Naslov
The Transition of a Cultural Institution from Socialist Communism to Democratic Capitalism: Case-Study Dubrovnik Summer Festival
(Socialist Communism to Democratic Capitalism: Case-Study Dubrovnik Summer Festival)

Autori
Zuvela Busnja, Ana

Izvornik
Meno istorija ir kritika (1822-4555) UDK 7(05) (2007); 217-224

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
cultural policy; cultural institutions; cultural transition and change

Sažetak
With the expansion of the European Union and proclaiming global democratization, different international cultural policies are being examined and compared. These are all products of the same or rather similar political systems based on firm capitalist grounds. Simultaneously, the new countries just joined or joining the EU are still undergoing the process of transition from socialist, post-communist political systems to capitalist democratization. Although the transition processes are based on changes in legislative and social policies, considerable aftereffects of the transition are left on mastodont cultural intitutions. These institutions were the central platforms of the socialist cultural policies as they represented the main source for production and generation of the social capital in non-capitalist political structures. Dubrovnik Summer Festival is the perfect example of a cultural institution affected by the transition. Founded in 1949 by President Tito of the Socialist Federal Republics of Yugoslavia, it was one of the main and monumental cultural events in the Europe ( it has been the member of the European Festival Association since 1956) in which the vast majority of the internationally renowned artists participated. It reinvented Dubrovnik as a unique place reserved for the cultural elite. Throughout the half-century of its existence, the Summer Festival has culturally shaped the population of Dubrovnik – created audiences with the most sophisticated tastes and knowledge of the arts. By generously financing the Festival, socialist government has managed to leave the true profit of the arts within the community. My paper will investigate if this was the intended result of clear socialist cultural policy and also what side-effects it had. Further on, the paper will follow the festival through the collapse of Yugoslavia, the war, and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Croatia. Presently, Dubrovnik Summer Festival is still under the High Patronage of the President of the State and the State's Parliament, and is still recognized as the main cultural event but only on a national level as the present cultural policies and overall political and economical circumstances do not allow financial space to invest in regaining the international reputation. Apart from the actual Festival's image and the lack of high-profile artistic content caused by the limited funds and change in policies, a major shift has been evident in the obvious demise of the level of cultural awareness within the community. This is a rather disputed theory by the newly founded capitalist administration, as all policies from the previous system (subsequent to the conflict of interests and ideologies which resulted in a full-blown war) are denounced and criticized. It is my aim to distinctly define the backgound, source and intent of the socialist and capitalist cultural policies and compare their separate effects on the same institution and consequently their impact on the community/public. By comparison, I also intend to emphasise the direct involment of the politics and the application of the political interests in cultural policies, regardless of the actual system.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Politologija, Sociologija, Znanost o umjetnosti

POVEZANOST RADA