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Summary of the Report

Cultural Stages Versus Cultural Policies in Malopolska.

Report on Exploration Research.

Malopolska Institute of Culture 2010

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Coordination of the research project: Malopolska Institute of Culture. The project was

executed under the Malopolska Observatories of Culture Programme.

Cooperation: Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities,

AGH University of Science and Technology and Association of Polish Cities

Coordination of the project: Piotr Knaś

Field research conducted by: Natalia Bardzik, Karolina Fidyk, Zuzanna Hołyst, Piotr Knaś,

Wojciech Kowalik, Łukasz Krzyżowski, Małgorzata Matlak, Anna Miodyńska, Zofia Noworól,

Katarzyna Ptaśnik, Agnieszka Nowak, Paulina Świątek, Magdalena Wilk-Serwan, Anna

Wiśnicka

Substantive consultation on the execution of the research project: Professor Janusz

Mucha

Authors of the publication: Łukasz Krzyżowski, Zofia Noworól, Wojciech Kowalik, Piotr

Knaś

The project is co-financed by the National Centre of Culture under the Observatory of

Culture Programme.

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Contents

1. Introduction. Cultural stages and policies as an important dimension

of culture in Malopolska

2. Methodology of field research and analysis of collected information

3. Analysis of the local meanings of culture in Malopolska

4. Cultural stages as a space for activities of cultural actors – structural analysis

5. Cultural policies in Malopolska communes

6. Cultural stages and policies. Together or apart?

7. Evaluation of culture

8. Summary and main conclusions

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1. Introduction. Cultural stages and policies as an important

dimension of culture in Malopolska

The report presents a qualitative analysis and a diagnosis of the state of culture in

Malopolska regarding cultural stages in communes and the establishment of local cultural

policies. During field research we interviewed 120 cultural actors from 10 communes in

Malopolska (focus groups, in-depth interviews and participant observation, supportively).

We intended to discover to what extent cultural services (the whole cultural offer available

in the commune) are connected with cultural practices (broadly understood participation

in culture), and the ways cultural policies are managed on the local level (i.e. how the

services programme is established and what it is intended to do).

Our assumption was that local definitions of culture and methods of negotiating the

meanings of culture (which were presented to us during the research) constitute the

locally working ideas and rules which determine the state/change of culture in the cultural

services and cultural policies sector (meaning also local development).

Metaphor of cultural stages

The point of departure for our analysis was to imagine a methodologically sound model of

culture functioning in the commune. On the one hand, we wished to retain the meanings

of broad anthropological definitions of culture, and on the other, we were obliged to

consider the sector meaning of culture in the research. Therefore our definition of culture

is not based on a catalogue of widely recognised ‘cultural activities’, such as book reading,

theatre going or participation in classes held in the local community centre, which are

conducted by formal institutions of culture (these function in three sectors: public, private

and non-governmental) but we will use the metaphor of the commune as a festival with a

number of stages (the main stage, the niche stage, the counter-stage) where varied

cultural activities are practised according to the different capacities and methodologies of

participation or ways to ‘arrange’ the stage. The audience at such a festival behaves as

consumers (prosumers) who can engage themselves in it to a greater or lesser degree

(executing the right to arrange the stage in their own way or the right to use the offer,

respectively); on some stages they have to pay entry fees; they can form communities

based on the resources (the purchased products) of a given stage, and sometimes they can

leave the festival in protest or because the offer was not sufficiently interesting for them.

The complex of stages is a space for the community’s activity which can be termed as

participation in culture. The festival is not organised by an individual – it is a space open to

different organisers, although in practice some stages are regarded as important by some

institutional, collective and individual actors while others are marginalised or considered

non-cultural. Why and how does it happen?

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Metaphor of cultural actors

In the present analysis cultural actors denote the people who are active on the cultural

stages or engage in their organisation and arrangement. However, we did not wish to

analyse merely some selected cultural sectors (for example, cultural workers or activists in

non-governmental organisations). The actors’ official position in the cultural sector was not

important for us as we focused on their real role in it. In order to select respondents for the

research we followed a formula which was the point of departure to find cultural actors:

• local government (the commune leader [wójt], officials, councillors),

• cultural institutions (the director and museum, library and community centre staff),

• non-governmental organisations (activists, leaders, project coordinators),

• entrepreneurs who are active in the culture sector (managers and owners),

• parishes (priests, parish activists, project coordinators),

• independent culture creators and cultural animators,

• local leaders (including young people’s leaders), journalists or other reviewers of

culture,

• representatives of schools, tourism development institutions, promotional

institutions, welfare institutions, business support institutions,

• representatives of ethnic minorities; regional organisations activists.

The cultural actor may be considered (in terms of the competences involved) mainly to be

a(n):

• politician (making decisions for culture),

• manager (coordinating and managing the culture sector),

• animator (animating/promoting participation in culture),

• entrepreneur (generating profit on culture),

• creator (creating cultural values),

• educator/instructor/teacher (educating for culture),

• researcher (culture studies).

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Metaphor of cultural practices and cultural services

A local community is active in many fields. A concise definition of culture says that in

certain situations that activity is cultural in character (when the model of the cultural

human is fulfilled). A broad definition of culture says that any activity has a cultural aspect

(when individuals participate in the exchange of symbols, use certain rules and codes etc).

