined in the Law on the Council for Lithuanian Culture are as follows: to finance culture and art programmes, projects and other measures; award grants and provide other financial support to culture creators and artists; organise culture and art research and coordinate the implementation thereof; monitor culture and art projects being carried out; within its remit, prepare and submit conclusions concerning the awarding of prizes established by the Ministry of Culture; etc. The Council allocates state funding to cultural projects through calls for tender and makes financing decisions based on experts’ evaluations.
Activities of the Council are organised in accordance with a publicly announced annual operational plan approved by the order of the Minister of Culture. Priorities and objectives of the Council’s activities and financed fields of culture and art, as well as result evaluation criteria, are laid down by the Minister of Culture in an annual operational plan of the Council. Council’s decisions are taken and executed by the Meeting of the Members of the Council and the Chair of the Council. The Chair of the Council heads the Council, the Meeting of the Members of the Council and the Administration of the Council.
The Lithuanian Film Centre is a budgetary institution under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. The objectives of the Centre are to promote long-term development and competitiveness of Lithuanian cinema and participate in the formation of an efficient national film policy. The Centre coordinates national film production, administers state funds for the development of the cinema field: organises film project tenders for state funding, consults applicants, administers partial funding of production and promotion, exercises control over the use and reporting of state funding, represents Lithuania in foreign and international organisations, and organises the work of the Film Council that is a consulting body of the Centre. The activities of the Lithuanian Film Centre are organised according to the annual action plan approved by the Minister of Culture. The head of the Centre is the director, who is appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Culture for a four-year term and is directly subordinate and accountable to the Minister of Culture (see chapter 3.5.3 for more about the Film Centre).
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