A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common
cabinet position in
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
s. The culture minister is typically responsible for
cultural policy, which often includes
arts policy
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...
(direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizations) and measures to protect the national heritage of a country and cultural expression of a country or subnational region. This responsibility usually manifests in the accompanying ministry (also called a "department"), governing the following:
* an official registry of protected historic sites and other sites of cultural importance
* maintaining national archives of cultural work, including public
museums
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
,
galleries and
libraries
A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...
* creating a department or ministry of culture or arts
* creating
arts councils, which disburse funding to artists and
arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
organization
* providing funding to artists and arts institutions
In some countries or subnational jurisdictions (e.g., provinces or regions), the minister of culture may also be responsible for sport, youth issues, or tourism (e.g., in Turkey). In a few cases, the minister of culture is also responsible for foreign affairs (e.g., in Scotland), education (e.g., Hungary, Iceland and Indonesia), science and technology policy (e.g., Japan), communications/media (Singapore and UK), or a geographical area associated with national heritage (e.g., Ireland).
Terminology
A culture minister may also be called a cultural minister, minister of culture, minister for culture, minister of cultural affairs, minister of arts, minister of heritage, secretary of culture or secretary of state of culture.
See also
*
Ministry of Education and Culture
*
Minister (government)
References
{{Culture
Culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...