The organizing potential of cultural industry varies depending on its activity. That is obvious while analyzing the activity of agencies dealing with show-business and those oriented towards classic, no mass user artistic event organization. The top recreational contenders are thought to be such agencies as Siauliai City Cinema Theater and Culture Centre ’’Saule’’, and Culture Centre. Formerly, as we have seen,’’Saule’’ used to pay some attention to classical concerts but lately it became oriented towards show-business. Cinema and entertaining music concerts now are under its spotlight. ’’Saule’’ is the one to present popular and less known film product in Siauliai. Thus, it’s tendentious to allocate finances into the developing of supplies and raising the user with more subtle taste. Following this strategy, it’s possible to create the tradition of public cultural film product user which due to the user’s economic capability still remains weak.
Siauliai City Culture Centre, also, pays a lot of attention to the entertainment cultural events. However, it is neither expanding the scope of offers nor trying to make more money in order to allocate them for developing its movement. The activity of latter agency has not been organized according principles of cultural industry yet.
Grand basis of display organization in Siauliai has become Siauliai Art Gallery and Siauliai University Art Gallery. SU Art Gallery often confines itself to exhibition presenting alone what is funded by the agency’s income from its business. Siauliai Art Gallery gets funds from city budget, yet, it tries to earn additional assets for developing movements and acquainting viewers with the latest trends and tendencies of modern art and in such way filling the gap of cultural supplies in the city. Siauliai Museum ’’Auđra’’ is government-funded and is active participant in fund programmes. State support is necessary for the organization, however it looks as if it might successfully function searching for sponsors.
Siauliai Branch of the National Philharmonics is partly government-funded concert planning organizer. Bigger part of concerts is for classic lovers, yet mainly diverting music concerts attract listener’s attention. Therefore, according to the organization manager, supply of diverting events will be expanded in order to allocate more earned money for organizing classical and alternative music events. Siauliai Philharmonics is not capable to exist only on activity financing, thus, partial government-funding is necessary. From all above mentioned institutions, Siauliai Drama Theatre is the one whose gainings are gradually decreasing. According to the theatre regulation law which came in force in 2005, theater’s budget will be coordinated by the Ministry of Culture.
Although, this work analyses agencies activity’s tendencies mainly according its cultural industry, it is evident that such differentiation is not single-point. It is possible at the same time both to seek for additional finances and to be oriented towards development of cultural product offers. Examples of such behaviour are Siauliai City Cinema Theater and Culture Centre ’’Saule’’, Siauliai Branch of the National Philharmonics, Siauliai Art Gallery. As negative in such way should be seen the activity of Culture Centre.
According the survey, we can arrive at a conclusion that development of supplies depends on funding and ability to adapt to the varying public needs. In Siauliai cultural organizations earn themselves just a small part of funds needed for their activities and often are supported by municipality or government. We can affirm that for the meantime operating principle system of cultural industry’s activity in Siauliai is conditional. As it is stated by the leaders’ of organizations seeking for offer expanding (Philharmonics, Art Gallery, and Museum ’’Auđra’’), budget funding is necessary for ensuring the existence of these organizations. In our opinion, it is significant that these funding guarantees would not become the reason of stagnation in culture. It is possible to avoid this by optimizing the potential of cultural product offers and ability for organizations to earn money and fund their own activities themselves.
Budget funding is necessary for organizations that have large cultural product basis which is very expensive to maintain (for example, Museum ’’Ausra’’).
Important issue in seeking to cultivate cultural industry is ability of getting use from governmental funds, municipality cultural funding programmes and especially US funds. The latter domain in Siauliai tends to be quite problematic. A survey of organization leaders shows that making use of US funds requires a lot of hard work, experience, practical and theoretical knowledge. Today, the lack of experience setbacks having the best of accessing US funds. Moreover, project preparing capability is not solely the problem of a declarant. During the interview common view towards US funds allocation system was quite critical as it lacks regard to culture.
GENERALIZATION OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF CULTURAL INDUSTRY’S DEVELOPMENT SURVEY IN SIAULIAI CITY
• Siauliai city cultural organizations’ funding investigated in the work is mainly mixed and is formed from budget, funds, sponsors, earned funds. Accordingly, such funding would be the most optimal in current situation.
• In spite of cultural organizations are trying to develop the scope of offers and earn money for funding their own activities, yet their actions fit the principles of cultural and creative industry just in part.
• Siauliai city cultural organizations are not yet ready to use all the potential of free market, thus, they are not ready to create major cultural and creative industrial projects.
• In order to escape the stagnation and inefficient activity of cultural organizations there should be implanted principles of cultural and creative industry.
• For the sake of implanting cultural industry’s principle regulation it is essential to improve the qualification of cultural management employees.
• Professional management and administrative attitude towards US provided opportunities of developing cultural and creative industry’s development in the city is necessary.
• It is also important to adapt the city cultural organizations’ infrastructure to the needs of user according to up-to-date European standards of cultural life organization.
• Positive standpoint of city’s government is needed while allocating funds for the development of cultural organizations infrastructures. It is also of great importance to crate new workplaces in order to optimize the activities of cultural institutions.
CONCLUSIONS
The main aim of this master’s work was to analyze the development of Siauliai city cultural industry between 1998 and 2004.
