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 researchers Rita Azar and Watfaa Hamadi. 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 2013 was done by the researcher Kaouter Slimani. Then updated again in 2014 by the researcher Mouna Merhi, you can find these most recent updates in green within the survey. 1 Summary 1. Cultural Context ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Socio-cultural Perspective .................................................................................... 4 1.2 Cultural Policies and Tools; A Historical Perspective ........................................... 4 2. Dependency, decision-making and administration ........................................................ 10 2.1 Organizational structure .................................................................................... 10 2.2 Overall description of the system (all factors of cultural policy) ....................... 18 2.3 Inter- ministerial or intergovernmental (inter-sectoral) co-operations ............. 19 2.4 International cultural co-operation ................................................................... 23 2.5 Cultural policies of foreign agencies .................................................................. 26 2.6 Cultural policy within the independent (civil) sector.......................................... 29 2.7 Cultural policy within the private (commercial) sector ...................................... 31 3- General Objectives and Principles of Cultural Policy ..................................................... 33 3.1 Main elements of the current cultural policy model .......................................... 34 3.2 National Definition of Culture: ........................................................................... 35 3.3 Cultural Policy Objectives ................................................................................... 35 3.4 Criteria and process for evaluating cultural policy ............................................ 36 4- Current issues in cultural policy development and debate ......................................... 38 4.1 Main cultural policy issues and priorities........................................................... 38 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates ....................................................................... 38 4.3 Cultural diversity ................................................................................................ 39 4.4 Media pluralism and content diversity .............................................................. 42 4.5 Cultural industries: policies and programmes ................................................... 44 4.7 New technologies and cultural policies ............................................................. 45 4.8 Heritage issues and policies ............................................................................... 46 5. Main legal provisions in the cultural field ......................................................................... 48 5.1 General legislation ............................................................................................. 48 5.2 Legislation on culture ......................................................................................... 58 5.3 Sector specific legislation ................................................................................... 58 6. Financing of culture ................................................................................................................... 64 6.1 Short overview (funding trends and procedures) .............................................. 64 6.2 Public cultural expenditure per capita ............................................................... 66 6.3 Public cultural expenditure broken down by level of government .................... 66 2 6.4 Public cultural expenditure distribution on administrative, assets and program costs ......................................................................................................................... 67 6.5 Sector breakdown .............................................................................................. 67 6.6 Private sector expenditure ................................................................................. 69 6.7 Independent (civil) sector expenditure .............................................................. 69 6.8 Foreign agencies expenditure: ........................................................................... 70 7. Cultural institutions and new partnerships ...................................................................... 72 7-1 Re-allocation of public responsibilities (privatization, restructuring etc.) ......... 72 7.2 Status/role and development of major cultural institutions ............................. 72 7.3 Emerging partnerships or collaborations .......................................................... 72 8. Support to creativity and participation .............................................................................. 74 8.1 Direct and indirect support to artists: ................................................................ 74 8.2 Audience and participation ................................................................................ 77 8.3 Arts & Culture Education ................................................................................... 81 9. Sources and Links ....................................................................................................................... 89 3 1. Cultural Context 1.1 Socio-cultural Perspective The cultural life in Lebanon is a product of diversity, immigration, conflicts and the aptitude of the Lebanese people for initiation, adaptation, openness, home economics and adjustment. It has always been characterized with a type of dynamism independent from official policies. The Lebanese cultural life, which walks side by side with the social and intellectual movement in Lebanon, is a product and sponsored by civilized diversity by the sectarian and ethnic groups. Due to these differences, there will be diversity in the visions of cultural policies, as well as the cultural life. Some consider the National charter of 1943 represented the Arab aspects of Lebanon while others believe that Lebanon is a diverse and independent state with communal characteristics (Cultural Roots of Lebanese Wars, Reverend Kameel Mubarak and Dr. Jan Paul). Undoubtedly, there is a difference in vision of cultural policies with regard to the aforementioned differences. Furthermore, the cultural life wasn’t established based on a cultural policy because the Ministry of Culture and the Higher Education minstry didn’t exist till 1993 and has not yet established on an integrated cultural policy. This is evident in the political thinking and the dispute concerning the education curricula as the main problem in this regard seems to be the agreement on the dimensions of the Lebanese civilization and its sources as well as the Lebanese history and its components. This stems from an objective disagreement about the essence of Lebanon between Christians and Muslims. On one hand, Christians believe in Lebanon; the permanent home on its own with free political directions. On the other hand, Muslims, especially the Sunnis, believe that Lebanon is part of the Arab World, from which Lebanon derived its culture and civilization and it should return to the Arab World in all cases and issues. Therefore, the dispute stands especially concerning the book of history; which history we want? Moreover, culture in Lebanon is still the product of civil organizations while public organizations produce cultural activities distributed by different