Within the scope of a public deliberation on the draft Strategy for Cultural Development in the City of Ljubljana 2020-2023 with guidelines until 2027 a public tribunal was held on 2 July 2020 at which the participants commended the prepared document.

The participants highlighted that the draft Strategy expresses the vision for cultural development in Ljubljana and that is successfully addressing challenges brought on by the epidemic and the candidacy for the title European Capital of Culture 2025.

Immense significance of culture for the quality of life

In the City of Ljubljana we are aware of the immense importance of culture for the high quality of life of our citizens. Art in its broadest sense opens important life topics and widens our horizons, that is why we don’t look at it as an expense but as an investment in our common future. In the budget of the City of Ljubljana for this year almost 30 million euro, not including investments, is earmarked for the area of culture.
With the new strategic document we wish to give additional support to artistic creativity in the city, increase the quality of artistic and cultural activities and the international recognisability of Ljubljana. Our vision for Ljubljana is to be a global city of culture, that is, a city which is internationally recognised for its rich cultural heritage, modern cultural infrastructure, support for top artistic creation, a lively cultural beat and excellence of everything culture has to offer. We want to be a city which enables and protects free cultural expression of the artistic community in Slovenia and Ljubljana as well as of all visiting artists.
The new cultural strategy of the City of Ljubljana includes novel contents with which we are raising our ambitions in this area. This arises from the recognition that for cultural policy to be progressive it has to be capable of constantly adapting itself and addressing the challenges of the cultural and creative sector in addition to the society as a whole.

This strategy is forming in times of crisis when there is still uncertainty with regard to the form and the way how to hold cultural events in 2020, perhaps even longer. It is also still impossible to give a clear answer to the question what long-term consequences the epidemic will have on culture, not only in Ljubljana and Slovenia, but also in Europe and the wider area. Despite everything we are going to maintain our core orientation, that is, that for us cultural spending is an investment and not an expense.
That is why the draft document also includes foreseen mechanisms for the cultural policy of the City of Ljubljana during the times of crisis.