Full Profile (2014)
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Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafi (Culture Resource) Organization launched in 2009 a regional initiative aims to identify the main features of cultural policy in Arab countries. The ultimate goal is to build a Knowledge Base that supports cultural planning and collaboration in the region, as well as propose mechanisms to develop cultural work in Arab countries. First stage of the project targeted preliminary surveys of policies, legislations, and practices that guide cultural work in eight Arab countries: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. The process of Monitoring was conducted in the period between May 2009 and January 2010 by Arab researchers from all eight countries, and thus “Ettijahat. Independent culture” as the regional coordinator of the project developed the surveys and updated its information and data through specialized researchers who reviewed the information and amended it based on the most recent developments in the cultural scene. The study has been completed according to the Compendium model which is adopted in study about cultural policies around the world. Research is divided into the following: 1- Cultural context from a social and historical perspective. 2- Administrative Subsidiarity and decision-making. 3- General objectives and principles of cultural policies. 4- Current topics debated in cultural policy development. 5- Main legal texts in the cultural field. 6- Financing of culture events and institutions. 7- Cultural institutions and new partnerships. 8- Supporting creativity and collaborations. This survey has been conducted in 2009 and 2010 by the researcher Mounha Al Batrawi and Nermeen Khafaji. The original material of the current survey is found below in black. "Ettijahat. Independent culture", a regional coordinator of the project has updated the exploratory surveys periodically, in cooperation with national groups and independent researchers, the updates in the year 2014 was done by the researcher Ayman Masoud, you can find these most recent updates in blue within the survey. 1 Summary 1. Cultural context ................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Socio-cultural perspective ...................................................................................................... 4 1.2. Historical perspective: cultural policies and instruments ...................................................... 5 2. Remit, decision-making and administration ....................................................................... 13 2.1. Organizational structure (Organigram) .............................................................................. 13 2.2. Overall description of the system (all actors of cultural policy) .......................................... 22 2.3. Inter- ministerial or intergovernmental (inter-sectoral) cooperation ................................. 25 2.4. International cultural cooperation ...................................................................................... 27 2.5. Cultural policies of external agencies .................................................................................. 29 2.6. Cultural policies within the independent (civil) sector ........................................................ 30 2.7. Cultural policies within the private (commercial) sector ..................................................... 32 3. General Objectives and Principles of Cultural Policies ........................................................ 33 3.1. Key Elements of the Current Cultural Policies Model .......................................................... 34 3.2. The National Definition of Culture....................................................................................... 35 3.3. The Objectives of Cultural Policies ....................................................................................... 35 3.4. The Standards and Methods of Cultural Policies evaluation............................................... 36 4. Current issues in cultural policy development and debate ................................................. 39 4.1. Main cultural policy issues and priorities ............................................................................ 39 4.2. Recent policy issues and debates ........................................................................................ 40 4.3 Cultural diversity ................................................................................................................... 41 4.4 Media pluralism and content diversity ................................................................................. 50 4.5 Cultural industries: policies and programmes ...................................................................... 52 4.6 Employment policies for the cultural sector ......................................................................... 58 4.7 New technologies and cultural policies ................................................................................ 59 4.8 Heritage issues and policies ................................................................................................. 60 4.9 Other relevant issues and debates ....................................................................................... 61 5. Main legal provisions in the cultural field .......................................................................... 63 5.1 General legislation ................................................................................................................ 63 5.2 Legislation on culture ........................................................................................................... 84 5.3 Sector specific legislation ..................................................................................................... 86 6. Financing of culture ......................................................................................................... 100 6.1 Short overview (funding trends and procedures) ............................................................... 100 6.2 Public cultural expenditure per capita ............................................................................... 101 6.3 Public cultural expenditure broken down by level of government ..................................... 101 6.4 Public cultural expenditure broken down into administrative, assets and program costs 104 6.5 Sector breakdown ............................................................................................................... 107 6.6 Private sector expenditure ................................................................................................. 107 6.7 Independent (civil) sector expenditure ............................................................................... 107 6.8 Foreign agencies expenditure ............................................................................................ 108 7. Cultural institutions and new partnerships ...................................................................... 110 2 7.1. Re-allocation of public responsibilities .............................................................................. 110 7.2. Status/role and development of major cultural institutions ............................................. 110 7.3. Emerging partnerships or collaborations .......................................................................... 112 8. Support to creativity and participation ............................................................................ 114 8.1 Direct and indirect support to artists ................................................................................. 114 8.2 Audiences and participation ............................................................................................... 116 8.3 Arts and cultural education ................................................................................................ 117 8.4 Socio-cultural interventions and community arts .............................................................. 121 9. Sources and Links ............................................................................................................ 123 9.1. Key Documents on Cultural Policy ..................................................................................... 123 9.2. Key Organizations and Portals .......................................................................................... 124 3 1. Cultural context The Arab Republic of Egypt is a country located in the Northeastern corner of Africa, with an area of 1,001,450 square kilometers. Arabic is the official language of the state, and the majority of inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. However, the country has racial and religious diversity (Christians, Nubians, Bahá'ís, Shiites and Armenians). According to the 2009 census, the population of Egypt is about 76 million inhabitants. As of May 2013, the website of census bureau shows this number to exceed 84,355,000 not including another 8 million living abroad Egyptians. According to the Egyptian State Information Service, the country’s population has reached up to 95 million as of Saturday 18/08/2014 with an increase of one million in less than six months. Inside Egypt the population is 87 million while the population of the diaspora abroad reached 8 million according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ census. The country is divided into 29 administrative entities (governorates), and most inhabitants live in the Nile Valley, especially in the capital, Cairo, where almost