Model for Sustainable Regional Cultural Development

The Model for Sustainable Regional Cultural Development was approved in July 2018. The aim of this model is to empower local communities by devolving decision making powers on culture policy priorities and distribution of funds for art and culture to the regional level.
According to this model, 10 Regional Arts Councils (one for each county in the country) were established. Every Council includes two representatives of corresponding municipalities, i.e. one expert from the municipality and one elected expert from the local art/culture community. This initiative is expected to increase the democratisation of culture by bringing the decision-making process closer to local communities and creating a coordinated network of expertise and knowledge. It also encourages cultural project managers and communities to reconsider the identity of their region, the ways they collaborate with each other or internationally and the need to ensure accessibility to variety of cultural activities.
The first achievement of this initiative is the increase in communication activities: various conferences and meetings between Regional Arts Councils and their communities have already been organised. It has resulted in growing activity of project managers from the regions and the increased trust in the Lithuanian Council for Culture as the main funding institution in the country for cultural projects.