Hence, participation in culture does not comply with one agreed catalogue of designates.

In the circumstances, so difficult for a cultural researcher, we wanted to agree on a

perspective that would reconcile the two definitions (each of which has its strong and

weak points). The metaphor of cultural practices enables us to treat the community in the

local commune not as a phenomenon characterised by a catalogue of cultural needs but

as a dynamic community on several different stages of culture where it sometimes expects

to get something, sometimes creates something on its own, where the sphere of reception

of cultural services may potentially occur anywhere. Cultural services are intentional

activities of cultural actors addressed to somebody and at something, and are usually

undertaken based on the evaluative opinion that a particular sphere of culture is ‘worth

dealing with’ (or, possibly, that it can yield profit).

Metaphor of local development

Culture is often described as a ‘tool’ for local development. In this sense it is not regarded

as autotellic activity connected with local tradition or need for expression but becomes a

lever which activates the desired economic and social processes; hence, culture is

potentially a field for ‘pro-developmental’ activity (or simply an important sector of

economy). The popularly understood concept of social capital refers to exactly that.

Similarly, theories of local development refer to the role of certain ideas and cultural rules

which form a bond for modern, advanced social or economic systems. These rules and

ideals must be cultivated and developed, and culture becomes a space for their creation

and inculturation. In order to consider the concept of culture as a lever for development,

for the purposes of the present analysis we have elaborated the following catalogue of

working categories (which are neither final nor the only ones) whose analysis in local

contexts was supposed to indicate if a given function of culture was taken into account in

the local cultural policies:

• establishment of innovative/creative stages based on local potentials/impulses

from outside,

• entrepreneurship and cultural industries as an important area of culture,

• local animation towards social integration and acquisition of attitudes, knowledge,

skills and competences,

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• implementation of cultural education which builds advanced ‘instrumentation’

which supports development of an open-minded human who is ready to innovate

and experiment,

• building the cultural brand of a commune and its location marketing,

• building contemporary circulation of tradition, history, identity, cultural heritage

(not only to preserve them),

• presence of avant-garde, counter-cultures, cultural niches which are a laboratory of

modernity,

• creation of high-quality public services in the culture sector (museum, home,

culture, library programmes, other initiatives).

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2. Methodology of field research and analysis of collected

information

In order to analyse the cultural stages and policies in Malopolska, we decided to conduct

field research in ten selected communes in the region. Each of these was treated as a

unique case study, through whose understanding we wished to d e s c r i b e t h e

c o n s t r u c t i o n o f l o c a l c u l t u r a l s t a g e s a n d t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f

c u l t u r a l p o l i c i e s . We sought common features and features which were significant

for the whole region.

Selection of the communes for field research

We based our choice of the communes for research on the official division of the region

into sub-regions: the proper Krakow sub-region, the wider Krakow sub-region, the Tarnow

sub-region, the Nowy Sącz sub-region and the Oświęcim sub-region. We decided that each

sub-region was to be represented and that the selected communes should display

phenomena and divisions which we consider to be of vital importance to the culture

sector:

• in rural, urban-rural and urban communes,

• in the communes which function on the basis of different types of economy

(industry, services, agriculture, tourism),

• in the communes with strong regional identity (narrative; characteristic for the

Carpathians) and the communes without such meanings of culture,

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• in the communes with a homogeneous ethnic structure and those inhabited by

ethnic minorities,

• in the communes which are local centres, those situated provincially from the

former and those which lie within the Krakow metropolis,

• in the communes of high and lower (meaning less spectacular) natural beauty.

Research techniques

In order to describe each commune and collect research material, we decided to conduct

field research using three qualitative research techniques:

• participant observation (5 were conducted),

• focus group interviews (20 were conducted),

• in-depth interviews (20 were conducted).

Main research questions

The analysis stage was conducted based on four main research questions: how culture and

participation in culture are defined locally; how the cultural stages are outlined; how

cultural policies are built and managed; how culture is evaluated in the commune. In many

subsections we describe the different analytical categories and fields of meaning to which

we paid particular attention in writing the report. They helped the authors to elaborate a

strategy of analysing cultural stages and policies. We believe that the following list of

categories and fields will enable us to properly characterise and diagnose cultural stages

and policies.

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3. Analysis of local meanings of culture in Malopolska

Analysis of the concept of culture

In our research we assume that in their, more or less creative, work cultural actors,

regardless of how formalised their position may be, make use of a certain idea of what

belongs to culture and what does not. In other words, cultural actors apply a working

definition of culture which helps them to establish the framework within which they

function. However, it is not a static definition based on explicit criteria; quite the opposite:

it is dynamic and its scope is being continuously negotiated.

To the majority of the respondents, culture means all forms of activity which generate

emotional energy. It is, as it were, the overriding objective of initiatives which may be

termed as cultural events. According to the respondents, these activities should result in

group solidarity and a strong sense of identification with the local community.