The tasks of the work:
• to analyze the development and theoretical assumptions of cultural and creative industries;
• to overlook US funds regulating cultural development;
• to explore Siauliai city cultural industry in municipality and public jurisdiction organizations dissociating from private service sector and private creative industries.
• Comparing development of Siauliai culture in mentioned sector with the experience of Piarnu and Jelgava.
In the first chapter of the work is overlooked the theoretical and practical development of cultural industry. The main regulations were set by the authors of early critical theory period – Th. W. Adorno and M. Horkheimer. According the analysis presented in the first part of the work it is clear that the conception of cultural industry firstly marks immediate relation between the offering and process of subject’s building up. Under the conditions of monopolistic capitalization individual is conditioned by the ’’public state’’ which, in turn, is subordinated to mass cultural industry.
However, eventually such conception of cultural industry was rejected as it was thought to be inefficient while analyzing contemporary cultural processes and the relation between valuable works of art and value became legitimate. It was analyzed according some examples of cultural industries. Philosophical viewpoint towards cultural industry while analyzing ,,Disney’’ phenomenon was presented.
The critical viewpoint to cultural industry is expressed with reference to culture management theorist A. J. Wiesend who claims that culture organization can be treated as critical concept of Th. W. Adorno and as positively evaluated cultural industry features due to which culture phenomenon become available to every individual.
Another important aspect is implementing the principles of cultural industry’s activity determining income of cultural institutions. We presume, that the system of cultural industry, perceived in such way is not longer a user culture ,,programmer’’, but, the system of capital circulation and global articulation. During the research, before differentiating between concepts of cultural and creative industry the positive sides of cultural industry were reasoned. This differentiation was carried out according to Ch. Smith’s observations. Agreeing with the point that cultural and creative industries are based on intellectual – creative power it is necessary to analyze the particularity of the product being created. After all, product of creative industry is always oriented towards financial capital. This could be aesthetical housewares (for example, original designer chandelier, clothes etc.) making of which requires real creative powers. Cultural phenomenon has a particular cultural and symbolic capital cumulated beforehand which has a great potential of becoming a financial capital. Thus, cultural industry has the specific of capital circulation.
Another important aim of this work is to reveal the relation between US culture policies and cultural industry’s phenomenon. The survey showed that US programmes are oriented towards supporting and forming of capital circulation which stimulates supplies of cultural offers and incomes of cultural organizations. This work emphasizes that support for culture in European Union is not indiscrete: support is provided to brand new and elite forms of art and it also considers the development and demand of mass culture industry. A lot of attention is being paid to the use of mass means of communication, supporting international contact, cultivating tolerance, preserving cultural heritage, relating social and cultural public needs. It is clear that such purposeful financing promotes cultural industry: storage of inheritage and its adaptation to the market and public needs, formation of symbolic capital etc.
The work points that the integration to US determined policy formation principles in the Baltic States. Switching to the research of cities cultural policy were analyzed attitudes towards getting use of cultural preserve providing funds for cultural development. However, such attitudes and strategies comparing Siauliai, Jelgava (Latvia), and Piarnu (Estonia) cities are not common low of cultural politics. In the case of Piarnu, entire Soviet facilities were reorganized in 1993. All the organizations exist as nongovernmental, thus, to get funds for their activities they are active participants in project funding.
As it was revealed from statistic, in Jelgava city earned funds are returned to the budget. That’s why, in contrary to Siauliai cultural organizations, they can not freely dispose of funds. This encumbers their participation in cultural market.
Cultural institutions of Siauliai municipality (state institutions) are not oriented enough to a free market (in contrast to private and public institutions: galleries, museums, recreational facilities seeking for profit and also having no influence of the city’s policy). Institutions getting funds from budget have the right to invest their income into expansion of their movement, organize supplies of unconventional cultural products. However, it has not become a purposeful action yet.
This master’s work provides the research analysis of cultural industry in Siauliai. In the research were included seven leading Siauliai city municipalities or cultural state organizations. Exactly their funding and subordination suffered transformations that were covering all most important organizational fields of cultural life in Siauliai. The research showed that budget funding does not determine the particularity of organization acting. Each organization is willing to expand the scope of offers and gain additional income. Such acting is in part the principle of cultural industry actions. Government-funded Siauliai Museum ,,Ausra’’ develops its movement at most while making use of support from funds. The view of another organization to the implementing cultural industry principles quite differs. The analysis of financial and practice data showed that, despite Culture Centre dispose huge assets, it is not expanding the scope of paid services. Culture centre is not active in searching for additional financial resources and is not trying to look for alternatives to traditional (mainly entertaining) cultural events. On the other hand, Siauliai University Art Gallery is working according the principles of cultural industry as it funds its activities from its earned assets.
For the mentioned cultural institutions in Siauliai could avoid stagnancy and inefficient actions it is vital to install the principles of cultural and creative industry, also, to improve the qualifications of culture administrators. Moreover, professional administrative and management attitude towards US support programmes for the development of cultural industry is important.
It is a matter of great relevance to adapt the facilities of Siauliai cultural organizations to culture user according to up-to-date standards of European cultural life organization. The positive view of city government towards the development and optimizing of cultural institutions is also very important.
To perceive and tackle all the above mentioned culture policy, implementing of cultural and creative industry problems is possible just while closely collaborating in project work with partners from abroad. Also, perceiving the historical and theoretical importance of the idea of cultural industry, accepting the challenges of world market and the reality of global world, and varying needs of consumer society.
