24/04/2023
Marko Rusjan, lawyer, art writer and State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, from Nova Gorica. In the 1990s he entered the cultural sphere through the alternative music scene, which he revived in his book Strah pred svobodo ('Fear of Freedom', 2014). He has published in numerous journals (Časopis za kritiko znanosti, Primorska srečanja, Razpotja), was the director of the Masovna Institute (which runs the Mostovna Cultural Centre in Solkan), worked at the Ministry of Transport and the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana, was the producer of the presentation of the Republic of Slovenia at the Venice Biennale, etc. As a member of the Slovenian Left, he currently holds the position of State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, and as such last week he participated in the regional consultation on the vision of cultural policy with the Ministry of Culture in Nova Gorica. Like previous sessions, the penultimate regional consultation was aimed at preparing the reform of the cultural model. Rusjan, together with the Minister of Culture, Dr. Asta Vrečko and colleagues, listened to the cultural actors present in order to better prepare the Ministry for the reform of the cultural model. The representatives of the Ministry first presented the key points of the new cultural policy guidelines and the upcoming changes to the National Programme for Culture, i.e. their understanding of the responsibility for culture, challenges, strategic goals, etc. They then invited the participants to present their proposals for the reform of the cultural model. They encouraged those present to put forward their problems and suggestions: the audience took up the call with a productive debate. Part of the latter also took place with a view to the European Capital of Culture 2025: together with his colleagues, Dr. Rusjan assured that he would definitely and gladly support GO! 2025 and try to alleviate bureaucratic complications and the like for all involved. The debate was interesting and positive, with the feeling that the Ministry cares and that all cultural actors, including those related to the ECOC, will benefit from the changes.
