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“Number of principled issues have been accumulated in the sphere of culture, and the government programme does not offer solutions to them,” Gagik Manasyan, director of the Armenian state philharmonic SNCO and member of the Public Council said in an interview with Panorama.am when asked to comment on the government programme.

Apart from standard formulations and wishes, Manasyan wanted to see concrete suggestions, instructions. “In general, the whole programme lacks numbers and specifics. We could have details such as how the audience will increase, what steps should be taken to increase the quality of delivered services by cultural organisations, whether we should proceed with growing the number of mass events or focusing on the quality instead,” Manasyan listed some of concerning issues.

In the expert’s words’ over the past 28 years only 9 laws have been adopted aimed at regulating the culture sphere which is quite few.

“Once we have a legislation it regulates an activity of a certain culture sphere, otherwise people will fill the vacant place and interpret on their own and promote their preferences. The law is a need as it sets favorable conditions for culture workers to create,” Manasyan noted.

He also expressed his disappointment over the government move to merge the Ministry of Culture, that will inevitable decrease its role. “The Ministry of Culture is governmental body authorized with powers to work out and implement a culture policy. It thus acts as an authorized agency of the state. If the sphere is derived of a right to be a part of the government, it will turn into a secondary actor and adjunct to another agency unable to implement any policy. I opposed the initiative of merging the ministry from the beginning as it may decrease the role of culture,” Manasyan said.