The cost of image management exemplified by the I.J. Paderewski International Piano

The case study presents the mechanism of generating image creating costs. It presents a specific, artistic brand based on a worldwide tested model of an international competition. The examples observed in China, Russia, Japan, the USA, Germany or Great Britain indicate that investing in a topclass music competition fosters national brand creation, which confirms the ambitions of the state institutions as well as the elites. On numerous occasions such a situation is accompanied by the identification with homeland culture and exploitation of one’s own native artists, which may be illustrated by the piano competitions named after P. Czajkowski, F. Chopin, W.A. Mozart, L. van Beethoven, G. Enescu or F. Busoni. The analysis of a specific draft budget presents the anticipated costs to attract jurors, offer adequate financial prizes, and what is most important, prizes in the form of concert tours and contracts with renowned impresarios. Not uncommonly the draft budget is subject to unexpected alternations, which in result complicates the financial settlement of the Competition. Additionally, bureaucracy relating to grant obtainment complicates the organization of the Competition, and this situation tends to afflict competition organizers worldwide.
An important element contributing to the strengthening of a competition brand consits in the dissemination of related information in specialist media and the Internet. Insofar as the Net is free of charge, the specialist press requires financial outlays that significantly increase the costs of Competition production; still even high costs guarantee a prompt recovery of outlays by creating a prestigious brand.

Journalists as a professional category in the context of the press law changes , postulates of media management groups and attempts to introduce corporate limits

Journalism, belonging to a group of creative professions, should emphasize the following categories: social status and required qualifications, personal space, and professional, corporate and public-legal loads. Based on these factors, this study attempts to identify identity, legal and economic status as well as the responsibilities of the members of the community of professional journalists. It has been established that a journalist is a person who works intellectually over the material collection, creating texts, broadcasts, programs, internet publications. At the same time, this person remains in a stable relationship with the editors.
Taken in mid-2012, the amendment to the Press Law takes into account the elements of the legal and economic status of the journalistic profession. Furthermore, the article defines journalism as a modern professional category in the context of European legislation, national as well as environmental discussion of journalists and publishers associated with the changes in the perception of journalism.

Theatre, Dance and Liturgy

The “Węgajty” Theatre School /Schola/ which operates in Warmia under the management and supervision of Wolfgang Niklaus, tries to reconstruct the medieval liturgical plays. After a few centuries of absence from the public scene in the Middle Ages (or else of concealed presence in the form of folk and ritual spectacles), the medieval theatre became reborn precisely within the Church. – In all likelihood, before the 10th century, short dramatized forms, known as liturgical plays, were presented as part of the liturgy. Like all ceremonial liturgy, they were meant to be sung, nearly in their entirety. Gradually, they were extended to form fully-fledged liturgical plays.
When reforming the liturgy and tidying up liturgical books the Council of Trent (1545-1563) at the same time banished liturgical plays from Church interiors. No doubt, it was a legitimate decision on behalf of the Church as more and more lay and even satirical elements began to appear in the church liturgy. Yet, records of liturgical plays, in many cases accompanied by a musical notation and precise “stage” directions, have also been preserved until the present day. Towards the end of the 20th century, many singers, particularly those specializing in old music, tried to reconstruct this form, yet they did so exclusively by adopting the concert form (sometimes even the form of plays, but not those of liturgical spectacles).
The international team grouped in the Theatre School /Schola/ has embarked on an extremely risky task – for after a few centuries of its absence from the public scene, it tried once again to incorporate the liturgical play into its natural environment – by performing it in the course of the liturgy.
In order to fully comprehend this phenomenon, it is worth taking a closer look at Christianity’s attitude towards the theatre. In the present article, I focus chiefly on the liturgical context associated with the activity of the “Węgajta” Theatre School. I write about the theatre in the Bible and I try to describe how the attitude towards it evolved throughout centuries; I also write about dance in the Church and finally about the most important Christian “spectacle” – the Holy Mass.

