New venues of Cultural Institutions in Poland — the Perspective of Local Cultural Ecosystems

Building new venues for cultural activity involves a shift in the balance of power in the entire sys­tem of relations in the local communities of authors and organisers. This is a matter of budget and, very often, also of cultural policy priorities. Furthermore, it entails a significant change in the long-term funding of cultural initiatives and cultural entities in each region. The phenomenon of the emergence of many new cultural facilities has inspired a few fundamental questions about their at­titudes to selected values in the field of sustainable development goals, particularly in the social and economic dimensions, but ultimately also of the impact of new cultural venues on the natural en­vironment. Are the new investments in culture opportunities, challenges, or perhaps threats result­ing from the rescaled or disturbed balance in local cultural ecosystems? The theoretical perspective, which organises the debate on these areas, takes the cultural ecosystem as a key concept, using it as a basis for the description of phenomena in local urban communities. The observations present­ed are based on the qualitative and quantitative research conducted in eight cultural institutions in eight Polish cities. The results reveal the importance of between ten and twenty fundamental di­mensions of the activity of cultural institutions and their local government organisers which allow them to put down their roots more deeply in the city’s cultural ecosystem. A new building opens completely new possibilities, but it is extremely important to tailor the institution to the real, saga­ciously assessed, and well-balanced possibilities of the local ecosystem.

Building new venues for cultural activity involves a shift in the balance of power in the entire sys­tem of relations in the local communities of authors and organisers. This is a matter of budget and, very often, also of cultural policy priorities. Furthermore, it entails a significant change in the long-term funding of cultural initiatives and cultural entities in each region. The phenomenon of the emergence of many new cultural facilities has inspired a few fundamental questions about their at­titudes to selected values in the field of sustainable development goals, particularly in the social and economic dimensions, but ultimately also of the impact of new cultural venues on the natural en­vironment. Are the new investments in culture opportunities, challenges, or perhaps threats result­ing from the rescaled or disturbed balance in local cultural ecosystems? The theoretical perspective, which organises the debate on these areas, takes the cultural ecosystem as a key concept, using it as a basis for the description of phenomena in local urban communities. The observations present­ed are based on the qualitative and quantitative research conducted in eight cultural institutions in eight Polish cities. The results reveal the importance of between ten and twenty fundamental di­mensions of the activity of cultural institutions and their local government organisers which allow them to put down their roots more deeply in the city’s cultural ecosystem. A new building opens completely new possibilities, but it is extremely important to tailor the institution to the real, saga­ciously assessed, and well-balanced possibilities of the local ecosystem.