The Development of Cultural Policies in Poland after 1989. Ministerial Concepts.

The article refers to the development of cultural policies in Poland after the collapse of the Communist era in 1989. The main topic of the text is a critical approach to the succeeding ministerial concepts of cultural changes planned for the transition period. The author explores various documents and governmental papers published by the Polish Ministry of Culture as well as some national programmes, actions and declarations. The article presents a broad overview of the nature of changes in Polish culture since 1989 until 2014. This was an especially troublesome period. The Polish artists, activists and operators moved from the centrally-organised political and cultural system to the decentralised liberal democratic country, in which the freedom of expression was guaranteed and a new management system was introduced and adopted.

Setting aside the fact that lack of policy is also a policy, while analyzing the events of the last 25 years in cultural policy, from the perspective of the year 2014, I wonder whether we can really say that there is no cultural policy in Poland? The author describes and analysis the changes in the sphere of culture management and the cultural policy in Poland during the last quarter of the century. The responsibility for cultural policy rests not only with the central authorities, Ministry of Culture but also local governments, which are more including into the decision-making process the citizens. Citizens are becoming more aware of their rights. Apart from cultural institutions, nongovernmental organizations are more and more often the contractors of public tasks. They co-create and enrich the cultural offer of cities and regions signifi cantly. Not only the number of non-governmental organizations is increasing but also their creativity and the level of the professionalization of their actions. The cultural activity is more and more often undertaken by private economic operators (not only art galleries, but also artistic agencies and impresarios). They cannot count on subsidies from local governments’ budget any more, but they can become contractors of the services at their request under the Public Procurement Law, what, thanks to the last amendment (raising the threshold for public procurement to more than 30 000 Euro) will become a bit easier from the procedural point of view. The role of public cultural institutions is changing. Many of them redefi ned their mission and have been successively building new relations with the audience, taking into consideration the changing needs of the consumers, new economic conditions. Despite the underdeveloped sponsoring in Poland, many of them use the conceptions of CSR and CCR, others diversify their offer, both in terms of the merits and the price, often introducing commercial offer as a complementary one. The new infrastructure in Poland, in case of many cultural institutions, contributed to a substantial change and to the improvement of their conditions. After many years of total investment stagnation in this sphere, together with Poland’s accession into the EU, the Polish state and local governments started to undertake the tasks in this area more bravely. New infrastructure naturally generates the need of innovation. Cultural institutions more willingly and effectively make use of new media today (communication with the audience, mailing, FB, promotion, marketing, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing). They more often see the importance of spending money on marketing activities, which they used to economize on, in case of a shortfall of funds for substantive activities.

Competing institutional logics and the management of culture

The methods and tools borrowed from the private sector, such as planning, cost-benefit analysis, quality management, and many others, seem to be indispensable in the management of art organizations such as museums, galleries, and theatres. However, the use of such methods increases the legitimization of business logic within the realm of culture and may bring on detrimental consequences. In this paper the competing logics perspective is employed to analyze this problem by showing the main tension lines between the institutional logics present in the sphere of culture. Specifically, the tensions between the bureaucratic, cultural, and market logics are analyzed. The paper ends with a number of suggestions regarding the future of institutional logics conflict in the realm of culture.
 

Assessment of Informal Sources of Information on The Internet When Making Purchasing Decisions by Young Consumers

The study presents the results of a research aimed to determine the assessment of informal sources of information on the Internet by young consumers (aged 15 to 24 years). The swomystematization of literature regarding the search for information made it possible to identify the variables which were used as evaluation factors. The research shows that gender, the extent of the use of the Internet to search for information in the process of purchasing, and the prior use of informal sources diversify this assessment. This, however, is connected with the impact of a particular source on purchasing decisions.
 

Fashionable, but dangerous nonsense. Management gurus from a critical perspective

The objective of the article is a critical diagnosis of the hazards which may result from being deluded by universal prescriptions for success which are smuggled by management gurus. ‘Corporate culturism’ as an example of a management panacea and corporatization of higher education as a main power for guru’s industry were analysed in detail.
 

The mediatisation of science. The role of scientists in the era of paleo- and neo-television

The changes in the mechanisms of mass media functioning led by television forced a transformation within the relations between the media and the science. The article addresses issues related to the change in the status and role of scientists in the era of mass media dominance.
 

The journalistic autopoiesis. Journalistic self-regulation and self-esteem in discourse

This article examines journalism considered as a profession, an attitude towards the world, and a public and ethical duty requiring charisma and leadership. Through analyzing the media system the author concludes that the journalistic identity currently undergoes a crisis. This paper sketches out the assumptions on which a theory of self-definition, self-regulation and self-esteem in journalism is based, as well as the kind of insights it promises, and how it can be applied in journalism research and practice. The paper is an attempt to consider and compare the contemporary issues of professional identity based on the crisis of leadership in journalism and media.
 

Laudacja  prof. zw. dr. hab. Emila Orzechowskiego

Salon Heleny Modrzejewskiej realny (Emil Orzechowski) i wirtualny (Aneta Maj)

Recenzja artykułu Katherine NöllingDobro kultury czy kultura jako dobro − rozważania w ujęciu ekonomicznym