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Institutional actors emphasise the need to maintain communal identity based on regional

traditions which more or less explicitly differentiate one region in Malopolska from

another. Interestingly, the respondents tend to draw on the concept of national culture

more often than on the notion of Malopolska culture however it may be defined (the term

‘Malopolska culture’ was not mentioned during the interviews at all). Emotional energy,

which gathers the local community around regional symbols, may be generated both by

cultural activity and passivity. The respondents often pointed out that essentially we could

already speak of culture when an event drew an audience to it, even if it was coincidental

participation. Local culture and folklore often rely on folk symbolism and the respondents

then referred to folk culture as that which was the closest to the local community, even

though it currently seemed to be unconnected to local contexts.

Another important element of local definitions of the concept in question is the fact, often

pointed out by cultural actors, that it belongs to the sacred sphere. To many respondents,

culture is another dimension of social reality. Everyday routines are perceived as grey by

the respondents. Culture brings another, colourful dimension to everyday life – one which

is unconnected with physicality.

The concept of culture and cultural change is connected with the otherwise interesting

issue of new ideas, ‘avant-garde’. Our informants do not tend to notice practices which

might be termed as avant-garde in their neighbourhood. The very term ‘avant-garde’ is

used here in the broad sense which goes beyond the name of the trend in art and

literature in the first half of the 20th century, and is used to describe the changes in culture

which, from the point of view of the actors themselves, express new ideas and cultural

practices that may s o m e t i m e s be perceived as opposing the established notions of

culture (the dominant culture).

Another characteristic of the definition of culture used by Malopolska’s actors is its close

connection to education and socialisation within a local community. Essentially, the

majority of the respondents (especially representatives of public institutions) identified

culture with education and therefore thought it necessary to ‘familiarise’ residents ‘with

culture’ in many spaces and institutions from a very early age.

Participation in culture

According to the respondents, the minimum condition for participation in culture is a

passing interest in any cultural practice. Even momentary contact with culture generates

emotional energy and stimulates reflection on the cultural aspects of life. It is noteworthy

what else, according to the informants, should result from participation in culture. Firstly, a

very important outcome of participation is historical education about a given region, its

distinctive material and spiritual culture and relationship to the national culture.

Interactive forms of dissemination of knowledge about history are particularly interesting,

according to the respondents. Secondly, active participation in culture is connected with

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acquiring skills of group work, organisation of cultural events and the ability to observe

‘culture in action’. In the long run, participation in culture, both passive and active, enables

residents to acquire cultural competences necessary to be independent in that sphere. In

the case of children and young people, participation entails the development of a civic

society, fosters regional traditions, mostly by creating favourable conditions for

intergenerational interaction. According to the respondents, it is an alternative to

spending free time in front of the TV or computer. The main advantages of participation in

culture are connected with socialising and integrating practices. Naturally, cultural actors

address their offer to various groups of residents within local communities. As the

informants point out, the services provided by the subjects they represent should respond

to the needs of all residents. However, it seems that a special group of recipients are

children and young people, which is not surprising given the socialising and integrating

functions of culture. In the past five years elderly people have become a growing group of

recipients for whom institutions have been preparing special offer. The respondents also

point out the groups which are not culturally active. These are mainly working people who

do not usually have time to actively participate in culture. It may be observed, however,

that adults either participate in culture passively or supply culture for themselves on their

own.

Conclusion

Culture in Malopolska is created mainly by cultural institutions. A considerable influence

on the appearance of the different stages of culture is exerted by the Catholic Church,

especially in the smaller localities. The independent stage is poorly represented in

Malopolska. The relations between actors are formal, which however does not interfere

with the joint execution of many projects. Institutional actors and non-governmental

organisations are particularly closely connected. In general, the majority of large outdoor

events are organised by regional associations and co-funded by public institutions. In

some localities there is also cooperation between public institutions and enterprises in the

culture sector. That situation occurs particularly in the regions where folk art is popular or

in the areas rich in natural resources on which enterprises can rely in their activities.

The term ‘culture’ itself is used by the respondents in a very precise, functional sense. It

may be claimed that culture is defined by the actors in three dimensions: spiritual

(historical education, cultivation of regional traditions and religious customs), material

(historical monuments, architecture) and personal (lifestyle, upbringing, the aesthetic

sense). To the majority of the respondents, culture is essentially synonymous with

upbringing. As the respondents emphasized many times, culture begins in childhood, and

the main aim of cultural animators is to maintain the continuity of regional traditions. The

core of the concept is hence regional identity, folk culture and folklore.

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4. Cultural stages as a space for activities of cultural actors – a

structural analysis

The subject of the present analysis is the functioning of cultural stages and the relations

between them as they jointly fill the area of culture in every commune and together form

structures that are unique to each location. Hence, it seems necessary to first describe the

elements of the above mentioned structure. We assume that in each commune there

exists at least one leading stage, which is distinguished from the others by:

• a c c e s s t o d i f f e r e n t r e s o u r c e s : funding, infrastructure and decision

making (through exerting influence on the locally implemented cultural policies or

through being influenced by them), which means that it is legitimised by the local

authorities,

• considerable r e c o g n i s a b i l i t y within the local community.

Acting as a space for the implementation of cultural policy in the commune, the leading

stage performs an important function because it may be a tool for conducting politics in

the commune, so it often legitimises the status quo, as it is itself legitimised by the

authorities. That is why it tends to be an area of tension and conflict between actors or

groups of cultural actors.

