I am here today with joy and - I will not hide it - with emotion. Because, even in the year 2022 (at last! I would say!) a Deputy Ministry of Culture is being launched in Cyprus.
This is a very important moment both for our country, which finally and at last has a separate governance structure for culture and cultural policy, and for this governance, since we are implementing an important programmatic position of President Nicos Anastasiades, the creation of a Deputy Ministry of Culture.
From now on, culture will have its own seat and a distinct voice within the Council of Ministers, but also in society, and we are embarking on the formulation and gradual implementation of a coherent, comprehensive and methodical policy for culture. Because over the years, there may have been a lot for cultural activities, by several successive governments who had the desire, there may have been very worthwhile initiatives, and we certainly have a very important legacy in the management of antiquities - and from iconic figures such as the late Vasos Karagiorgis / I always keep as an heirloom a personal letter with suggestions that he had sent me in July 2015 with anxiety about ancient Salamina... but we did not have a coherent and holistic policy for Culture, through discrete actions of duration, choices and objectives and with a strategy through which to seek and explore, exploit and diffuse for new generations and for all citizens, this very great wealth that our small country has.
At this time, however, I would like first and foremost to congratulate Yannis Toumazis who is starting this effort today, as the first Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus.
I express my pleasure and satisfaction because I see in him one of the best choices that could be made and I am happy because the President of the Republic has chosen a man who we know his work, through the Municipal Arts Centre, his presidency of the Cyprus Theatre Organisation, as well as many personal works and achievements, as much as we know his training, knowledge and sensitivities and his personality. I would not hesitate to say that Yannis - whom I personally congratulate - is a personality for culture, the man from the cultural - for culture that I see that he will be able to meet the challenge of being the first head of the Deputy Ministry, but will also lay the foundations needed for the continuation.
The time remaining until the end of this Government's term of office may be short, but I think that what we can fit into this time, and what will fruitfully fill this time, is enough. I shall list some of them:
- the arrangement and the first organization of the structures of the Ministry of State,
- the integration of all structures and organizations into the new organizational structure, with the reform in the THOC and the transfer of the responsibility for theatrical development and the "Thymeli" program to the Ministry of State, the interconnection of the Symphony Orchestra with the Ministry of State, the reorganisation and upgrading of the State Gallery, the preparation for the integration - a year from now - of the Department of Antiquities, which will become the executive structure for Cultural Heritage in the Ministry of State, but also the necessary reorganization of the Cultural Services, which will form the axis of the policy for cultural creation
; the start of work on the Archaeological Museum (a truly historic development), a project of course under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport, but whose responsibility will then be taken over by the Deputy Ministry of Culture
- the final stage of the construction project of the Cyprus Library - since we have just recently succeeded, with the new Advisory Committee and the Director, Mr.
- the follow-up that I think can be given to the draft legislation that we have prepared, with the valuable help of the Legislation Commissioner Mrs. Louisa Zannetou, for the registration of the professional status of artists and the creation of a Register, which I am handing over to the Deputy Minister,
- the creation of structured structures both for cultural diplomacy - a sector in which there is a real field of excellence - in cooperation of course with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also for the formulation and implementation of a policy that will systematically exploit the synergies between culture and tourism...along with other things that the Deputy Minister certainly has in mind - and that will constitute a brilliant legacy for the future.
I will even deliver a record of recommendations arising from developments so far - something like a "white paper" for the transition.
There is no doubt that in the years to come, the State will need to devote more resources to culture and its management. But this, beyond the universal empirical finding, would be appropriate to come through strategic planning and discrete policy objectives. I think that this would be the main task of a separate Ministry of State. And to do it, but also to make it better heard... I want to assure John and his colleagues here that I will be with him in this effort and in any assertion. As you know, the policy decisions on the creation of all the deputy ministries so far - the beneficial activity of which I think we have all seen - predicted that these would be roughly budget neutral. In other words, when they were created, there was no automatic support in terms of budget or human resources. That does not mean, of course, that there are no needs. There are. They certainly exist in the case of the Deputy Ministry of Culture. They will have to be filled in an organised manner and through the new coherent planning, then.
At the same time, I would like to point out that with the experience of our recent joint visit with the Deputy Minister in Athens and the cooperation with the very good colleague Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni - whom I thank warmly both for the cooperation in the previous difficult years, and for the welcome now and the willingness to support and synergize with the Deputy Ministry, as well as her colleagues - I saw the great zeal and the great plans that the Deputy Minister is embarking on.
Together with the visit to Athens, we wanted to underline the role that this development of our cultural policy can play within the single cultural space in which we have been participating with Greece for millennia and which we share with Hellenism everywhere. The thread of our common Greek culture, which always comes unbroken through centuries and millennia, is not only a testimony and record of our roots and origins. But it is also the current daily reality through the habits, preferences, creativity and cultural experiences of our people and can and should be a source of inspiration and contemporary creation. While it certainly acquires new dimensions nowadays, as a passport within the space and with the contemporary approaches of European culture in which we also participate. On the occasion of this visit and the consultations and understandings, I also noted an important vision that will be unfolded by Yannis Toumazis and some of the high goals that he is also setting through this strategic cooperation.
It goes without saying, of course, that with the handover of the Deputy Ministry and the formal change of title, the name of the Ministry of Culture, the cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Deputy Ministry of Culture does not end but continues and will be close and regular. And because the synergies between the two areas are numerous and given, but also because we will support the work of the Deputy Minister and his colleagues. Moreover, in the context of the European Council of Ministers, education and culture very often go together, through plans and specific objectives on the basis of which our actions are reorganised.
