Bosnia and Herzegovina 2017 report

The Ministry of Education and Culture in the RS has made significant progress with affirmation and promotion of cultural creation of national minorities. The intention to improve the status of associations of national minorities resulted in passing the first Rulebook on co-financing cultural creation of national minorities in 2015, which defined the requirements, criteria and procedure of allocation of funds, with the aim of safeguarding the cultural heritage of national minorities and the cultural diversity of Republika Srpska. In 2016, the ministry supported 16 projects of national minorities and allocated a total of BAM 30,000. One of the significant projects was ‘Competition between primary schools on the knowledge of national minorities in BiH’, co-financed by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2016. It is an important large-scale project of the associations of national minorities aiming to expand this positive practice to three additional local communities in Republika Srpska. This project has been implemented for six consecutive years in Semberija – the city of Bijeljina and the municipalities of Lopare and Ugljevik, and the most important goal and result is to have eighth-grade pupils from primary schools belonging to the majority population learn about differences between ethnicities, their culture and customs during their regular classes. The project involves at least 100 pupils and their teachers (in one academic year) from 18 schools in the region of Semberija. Expansion of the project to other local communities would double the number of participants and increase the visibility of this project, which deserves attention from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska, because it represents a unique example of positive practice not only in Srpska, but also in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Ministry also provided support for this project by hosting the exhibition of the best works of pupils from this competition in its premises.

Projects of cultural and artistic creation are co-financed through an open competition pursuant to the Rulebook on co-financing public needs in culture of Republika Srpska (Official Gazette of RS, 110/13), which sets forth the procedure of selection and co-financing of projects, requirements, general and specific criteria, and the method of monitoring of their intended use. The Ministry uses an open competition, which is announced at least once a year, to allocate funds for quality projects which contribute to development and presentation of art and culture, promotion of cultural diversity and mobility of artists and arts, in the following areas of artistic creation: film, theatrical production and theatre festivals, publication of books, literary events, visual and applied arts, design and architecture, music and musical and dramatic activity. By means of an open competition, the ministry provides support for the most important international festivals and events, exhibitions, concerts and performances.

Taking into consideration the modern developments in the field of theatre arts, as well as the need to modernise and improve this activity, in 2016 the Ministry passed the new Law on Theatrical Activity. It is of particular importance that this Law has created possibilities to establish theatres, and thereby to employ artists, experts, technical and other staff in theatres. Apart from that, the Law enables unemployed artists to establish theatre groups, and thereby to accomplish themselves and to develop at a professional level, as well as to generate their own income. Pursuant to the Law, the theatre group has the status of a professional artist, and it differs from the legal form of organised citizen associations, i.e. from amateurism. Furthermore, the Law gives priority to co-financing professional theatres and theatre groups rather than to amateurism. The said regulations will certainly contribute to creation of better quality offer of art, professionalisation of staff and a decrease in the number of unemployed persons, which will certainly have an impact on the contribution of culture to sustainable development. The said Law also foresees adoption of a set of bylaws: Rulebook on requirements and the procedure for establishing the fulfilment of requirements for performing the theatrical activity, Rulebook on contents and manner of maintaining the register of theatres and theatre groups, Rulebook on the activity and financing of theatres founded or co-founded by Republika Srpska, and Rulebook on co-financing projects and programmes in the field of theatrical activity defined as a public need in the culture of Republika Srpska. This provides for mechanisms for recording the number of entities performing this activity.

The FSC is an international institution established with the aim of safeguarding and development of cultural values and tradition of Slavic countries. The purpose of the Forum is to promote cooperation between Slavic countries, to strengthen cultural exchange, to promote cultural diversity, and to develop joint projects. The member countries of the Forum are: Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Serbia. One of the first and the most important projects implemented by the FSC is the publishing project entitled ‘A hundred Slavic novels’. It is the biggest international literary and cultural project of Slavic literature. The main objective of the project ‘A hundred Slavic novels’ is mutual introduction to the literature and culture of the Slavic world, encouraging mutual translation of Slavic literary and cultural works, as well as devised and representative presentation of the best examples of the contemporary Slavic novel in the big world languages. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to form the anthology of novels written and published in Slavic languages after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Such an anthology, which is extremely rare in the overall European publishing, was obtained in the representative edition ‘A hundred Slavic novels’. With support of professional and partner institutions, each member country within the project selected ten novels published after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The only criterion for the selection was the artistic quality of the selected novels.