Owing to an easier access to resources, m a s s e v e n t s are most often organised on the

leading stage, where they also perform promotional and integrating functions. They are

usually comprehensive programmes of cultural and ludic or integrating nature, such as

‘days of the locality’, the feast of the patron saint of the locality or other occasional

festivities. The main organizer of such initiatives is usually the local community centre,

which often treats them as one of the main items on its annual programme. A similar role is

sometimes assumed by the Catholic Church. However, events of that kind are usually

executed in cooperation by several actors or cultural institutions and are held on

cooperating alternative stages (described below) beside the leading stage.

Apart from mass events and processual educational and animation activities, regular

patriotic and commemorative events, whose main organisers are local cultural institutions,

are also held on the leading stage. The Catholic Church plays an invariably important role

in these practices, and in some regions, particularly in the south east of Malopolska, a

similar role is played by the Greek Catholic Church. Interestingly, our informants treated

such events as something obvious.

What is common for the majority of the leading stages in Malopolska is the predominance

of cultural patterns in the understanding of the role of heritage and activities connected

with maintaining local identity, which may be caused by the widespread identification of

culture with spiritual culture. These patterns often organise the practices undertaken on

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the leading stages in the communes. The research we conducted made it possible to

designate the categories of the patterns which are present on Malopolska’s cultural stages

at the beginning of the 21st century; of these the most conspicuous and almost

omnipresent is the f o l k - t y p e c u l t u r e or cultures based on economic traditions of

the region (mining traditions, highlanders’ culture). To complement the picture, it is

advisable to discuss briefly the role of the leading stages in the promotion of Malopolska’s

communes. Although that area of culture is commonly regarded as the space for autotellic

or socialising activities, cultural activities are often used by politicians and cultural actors to

their own ends. Undoubtedly, if key cultural politicians recognise the promotional role of

culture, they are more willing to invest in certain initiatives, and expect return of the

investment in the form of increased tourism, development of cultural entrepreneurship,

better opportunities to acquire funding for the improvement of infrastructure. Finally,

investments in culture and conducting activities on the main stage contributes to the

building or reinforcement of a commune’s or town/city’s cultural brand, which obviously

represents activity on a higher level.

Although the considerable majority of cultural actors emphasise that they mostly focus on

animating activities for young people as the ones who are the most receptive and affected

by cultural events, in some localities we observed empty stages which came into existence

as a result of a lack of appropriate spaces for young people’s activity. It does not stem

directly from a lack of infrastructure or insufficient offer but may be attributed to its

inadequacy for the present day realities and needs of young people, particularly as regards

leisure time activities. Interestingly, few cultural actors are aware of that inadequacy.

Conclusion

The cultural stages in Malopolska may be divided into the leading stages, whose main

creators are usually formal actors active in cultural institutions run by the local

government; the alternative stages, which complement the offer of the leading stages; and

the empty stages, i.e. those that do not exist, and that apparent lack results from the fact

that the needs of local communities remain unsatisfied or a locality’s resources are not

properly used. Interestingly, the empty stages were often noted in the area of activities for

children and young people who are generally treated as priority culture recipients.

Simultaneously, new stages are gradually being established in Malopolska; young people

are considered to be makers of culture and cultural actors so they are given the resources

to execute their own cultural projects.

The cultural stages perform multiple functions, and the leading ones tend to represent the

commune as it is there that historic events are commemorated, cultural heritage,

continuity and integrity of the residents’ identity are upheld, and integrating and

educational activities are carried out. The space for more unconventional and less

embedded activities is more often provided by the alternative stages. On the basis of the

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material we collected it is difficult to point out counter-cultural stages in Malopolska,

which may however be due to the assumptions underlying our choice of the sample.

The vast majority of Malopolska’s cultural stages is formal, which determines the way they

function within the structure formed at the level of the commune/town/city to whose

creation they contribute. This refers both to the relationship between the stages and the

channels of communication. The whole relationship between the stages largely depends

on the local cultural policy which may either foster the development of the structure and

its constituents or hamper it. Our analysis of the collected material indicates that the

majority of decisions regarding cultural policies is taken in order to open channels of

communication and in the spirit of cooperation; still, the activities themselves tend to be

carried out ineffectually.

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5. Cultural policies in Malopolska’s communes

In this part of the report we will attempt to show how the persons responsible for the

creation and conduct of cultural policy construe their scope of duties within it and how

they perceive their role in those activities. Then we will try to demonstrate what are the

specific aims set under the policy, what they depend on and how they are pursued. The

analysis was carried out on the basis of individual in-depth interviews conducted with the

persons who are concerned with designing and implementing cultural activities in the

commune or town/city. Due to the assumption that the real influence on the policy was

not exerted by representatives of the local authorities, we also included the managerial

staff in cultural institutions (community centres, museums) and persons connected with

private cultural initiatives who have a considerable influence on the image of culture in a

given commune through their activity.

How cultural policy is understood

It is no easy task to grasp what our respondents mean by the term ‘cultural policy’. It does

not mean that their opinions greatly vary. It is because they view the concept of cultural

policy on several levels at the same time.

