About 500 of the 1,232 homes of culture in Moldova are in need of extensive repair. Of them, 61 are damaged, while the rest are in a satisfactory technical state for hosting cultural activities. The information was presented by the Ministry of Culture following an inquiry made by IPN.
The Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the local public administration, is compiling a national register of homes of culture. The authorities, by the program on decentralization in the field of culture, aim to reorganize the infrastructure of the cultural services and the administration of culture by transforming the homes of culture into multifunctional community centers.
Officials of the Ministry said the problem of non-functionality of the homes of culture exists in all the post-Soviet states. The studies of good practices in such countries as Estonia, Bulgaria and Poland showed that the homes of culture can be transformed into centers providing cultural and social services for the population. This idea is not new for Moldova. The problem of reorganizing the homes of culture was raised earlier too, but, owing to the lack of financial resources and to the unqualified personnel that is not financially motivated, the ideas could not be put into practice.
The decentralization strategy promoted by the Ministry lays emphasis on the idea of keeping the cultural purpose of the homes of culture even if they can be transformed into multifunctional community centers. In the conditions of decentralization, a number of homes of culture can be yet closed owing to their wear degree and to the limited financial resources allocated by the local public authorities for their maintenance.
In order to ensure the continuity of the cultural policies in the settlements that do not have or will not have homes of culture, the Ministry of Culture will work out the occupational standard for the professional ‘cultural referent’. The cultural referent will be responsible for planning the cultural life in the settlement, for organizing and holding cultural events, for initiating projects and coordinating them. Such specialists will be trained at the Continuous Formation Center in Culture and Heritage of the Ministry of Culture.
Besides the homes of culture, there are also local folkloric ensembles that are managed by the local public authorities. In the response given to IPN, the Ministry says that in many of the settlements the ensembles represent the main instrument for increasing the people’s level of culture, for prompting traditions and the cultural historical heritage, especially among young people. The risk that these ensembles will be liquidated is real and this can have negative consequences on the social-cultural life of the population. Therefore, the Ministry insists that the local authorities should further support these ensembles.
Statistics show that about 40% of the people working in the field of culture are concentrated in rural areas, while those with higher education represent less than 1/3. One of the objectives of the Ministry of Culture is to implement regulations on the management of the performance in cultural institutions so as to ensure competitiveness among people working in culture and among cultural institutions.
