The meeting of the members of the new Lithuanian Council for Culture in its new composition starts its activities this week. During the first two meetings, the plan of upcoming activities was approved, agreement on delegating the members of the Lithuanian Council for Culture to the Regional Cultural Councils was reached, the process of supplementing the expert database was started (assessment of the candidates to experts), the principles of strategic funding programme selection competitions were approved, more extended information on which will be published in the near future (introductory seminars on these selection procedures are also planned). The Administration of Lithuanian Council for Culture also presented to the Meeting of the Members of the institution an overview of the results of the 2021 first funding stage.
The meeting of the members of the Lithuanian Culture Council consists of 10 representatives of different fields of culture and art, who are elected by the cultural community for a four-year term and approved by the Government and the Chairperson appointed by the Government on the recommendation of the Minister of Culture. The Chairperson leads the meeting and administration of the members of the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
The Lithuanian Council for Culture, an institution for the implementation of cultural policy, was established as a result of the reform of the financing system for culture and art projects in 2013. With the establishment of the Lithuanian Council for Culture, the self-government of the cultural community and a system of project culture funding based on the principle of respectful distance was established.
Since the establishment of the Lithuanian Council for Culture, more than 51 000 applications have been registered, more than 14 000 projects have been funded, and about 5 300 grants were awarded. On an average, the Lithuanian Council for Culture provides funding to just above 2 000 projects (of which 500 are projects for equitable cultural development in the provinces), for which an average of about EUR 17 million is allocated.
The Lithuanian Council for Culture consists of Chairperson, musicologist Asta Pakarklytė, representative of ethnic minorities (communities) Dainius Babilas, actress Dr Elzė Gudavičiūtė-Puskunigė, theatre critic Vaidas Jauniškis, musicologist Jūratė Katinaitė, historian Dr Rimvydas Laužikas, sculptor and film-maker Deimantas Virgilijus Narkevičius, architect Rolandas Palekas, literary critic Dr Dainius Vaitiekūnas, cultural manager Rita Valiukonytė, and ethnologist Dr Aušra Žičkienė.