In the first, broadest sense cultural policy is understood by the respondents to be a wide

range of activities and initiatives for which the common denominator are certain

superordinate categories. They provide a frame of reference for interpretation, which

makes it possible to grasp the global context of the implemented policy. An example may

be the category of the folk-type culture or heritage connected with the local crafts or

industry. Short-term and long-term objectives in the development of a given area are

formulated within those key elements of local culture. The set objectives become the

leitmotif of most events, are a permanent element of the activities undertaken by cultural

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institutions (community centres, museums, libraries), they set the thematic areas for

competitions funded with grants for cultural activity, they are repeated in the creation of a

commune’s brand or as a part of their promotional strategy. Put briefly, they are the key

symbolic resources embedded in cultural policy and the pivot for the major cultural

enterprises.

In the more concise context, implementation of cultural policy is defined as all kinds of

activities which are addressed to the widest group of recipients possible. For this reason

(but not only for it) they tend to be connected with celebrations of national and religious

holidays. It concerns also cultural and ludic mass events and festivities which perform

promotional and integrating functions. Put broadly, cultural policy on this level is defined

through the k e y f u n c t i o n s which the specific initiatives fulfil. Thus understood, the

policy is a set of clearly defined priorities and objectives within which resources are

allocated and which are supported. Such priorities may be, for example, orientation

towards maintaining local traditions, integration of the local community and

reinforcement of the civic society, promotion of the commune and construction of its own

brand as a cultural centre, stimulation of local economy or propagation of the healthy

lifestyle.

Examining the multiple functions that different initiatives fulfil according to the

respondents, we can observe two basic approaches to culture as an element of the

conducted policy in the broad sense. These may be described as functional types of

understanding culture. In the presented model we call the first type the a u t o t e l l i c

approach to culture within the conducted policy, and the other type – the

i n s t r u m e n t a l approach.

The autotellic function of the established directions of cultural development in the

commune encompasses mainly socialising activities, aimed at social, educational or

heritage-preserving integration, socialisation of the young generation, maintaining the

continuity of tradition and of the local community’s identity.

In the second case, cultural policy, and hence culture itself, is treated as a tool for achieving

other aims. It may be a means of promotion and building a given commune’s brand,

commercial activity of a cultural institution and other activities which lay foundations of

the so-called cultural industries.

Obviously, the above described categories are not disjunctive. It is hardly possible to point

out a commune where activities of only one of the two types are carried out. Usually, the

cultural policy involves enterprises for the development of several profiles of activities of

key importance to the given location within both types of directions.

The chosen priorities do not necessarily need to be implemented with the use of

institutional resources of the local authorities. Although they tend to act as the

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coordinators and main decision-makers, public institutions, which function as a sort of

apparatus executing the agreed cultural policy, often cooperate with other cultural actors,

for example the Catholic Church, associations, local cultural animators and artists or

entrepreneurs.

Strategies for the establishment and implementation of cultural policy

Another issue connected with cultural policy which we would like to focus on in the

present report is the question of designing specific activities in the field of culture. What is

meant here are: 1) the ways the key directions of those activities are formulated 2)

receptiveness towards local cultural actors and their vision of activity within culture 3)

general receptiveness to new ideas in cultural animation. The ways and strategies of

politicians are also of considerable importance to the point in question.

We should begin with the fact that in each of the analysed communes the strategy of

planning and implementation of the objectives of cultural policy was carried out

simultaneously in several cycles. Depending on the temporal horizon adopted for the

establishment and execution of plans, we can differentiate between the l o n g -t e r m

c y c l e , involving a period of implementation of at least several or more than ten years, the

a n n u a l c y c l e and the s h o r t -t e r m cycle or a d h o c a c t i v i t i e s .

In general, we can say that none of the communes we examined has a formal strategy of

cultural development in the strict sense. Although the considerable majority of

representatives of the basic local government units or institutions subordinate to them

refer to relevant regulations and official decisions, these do not come in the form of

separate documents but as fragments of other strategic documents. Those documents are

mainly urban or communal development strategies and, much more seldom, plans of

cooperation with non-governmental organisations or promotional strategies.

The situation in which long-term directions of cultural development do not constitute a

separate, coherent and comprehensive study and are merely a part of a broader

development plan of a given area often conditions what exactly is understood as ‘cultural

development’. Hence, in the light of the respondents’ ideas, specific regulations tend to be

collections of general aims, such as: improvement of the residents’ standards of living,

providing a tourist-friendly infrastructure, sports development or ensuring high teaching

standards in educational institutions. Achieving aims which are formulated in that way is

understood in a special way because the measure of their success are usually investments

in particular facilities connected with culture which provide the material base for activities

in culture (sports and recreational facilities, facilities for conducting cultural activities etc)

Conclusion

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To sum up this chapter, it should be stated that the commune’s cultural policy is

influenced by multiple factors, and it is not a holistic and coherent set of activities. It is

carried out simultaneously on several levels. Its overall structure is influenced by the ways

the concept of cultural policy is understood by the persons responsible for its conduct.

Another important issue is the way in which priorities and strategic directions of cultural

development are established, as well as the position which the actors responsible for

cultural policy believe the commune to hold in the broader spatial and semantic relations.