Crosses of the Suwalki Province of the 19th century: between the Tradition and Government ’s dictate

At the beginning of 19th century cross building was a deeply rooted practice in the Suwalki province. According to the surviving church documents, this tradition dates back to as far as the 18th century.
The natural and sponteneous development of the tradition of cross building was interrupted in 1867, when a ban on building crosses, chapels or other religious symbols, Stations of the Crioss and processions church premises was imposed. Although panalties for disobeying the order were not heavy as in Kaunas and Vilnius provinces, the building, repair and renovation of crosses in the Suwalki province were under strict control of governement officials. Moreover the tsar‘s governement went as far as to regulate the outward apperance of the cross. No decorative elements, sophisticated forms or inscriptions were allowed. As a rule, building metal crosses made of cast iron was not permitted as the latter were said to resemble memorials. Besides, only wooden crosses were considered religious symbols by the civil government. Thus although the tsar‘s governement prevented industrial cast iron crosses from invading the landscape of Suwalki province, yet it also strongly infuenced the form, decoration and the intended purpose of wooden crosses.
Numerous registered violations and penalties testify to people‘s disobedience and resistance to the civil governement in general and the control imposed on cross building in particular. Until then, the latter practice depended exclusively on the builder‘s religious feelings and the only requirement of the clergy was that the Christian iconography and Catholic norms be observed.
The 19th century was the turning point in the tradition of cross building – the religious symbolism of the cross was overshadowed by its political implications. The emergence of historical and political references occurred not only as a result of the 1863 upsising and its subsequent cruel suppression, but also due to the above mentioned restrictions imposed by the tsarist governement, which were meant to control, enfeeble and eventually destroy the tradition in the Catholic regions of the Russian Empire.
In Suwalki province, as in Vilnius or Kaunas provinces, crosses were built to commemorate the ancestors and important life events or by way of pleading for intercession and protection form from various diseases and ill-fortunes.
The distinctive charecteristic of this province is that it is a place where the influences and trends of the other regions come together and undergo transformation. The Caravacan cross, with inscribed abbreviations, is found in Suwalki province more often than in other regions. The plain form and moderate ornamentation of the crosses of the Suvalkija region were determined not only by the specific requirements of the tsarist authorities, but also by people‘s distinctive taste, which was formed way before it could be affected by mass-produced items.

National-religious teachings of Modest Sosenko

The article is dedicated to the artistic output of a famous Ukrainian artist of the beginning of 20th century Modest Sosenko. He is famous for reviving the tradition of Church painting based on the Byzantine tradition and folk art. One of his best works which has been preserved until today – the polychrome of St. Michael Church in the village of Pidberiztci has been analyzed.

Dynamics of change, the utopia of modern Polish cinema

The author of the article analyzes the spheres of film, independent cinema, new models of production and distribution, and new technology. The author puts particular emphasis on studying the socalled principles of the reverse economy. The term ‘reverse economy’ has originated from Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological concept of fields of cultural production. It signifies the inversely proportional principle of culture management: according to this rule, investing relatively little real capital generates a large capital of symbolic value. The main difference between fields of cultural production and any kind of economically-oriented field is based on the fact, that symbolic capital is – as opposed to the ‘real’ one – financially incalculable. In the fields of cultural production the greatest importance is attached to experimental and innovative projects designed to disturb the cultural status quo, whose constitution is always a fatal threat to culture itself. The article also proves that low budgets lead to the creation of new production models, and their influence on the autonomy of creativity in film.

Is it possible to organize an independent art? Analysis of solutions used in the non-institutional German theatre

The article describes the practices of organizing artistic activities away from the traditional patterns of institutional landscape. The general regularities, typical of independent art, are illustrated on the example of a non-institutional theatre in Germany (so-called „Freie Szene”) and supplemented with a discussion of its features inscribed in the local context. Through the introduction of comparison with the situation of the independent art initiatives within the performing arts in Poland, the unique element characteristic of this type of theatre is underlined and pointed to its relationship with the culture management mechanism used in each country. At the same time, an important element in the analysis is the assumption according to which the focus was placed on the non-economic aspects, in order to take into account the wide range of factors that affect the ability to create theatre by independent groups. The observation of the achievements of German art groups leads to the belief that what is particularly important for the independent scene is an organizational model based on proven solutions used in repertory theatres and in creative associations exclusively oriented on project work. Combining independent initiatives with the publicly subsidized theatres and festivals leads to the establishment of new ways of creating, displaying and distributing stage works and additionally blurs the boundary between independent culture and the one associated with the institutions. Background of this reflection is a relationship shaped by cultural centers dedicated to supporting independent theatre with the audience – both in Poland and in Germany – and the issue of the impact of cultural policies on the possibilities of developing independent culture.