The legacy of the Soviet institutional network remains the backbone of the contemporary cultural infrastructure. The multiplicity of institutional affiliations remains the principle character of the cultural networks. For example, the library network in the Tatarstan Republic includes 1 570 institutions related to the republican Ministry of Culture, 1 470 are under the Ministry of Education and Science, 97 are those under the Labour Ministry, while 21 belong to the Health Ministry.
From the 1990s, the general crisis and legal constraints for entrepreneur activities within the state-owned institutions produced new and independent cultural actors; most institutions have preserved their status and the general idea to push those effective enough out into the marketplace and away from the “budget” sphere was not implemented. Since then revising public responsibilities in the cultural sector and converting state cultural institutions into non-commercial NGOs, or even commercially oriented ones, is seen by the government as a means to progress their development. 2011 was the year when state cultural institutions were due to choose their legal status according to the implementation of the law On Introduction of Improvements into Particular Legal Acts of the Russian Federation in View of Advancing the Legal Status of the State (Municipal) Institutions (see chapter 4.1.9). Many of the regional institutions have chosen the form of an autonomous organisation.
Private or independent institutions also emerged in the l990s when new art dealers, agents, show business producers, antiquarians, etc. entered the forming cultural and artistic market. In the 2000s, well established companies founded their archives and museums, and invested in art collections and artistic productions. The non-state section of the cultural infrastructure includes art galleries, privatised cinemas, publishing houses, new cultural industries’ units, etc. However, state cultural policies are still oriented on managing property and institutional networks without regulating the cultural sector in general.
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