The place where the above described ways of conducting cultural policies are carried out

are the local cultural stages, especially the leading stage on which various actors act and

clash. It may be said that cultural policy is conducted in a dynamic environment where the

meaning of the term ‘culture’ is constantly renegotiated, the role of each actor is redefined,

and the scope of activities which may belong to the leading stage is determined as

opposed to those stages that may at the given moment be called alternative or counter-

cultural.

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6. Cultural stages and policies. Together or apart?

New interpretations of heritage

The appearance of the local cultural stages is sometimes influenced by solutions which

veer away from what we might consider a medium of cultural change. An example may be

the common agricultural policy under the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013,

which by promoting traditional regional products contributes to the recreation and revival

of some forgotten elements of local culture. Looking at the initiatives undertaken under

some programmes (for example the Leader+ programme), we can observe a mechanism

which consists in attributing new meanings and a reinterpretation of the symbolism of

already existing elements of local heritage. It is visible in the way considerable weight is

being attached to the traditions and objects/sites which have not hitherto constituted an

important element of local culture. Trails, high roads and thematic paths are delineated in

Malopolska as a result of a fashion for that kind of products, which has come from Western

Europe and the United States. Such activities influence the way space is symbolically

organised and affect a change of perception of local heritage. It is worth considering

whether the current trends will not change the perception of what is the core of local

heritage or what may be regarded as local heritage (by changing the order of importance

and the value of each object/site in the collective memory) within the decades to come. It

is too early yet to draw definitive conclusions as to that issue because it is not known if the

new elements of local space will permanently enter into the collective consciousness of

the local community and the wider public. It is certainly worthwhile, however, to keep

track of the direction the above described trends will follow.

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Folk-type cultures

Another interesting conclusion, which is in a sense connected with the one described

above, refers to the position occupied by the folk-type culture in Malopolska in the 21st

century. We decided to subject that notion to an in-depth analysis due to its omnipresence

on Malopolska’s stages and the fact that it seems to be the most exciting issue for cultural

actors themselves. By this term we understand a collection of cultural practices which is

embedded in local traditions based on the economic and natural conditions and collective

rituals effected by those conditions. In the analysis of the cultural stages it was

demonstrated that the folk-type culture is one of the main meanings around which actors

build the leading stages. It is considered to be an autotellic quality and an indispensable

foundation of local identity. One of the main aims of cultural actors is to maintain the

continuity of regional traditions which, when expressed in the folk-type culture, constitute

the core of the meaning of the term ‘culture’ itself.

An interesting phenomenon in the functioning of that particular type of culture on the

leading stage is the fact that symbolic dominance may be attributed to non-governmental

organisations above the local level, where many actors involved in maintaining regional

traditions gather rather than formal institutions which are the main cultural centres in the

commune. It means that in that field prestige stemming from competence – detailed

knowledge of local regionalisms is more important than power resulting from having

access to resources.

The living folk-type culture, undetached from its own roots, is juxtaposed to the d e a d

c u l t u r e which has lost its natural continuity and may at best be reconstructed only.

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7. Evaluation of culture

Evaluation has a broad semantic scope. Since in the field research carried out for the

present project evaluation of culture was not the main research subject, we collected a

limited pool of data, which enables us to discover the approaches of cultural actors (mostly

at the local government level) that define the local senses of conducting evaluation. On

that basis we can conclude that cultural actors have an increasingly higher evaluation

awareness. They point out its importance in cultural management, improvement of the

quality of procedures, the possibility to assess the effects and increasingly treat the cultural

services offer as a thing which exists in the broader space of participation in culture or an

issue connected with building social capital. Realistically, however, in the local context

evaluation is by no means a norm. Currently, it is very often a toy of a decision-maker who

treats his assumptions and criteria as the only possible ones and often discredits the

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desired new quality in management. Another difficulty lies in the lack of local rules of

managing conflict that results from the interests of cultural actors, which is connected with

the formulation of local development plans. Evaluation is not allowed within the scope of

the established local policies of cultural development as a potential source of

destabilisation of local cultural stages which remain governed by the public sector.

First and foremost, the analysis focuses on the area of reception and needs within a simple

assumption of culture as a programme of events, classes, competitions, traditions or the

development of tourism. The general conclusion may be that the locally created

definitions of culture, participation in culture, the importance of culture to the

development hamper the establishment of more advanced programmes of evaluation.

The awareness of individual cultural actors (‘we need evaluation’) does not translate into a

local system of cultural policies management, which tends to be inadequate to the

contemporary challenges facing cultural development.

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8. Summary and main conclusions

In small communes the most important actors turned out to be representatives of local

government institutions, particularly of the community centres in the communes, though

in some locations libraries also play an important role. In big communes, including cities,

they are usually independent major institutions, often governed by the local authorities,

such as museums, libraries and community centres, as well. In small communes more or

less institutionalised actors play a much more prominent role than the community of

residents, while in big communes grassroots pressure on institutionalised actors is more

pronounced (there is a much more extensive ‘market’ of cultural actors who are

independent of the local government).

The special role of Malopolska’s non-governemntal organisations is also notable. The

proportion of such organisations which are active per one commune and focus on local

culture is one of the highest in Poland. However, they very often execute tasks

commissioned to them by public institutions (or remain in heavy dependence on them

based on a kind of ‘symbiosis’). Public and non-governmental partnership facilitates access

to EU grants and subsidies. It should also be added, however, that part of non-

governmental organisations work in opposition to or independently of the cultural

institutions under the local government (the bigger the commune, the more often it

occurs).

