The assurance that he will work with consistency and enthusiasm to lay the foundations for the proper formation of the Deputy Ministry, always focusing on the creator, the human being and the tireless worker of culture, was given on Monday by the first Deputy Minister of Culture, Yannis Toumazi.
Taking over the Deputy Ministry of Culture from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, Prodromos Prodromou, Mr. Toumazi said that in the short period of time available to him, he will work in a spirit of cooperation, transparency and with an eye to the future, to lay the foundations for the proper formation of the Deputy Ministry of Polism.
Expressing his great joy, but also the sense of responsibility that he has with the receipt of the Deputy Ministry, Mr. Toumazi said that he personally, as a man coming from the field of culture, interprets the confidence of the President of the Republic in his person "as confidence in the workers of culture in Cyprus".
In his speech at the handover ceremony of the Deputy Ministry of Culture, the Minister of Education spoke of an "important moment" both for Cyprus, which is finally acquiring a separate governance structure for culture and for cultural policy, and for this governance, since an important programmatic position of President Anastasiades is being implemented.
Referring to Yannis Toumazis, he said that "he is a personality for culture, he is the man who comes from culture and will work for culture".
"From now on, culture will have its own seat and a separate voice within the Cabinet, but also in society, and we are starting to formulate and gradually implement a coherent, comprehensive and methodical policy for culture," he said. He expressed his satisfaction and satisfaction, because, as he noted, in the person of Yannis Toumazis "he sees one of the best choices that could be made."
He noted that "the President of the Republic has chosen a man who we know his work through the Municipal Arts Centre, through the presidency of the Cyprus Theatre Organisation and many personal works and achievements".
As the Minister of Education said, "the period of time for the completion of the term of office of this government may be short", however, he expressed the assessment "that what fits in this time is enough to fill this period fruitfully".
Listing some actions to be taken in this short period, the Minister of Education referred, among other things, to the arrangement and first organization of the structures of the Ministry of State, the integration of all structures and organizations in the new organizational structure, with the partial reform of the THOC and the transfer of the responsibility and theatrical development of the Thymeli programme to the Deputy Ministry, the interconnection of the Symphony Orchestra with the Deputy Ministry and the reorganization and upgrading of the State Gallery and the necessary reorganization of the cultural services, which will form the policy axis for cultural creation.
He also added that "there is no doubt that in the years to come the state will have to allocate more resources to culture and its management", to add, however, that "in addition to the universal empirical finding, this would be appropriate to come through a strategic planning and discrete policy objectives of planning, which Yannis Toumazis has already begun."
He assured Yannis Toumazis and his colleagues that he would stand by him in this effort and in any claim.
The Minister of Education made it clear that a better policy for culture does not just mean more money, noting that the policy should not be limited to some expansive grant policy to larger funds and resources only.
"Invariably, greater resources will certainly help. In fact, large grants programs are playing their part. But we can't stop there. I personally believe that the conditions have matured so that we can be inspired by other precedents worthy of emulation in the European area and study and formulate a policy for culture through research and documentation."
Source: KYPE
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