The Government of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina invests significant funds for a range of projects in the cultural institutions, cultural tourism, cultural infrastructure, creative arts, tangible and intangible cultural capital and international cultural cooperation.

The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports through the funded projects and programmes in last 4 years is showing and demonstrating that the public cultural infrastructures, i.e. cultural centers, play a key role in promoting cultural education and cultural participation, as well as they contribute to eliminate exclusions and marginalization, especially cultural centers in small towns and rural areas of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, they are also crucial in creating an enabling environment for the emergence of dynamic cultural sectors and cultural clusters.

Indeed, cultural operators face serious difficulties in establishing viable enterprises without the basic infrastructure, such as access to capital, distribution venues and management training. Cultural infrastructures are, thus, essential in making culture “work” for sustainable development at all levels. Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports earmarked a large sum of money from the Budget for conservation, reconstruction, restoration and rehabilitation of cultural facilities (most of them are cultural centers), public facilities, sacral objects of cultural heritage, old towns, movable cultural properties, necropolis and archaeological localities. The aim of the Ministry was to build inclusive and creative society, equitable access to cultural life and diverse expressions and to increase literacy of diversity and its expressions in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then, cultural products and cultural industries attract investments (domestic and foreign), so therefore contributing to the sustainable development of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Cultural institutions such as museums, art galleries and libraries play a unique role within cultural sustainability and sustainable development by preserving their communities’ heritage. Because of that the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports traditionaly allocates funds for the projects of: the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Museum of Literature and Performing Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The National Film Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These cultural institutions aim to collect, preserve, explore, present and promote the cultural and historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to offer their services to all regardless of age, race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disabilty. Indeed, not only their collections, but also their history and buildings, are a cultural assets that are enriching local communities and,alongside other heritage attractions contribute to tourism associated with a city or country. They have an inherent investment in sustaining and promoting culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Understanding how crucial their work is to society and cultural sustainability as well as how these institutions have the unique value to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry has been supporting abovementioned cultural institutions.

The Ministry provides funds for work and functioning, as well as for implementation of programmes of cultural institutions in RS. Within its responsibility, cultural institutions are the most important entities in the context of implementation of the cultural policy in Republika Srpska. Taking into consideration that one of the defined priorities is accessible and inclusive culture, some of the institutions promptly initiated certain activites and some very interesting projects.

In that regard, the Museum of Contemporary Art of RS prepared a specialised exhibition entitled ‘Space, form, touch’, which is the first exhibition in the region entirely adjusted to blind people and people with low vision. It is an original project of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska, implemented with professional assistance provided by the Typhlological Museum from Zagreb. The exhibition includes drawings, graphics, paintings and sculptures from the MCARS collection, and it is dedicated to the art group ‘Space-Form’, established in 1975. The group started working in Banja Luka in 1970s, introducing abstraction in the art of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The exhibition was created with the aim of representing abstract works of art, as valuable cultural heritage safeguarded by the MCARS, in a new way, in accordance with contemporary museological standards, particularly to make them accessible to blind people and people with low vision. Such a form of inclusive presentation of museum items is enabled through their special adjustments, prepared specifically for this exhibition, which include reduced-size tactile replicas of works, adaptations made with sound and smell, as well as the original items accessible for touch. All the exhibited works are accompanied by descriptive legends written in Braille, as well as audio recordings with biographical data on each of the authors, interpreting their artistic concept for certain works.