An important actor is the Roman Catholic Church. Parishes take care to uphold Catholic

values, and numerous actors often draw on religious symbolism. The cultural activity and

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assessment of Church agencies may raise tensions when they criticise events for young

people or if they are not able (for example for financial reasons) to profitably use their

possessions and do not want to facilitate access to them. Other groups than the Roman

Catholic Church are not equally conspicuous in the field of culture.

Enterprises in the culture sector are niche actors in Malpolska (apart from Krakow); if their

seats are in the country they definitely address their offer beyond Malpolska. Their specific

activity escapes the notice of cultural researchers in different communes; their influence

on the communes would require another kind of research (such as focusing on the labour

market in the culture sector or the development of innovation management in the whole

region). In Malopolska’s communes the so-called leisure time industries are much more

common (health resorts, recreational and tourist industries and others); their activity

focuses on tourists rather than on local communities. A novelty (we encountered several

examples) are club cafés which function as small community centres (as venues for

concerts, workshops for children or as meeting places for fans of such cultural activities as

board games or fantasy games).

Cultural stages

The repondents pointed out the existence of the leading areas (stages) where multiple

public resources are used, which are also widely recognisable. These are mainly stages for

patriotic mass events which commemorate important local events or the major annual

events in the commune. They tend to be the folk-type stages. The others are alternative

stages which present ‘something else’ and approach culture differently. Empty stages were

also observed – these were potentially important areas, which remained unfilled, and

resources that potentially existed but were not used. An empty stage, for instance, is the

cultural stage addressed to elderly people. However, empty stages were not often noticed.

Following our respondents’ statements, the full stages may be divided into the local ones

and those above the local level. The latter tend to be prevalent and are often used by

politicians. Their prevalence is one of the relations between the stages. Actors and ideas

float between them.

Policies in the field of culture

As we have written above, by policies we mean the more or less formalised initiatives and

activities undertaken in some categories of issues – the folk-type culture, local cultures –

which, according to their initiators, are important matters for the wide public because they

contribute to upholding traditions and to the integration of the local community. The

objectives of cultural policies are formulated by actors-politicians, usually depending on

the scope of their official duties (based on the laws, statutes of the institution etc). Hence

the policies seldom involve designing experiments or developing new solutions, and tend

to focus on fulfilling ‘duties’ instead. There are long-term and short-term strategies of the

creation and implementation of cultural policies. None of the analysed communes has

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well-formulated long-term and short-term strategies of cultural development. Cultural

actors are aware of the potential significance of such strategies (particularly short-term

ones, connected with the local calendar and local celebrations of national and state

holidays). Development strategies in communes establish only the general aims and tend

to focus on the development of infrastructure. Sometimes the cyclical nature of certain

events, for example the celebrations mentioned above, forces local authorities to devise

long-term plans. The activities undertaken in practice are seldom connected with any

formulated strategies. It may be concluded that cultural actors move in two different areas

of meanings of culture: imaginary and real. They often claim that ‘it should be done in a

different way’ and can frequently show exactly what is missing, but on the other hand their

activities affirm policies based on a model of fulfilment of the duty to propagate culture

that was formulated in the past.

Main trends in the dynamics of culture

We would like now to refer again to two observations which link all our reflections

concerning the current trends in the dynamics of culture in Malopolska. The first focuses

on why cultural actors (including decision-makers) feel a strong need to remind the public

of local traditions despite the apparent lack of interest in it of young people to whom

animation based on the folk-type culture is mainly addressed. We have pointed out that

the transience of the future and its unpredictability makes people look back to the past

more often than before as the past appears to be more tangible and comprehensible. It is

due to the disruption of the continuity of time that the crucial theme of modernity is to

understand one’s heritage, tradition and to reconstruct them in rituals which are

unconnected with the present day realities. It is probably for the same reasons that the

need to sustain and reconstruct local bonds and local communities is increasing and

expresses itself in the attempts to strengthen identity.

The other observation is closely connected with the first one. In the cyclically regenerating

world (the year of rituals, traditions, commemorative events), meanings are modified and

increasingly take on pop cultural forms, which evokes ambivalent reactions. Yet the

changes are treated by cultural actors as the necessary evil. Equally important to

understand contemporary cultural actors in Malopolska are the processes such as

musealisation of the past (a ‘modern’ rendition of old cultural meanings, recreation of the

climate and aura of the place’s past), folklorisation of tradition (turning tradition into stage

performances), transformation of material and non-material ‘monuments of the past’ into

cultural heritage (the past as a product and root of culture).

Hypotheses concerning cultural stages and policies, practices and services

Here let us present a number of hypotheses which point out to some processes which we

consider important on the cultural stages, in the establishment of cultural policies and in

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the relations between them. They call for further research on how the area of culture works

in Malopolska (we shall return to it later).

� An increasing number of non-governmental organisations are being established in

Malopolska; they function as professional para-companies or para-formal

institutions. Local authorities often appreciate them because they are more flexible

than the strictly formal institutions, and they are considered less cost-consuming.

