About us
Centre for Study in Cultural Development was established by the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia by the Law on the Establishment of the Centre for Study in Cultural Development in 1967. It was founded due to the necessity of planning and implementing cultural policies professionally, efficiently and effectively, and of developing scientific thinking of culture in Serbia. The Centre is the only institution in Serbia which deals exclusively with research in the field of culture and is the core of the Ministry of Culture and Information.
The role of the Institute reflects in the study of social phenomena and cultural changes, as well as finding opportunities and models of using modern methods of operation and improvement of cultural activities. In addition to the crucial link with the Ministry of Culture and Information, which supports and influences the activity of the Centre with its needs, the work of the Centre includes the permanent collaboration with all participants in culture: state institutions, non-governmental organizations, associations and experts in culture.
Expert team of the Center consists of people of different professional profiles (such as sociologists, ethnologists, archeologists, psychologists, historians and art historians, and others)
Main field of activities are research studies (scientific, development and applied research on different subjects) mainly in areas of sociology of culture, cultural policy and cultural participation. All of the studies are based on scientific postulates, and usually combine quantitative and qualitative techniques and methods. Each study has a segment of main issues and recommendations. On that way, studies can be very useful for planning and defining of cultural policy and measures.
Projects
Research Projects
The subject of current research projects of the Centre ranges from amateurism, culture for children, culture and work through cultural events, the study of different forms of art, to cultural participation of different population groups, regional cultural development, urban culture, audience, material and human resources, cultural tourism and cultural policies of cities and municipalities in Serbia.
Through its research, documentation and publishing activities, Centre for Study in Cultural Development contributes to the national culture in the field of study, preservation and presentation of material and non-material cultural heritage, in the field of scientific research in culture and art, connecting culture with other departments, as well as the establishment of cooperation with the civil sector, and more balanced cultural development through the launch of an initiative to define development plans in the culture of cities in the country.
Statistics in culture
Activities of the Centre also focus on the development of databases and collecting statistical data in culture, which provide an overview of all the participants in the culture and information essential for their activities. Therefore, in 2013, Protocol of Cooperation with the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia was signed with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information. With this Protocol, Centre for Study of Cultural Development, as an institution with a long tradition of studying cultural activities, took over process of collecting statistics on culture on the territory of Serbia. The Centre seeks to use the advantages of the modern society of information and computers. Namely, cultural bases are specialized electronic applications available to all interested citizens on the website of the Centre. The largest base of institutions and organizations in culture is E-culture that can be searched according to various criteria and is available on a separate web page (http://www.e-kultura.net/)
Publishing
The magazine Culture was published for the first time in 1968 and since the beginning has been the media for the expressions and opinions of experts and intellectuals in the field of humanities. The magazine deals with the sociology of culture and cultural politics, but also delves into the topics of general social significance. The Culture is a scientific magazine registered with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, and consequently is a significant reference to scholars who publish their works in it.
The Culture magazine is published quarterly and the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia has enabled its printing since 2001. With the support of the relevant ministry, digitizing all copies of The Culture magazine was completed in 2009.
It is important to point out that The Culture significantly promotes cultural exchange and connecting the Centre to almost all cultural institutions and experts in the country and the Region.
“Space“ for expression
Discussions and exhibitions are regular, yearly activities of the Centre. Thus, this institution gets a significant role in interpreting and explaining the social and cultural phenomena, but also is a place of the promotion of artistic expression. Debates are events and meeting points of experts and intellectual elite, a place of cooperation among the participants in the culture, and education of relevant subjects. Annually Center organizes more than 20 exhibitions and around 10 other events (debates, seminars, workshops, conferences, training).
International cooperation
Centre for the Study in Cultural Development has a long tradition of cooperation with foreign partners and international organizations. Moreover, the experts of the Centre are often participants of international meetings within the framework of national delegations, and independently, representing Serbian culture and cultural policy in the world.
Today, the Centre, together with the Ministry of Culture and Information, is the national contact point for the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (UNESCO 2005). Within its activities related to the Convention, the Centre is actively involved in the promotion of cultural diversity and monitoring creative and cultural industries. One of the segments of its work is the celebration of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (May 21 each year) through seminars, conferences and trainings. Also, the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Centre for the Study in Cultural Development are the organizers and coordinators of the pre-process for selecting projects for the support from the International Fund for Cultural Diversity.
Center also currently works with the Ministry of Culture and Information on Culture for Development Indicators (UNESCO Convention 2005). Main activities are research on cultural habits, needs and opinions of citizens of Serbia, as well as gathering data on all relevant issues in this multidimensional methodology, along with partner institutions.
In 2015, also in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Center has created report about cultural industries as part of wider research on the state of cultural industries in South-East and Central Europe. Project coordinator is the National Institute for Cultural Development in China.
The Centre is also a participant and partner to many towns in Serbia who have been working on their strategic documents and improvement of cultural programmes. Thus, a significant collaboration of an international character was implemented in 2013, where the Centre participated in IPA programme of the cross-border cooperation between Serbia and Romania with research.
Marina Lukic Cvetic