Taking into consideration the possibility to apply for the Creative Europe programme, as well as the benefits offered to our cultural workers and artists in that regard, the ministry has intensified the activities on the promotion of this programme, but also on strengthening the capacities of the institutions in terms of attracting funds.

In 2013, employees of the ministry took part in the First Conference of the Serbian Creative Europe Desk, for the purpose of getting trained for applying for the EU Creative Europe programme. For the purpose of encouraging and stimulating the users from Republika Srpska, the Working Group has been appointed with the aim of developing application forms for open calls within the Creative Europe programme. The Working Group is composed of representatives of institutions and the senior officer for strategic planning and European funds from the Ministry of Education and Culture. This year, as a result of the above-mentioned activities, the RS Museum of Contemporary Art participates with two projects (in one as the leader, and in the other as a partner) in the open call for support for CE programme.

A very important and affirmative moment for the promotion of the Creative Europe was the European Union Prize for Literature in 2016, which was awarded to the writer Tanja Stupar-Trifunović for her novel ‘Clocks in my mother’s room’.

The Ministry has supported the project of the Special Library for Blind People and People with Low Vision entitled ‘From hobby to bread’, which is financially supported by the funds from FIGAP programme. In 2014, the Public Institution Special Library for Blind People and People with Low Vision of Republika Srpska, as an institutional partner, implemented the project ‘From hobby to bread’, which explores the possibilities of employing blind women and women with low vision. Through several workshops, the participants gained practical knowledge by creating jewellery. One of the objectives was to support their activism and to try to provide funds for their independent life. The knowledge gained in the workshops is particularly useful for young women, but it is even more important to create sense of usefulness in the society among this population group. After the workshop, it is foreseen to exhibit the jewellery made by the project participants, as well as to perform the play ‘Inner lights’ of the ‘Patos’ Theatre from Smederevo, which is entirely targeted at blind people. The project entitled ‘From hobby to bread’, which is intended for economic training and social inclusion of blind women and women with low vision, is funded by FIGAP funds, i.e. by the funds of the Programme of Implementation of the BiH Gender Action Plan. The Programme of Implementation of the BiH Gender Action Plan (FIGAP programme 2009-2014) is a result of cooperation between the Gender Equality Agency of BiH – Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, Gender Centre of the Federation of BiH, and the Gender Centre of Republika Srpska, and its goal is to ensure sustainable implementation of the Gender Action Plan of Bosnia an Herzegovina. The programme is supported by a group of international donors composed of the governments of the Kingdom of Sweden, Republic of Austria and Swiss Confederation.

Youth development is a key driver of poverty eradication, therefore, through a Public Calls for institutions, association and NGO sector, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports is supporting programs and projects for youth and of youth. In the last 4 years, this Ministry has been supporting programs and projects that are of particular significance for youth in the field of culture and sports as well as projects and activities designed to develop youth skills and knowledge in decision-making and leadership and/or positively contributing to their communities. For the Ministry, very important youth projects are projects aiming to: foster/encourage social inclusion of young people, build intercultural dialogue and develope intercultural competences, promote social cohesion among young people, improve the

possibilities of disadvantaged youth in the Federation of BiH as well as national minorities, ensure the sustainability of quality services that are available to young people, etc.

The budget for youth has been incorporated in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports. Thus, in 2013 the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports allocated 200.000,00 BAM for youth projects and of youth, in 2014 also 200.000,00 BAM, in 2015 400.000,00 BAM and in 2016 400.000,00 BAM. Therefore, in the 2013 - 2016 period Ministry has allocated 1.200.000,00 BAM. In 2017, the Ministry will also allocate an amount of 400.000,00 BAM for youth and of youth projects.

Also, the following foundations are operating within the FBiH Government: Cinematography Foundation, Publishing Foundation, Library Foundation and the Foundation for Music, Performing and Visual Arts. Those foundations have their own Budgets and Public calls for co-financing of programmes and projects, including beneficial projects for youth and of youth.