Two sectors, which should theoretically complement each other, compete with one

another for the local government’s favour (and it is the local government that is

their main source of funding). It should be added that the process is not based on a

rivalry of the two camps as both institutions and non-governmental organisations

closely cooperate on cultural stages and often ARE the same actors.

� Public institutions tend to supply the ‘base’ for both the local government’s and the

non-governmental organisations’ activities. That means that no modern

organisation framework is established for the development of culture.

� The role of parishes as community centres for young people is growing (they are

friendly, devoid of aggression, they are an antithesis of lower secondary schools

which are often governed by symbolic and literal violence).

� The community centre is becoming an increasingly confusing name for its diverse

designates. It is associated with a venue housing an auditorium and workshops,

with a staff of animators and instructors. In reality community centres tend to house

(often digital) cinema rooms, museums, libraries, galleries; they act as centres of

local activity, as promotional offices or management agencies for the commune,

sometimes even as complexes of one-person companies which offer payable

classes. They may also be one-person institutions for funds flow for events and

festivities (the money is allocated to the related non-governmental organisations)

or conglomerates of a hundred persons which combine the functions of a

community centre with a library and a leisure centre.

� Libraries focus on the fields of culture connected with preservation of national

heritage, cultivation of local traditions, supporting local culture creators, and more

infrequently – on developing key competences using the resources and potential of

the library as a source of information, knowledge and new technologies.

� The local cultural leader tends to be a person who has a part-time job in a formal

institution, who is a leader in non-governmental organisations and who owns a

private company that renders cultural services. It indicates that such leaders are

innovative and creative but on the other hand it does not favour transparency in

the system or a high quality of such activities.

� The offer of cultural institutions is frequently merely a small part of the whole offer

of participation in culture; the local definitions of culture hardly encompass the

non-institutional sphere.

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� The local government does not manage the activities and does not coordinate

them; instead, it runs its own projects (often behaving like a formal cultural

institution) and invites formal cultural institutions and non-governmental

organisations to cooperate (thus, the authorities force their loyalty); in general, it

focuses on spectacular activities.

� To the cultural actors local conflicts are not a part of the normal and important play

(for the establishment of rules and standards and affecting change) but are seen as

destructive to the local community and a threat to its integrity; that is why actors

who enter in a discussion are generally perceived as destructors of the local

community. Thus no local spaces for a debate on development and the meaning of

culture are created. Disputes are held informally, which makes them very personal

and leads to the creation of closed interest groups.

� Cultural actors are often convinced that management of the strategy of cultural

development is a matter of bureaucracy and unnecessary discussion when ‘one

should act’. They seldom see the need for a continual strategic dialogue (to sustain

the dynamics of change but with mutual cooperation and understanding).

� In communes there is often a discussion going on whether money should be

allocated proportionally (i.e. each village council office should be granted a certain

amount in proportion to the population) or whether it would be better to invest in

several major cultural stages (usually in the centre of the commune). It may mean

that the local community wants to have a share in the decision-making process

concerning the directions of development which should be supported but due to a

lack of tools for discussion all that can be done is to pass a strict law: equal

allocation for all.

� The competences of the communes differ considerably due to management and

coordination of policies: in some communes there is complete stagnation while

others are continually developing their potential for culture management through

investment into staff training, implementation of quality management systems,

building of local coalitions for cultural development.

� The European Union (EU projects) and the state (development programmes) have

put a halt to the stagnation resulting from a lack of funding for culture and caused a

sort of cultural boom, but the situation reveals the growing problems with the

priorities in investments into culture.

� Cultural policies are not constructed according to the principles of social

participation. Decisions are taken informally as local ‘cultural agreements’ which are

sometimes creative and foster development but at times they may petrify the local

norm. Communes do not have many tools to establish cultural policies based on

cooperation with stakeholders.

� Complete stability of the existence of formal cultural institutions is established but

the management model causes them to function in an unstable way. Their

independence is limited by interests of cultural actors in the local government.

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They cannot develop long-term and more complex activities as they focus on

‘organisation of leisure time’ of the local community and answer the needs of the

authorities.

� The model of a cultural institution is inscribed in the triangle of the commune

leader (who represents the commune’s development and wants to retain control

over the local institutions), the commune council (which wants to undertake

activities for the villages, i.e. their own electorate) and the director of the commune

Community Centre (who is dependent of the other two, a hostage of their visions

rather than an executor of his own vision).

� Cultural actors pointed out the importance of preservation of local traditions and

identity, which may be called a certain style of culture. It is possible to participate in

culture according to the rules and norms of being cultured; the norms change

slower, the ways of participation change faster, ergo people are becoming

increasingly less cultured and less connected with the local culture, ergo that

process should be opposed and people should be activated because the

willingness to participate in culture is disappearing. This is a description of a ‘circle

of powerlessness’, emerging from cultural actors’ opinions of their own role as

advocates of its protection. They ‘counteract’ rather than participate in culture

change and formulate new models for the localness to function.

� Disintegration of social bonds (less and less activity in the common space) is locally

considered a result of progress, and not a consequence of a lack of local space for

participation. The problem of the disintegration of common forms of cultural

activity is positioned beyond individual influence. It can only be ‘saved from

oblivion’.