Remembering that from the first moment I was appointed by the President of the Republic as Minister of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth, I had as a priority the creation of the State Ministry of Culture, which was a programmatic position of the Presidency - with the President himself repeatedly showing personal interest - but I am glad that it is now being implemented! Because I still remember a meeting we organized with the Institute of Culture, in early 2013, between the then Presidential candidate Nicos Anastasiades and people of culture at the Famagusta Gate. With the theme "The word to creators" and the proposal that was put forward there, as a policy direction, the creation of a Deputy Ministry. We were inevitably delayed by the great economic crisis and then by the pandemic. But we never abandoned that goal and today that commitment of the President is being implemented.
Along the way until the "autonomy", so to speak, of a Deputy Ministry of Culture, we faced problems and difficulties. Even resistance - I will not hide it. But that is often the case with great changes with vision.
Throughout this time I have met and listened to many opinions and suggestions from personalities from the field of culture. People who have long been waiting for a more substantial involvement of the State and the Government in matters of culture, an upgrading of the policy on culture in our country. I have also had several consultations with collective bodies representing people who are active or literally live with cultural creation and we are well aware of the difficulties they face, their anxieties and expectations. These consultations and exchanges of views have been very helpful. Today I would also like to thank in particular the 25-member advisory committee that has been working for the last 2-3 years and from which I have heard ideas and suggestions - both for the Deputy Ministry and for the legislative proposal for the introduction of professional status. I also owe thanks to all the organised collective bodies that submitted comments and suggestions.
Some of them - such as those concerning the inclusion of architectural heritage - were not practically suitable for immediate adoption, but remain as an immediate objective. While I think the integration of audiovisual media and creativity can also be an objective.
But we have also been helped by all the preparatory work done previously, for years, on either the creation of a 'Cultural Authority' or a 'Cultural Body'. I also personally thank the former Director of Cultural Services, Mr. Pavlos Paraskevas, who collected, summarized and processed previous plans and suggestions, and held a number of meetings both for the creation of a Deputy Ministry and for the establishment of the professional status of the artist. I also owe thanks to the former Director, Ms Eleni Nikita, who had worked systematically on the issue, with whom I worked and who helped with suggestions and opinions. There were many who helped and unfortunately I cannot mention each one individually by name. But I thank them all. However, I must also mention personally our close colleague in the Ministry, the Director of Secondary General Education, Mr. Kyprianos Louis, who took over in this interim period and performed with great diligence and dedication the duties of Deputy Director of Cultural Services when the position became vacant. I thank him for his dedication, for his care to ensure that the services continued to operate smoothly and for his assistance, from the very first moment, to the Deputy Minister in preparing for his assumption of office and the installation of the offices of the Deputy Minister and the Directorate General in this iconic building. My special thanks also go to the Commissioner for Legislation, Mrs Louisa Zannetou, who not only helped us, but showed particular interest and we had very good cooperation both on the basic legislation of the Ministry of State and on the legislation prepared for the establishment of the professional status of artists and the creation of a register.
In our preparatory work, we also made use of previous drafts and proposals from previous Governments. I just want to clarify that the difference that was made with the final design for a Deputy Ministry was that this structure would be more inclusive and comprehensive than other schemes that have been designed in the past. We were not just limited to a transformation of the Cultural Services, but there was a broader design so that we were dealing with the whole of culture. Including of course a heritage structure - as in all countries where there is a Ministry of Culture - and therefore antiquities, providing for a centralised theatre development structure and policy from the State (and therefore ending the paradoxical policy whereby private theatres were dependent on another theatre - albeit a state theatre - for funding), bringing in the Ministry of State and the craft structures from the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry. Including the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra Foundation in the Deputy Ministry of Culture and no longer in the Ministry of Finance, and so on.
In the Deputy Ministry, culture will be... all of culture (if I may say so). And yet there are still things to come - like the example I gave of Architecture. But now there is a basis on which we can build more.
At this point, indeed, referring also to the broader proposals of the Governance Programme for Culture, that we should finally make one thing clear: a better policy for culture does not just mean "more money". It cannot simply be limited to some expansive grant policy, to more funds and resources alone. Need I recall the scathing comments of a Yannis Tsarouchis who spoke of the 'talent of some to get grants', i.e. the 'art' that develops and redeems itself within the bureaucratic aid system? Surely greater resources, infrastructure creation and major programmes and events are needed and will help. Substantial grant programs have a necessary role to play. But we should not stop there. More is needed. I personally believe that the conditions are ripe for us to draw inspiration from other precedents worthy of emulation in the European area and to study and formulate a policy for culture with specific objectives and philosophy. I could cite wise legacies of an Andre Malraux or more recently Jacques Lang or even examples from Spain and Italy. But why not recall the visionary and inspiring campaign courageously launched by a Melina Mercouri for the Parthenon Sculptures which today, after so many years of persistent efforts and the fervour shown by hundreds of thousands of sensitive people, an international audience in cultural alertness and the creation in between of the truly wondrous Acropolis Museum, seems to have reasonable prospects of coming to fruition?
One could talk about these issues for hours. But not here. Here and now, expressing great satisfaction since this objective of the Government has been achieved and since Cyprus will henceforth have a Deputy Ministry of Culture, I wish the Deputy Minister, my friend Yannis Toumazis, good work and success. A good start, Yannis, for you personally and for a new era in cultural policy. Finally, I assure you and your colleagues once again that both I personally and the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth will be at your disposal and will support, as we can, the very demanding work you are undertaking for the coming period.
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