First Ever Cross-Sectoral Debate Highlights the Importance of Cultural Life in Universities

This year, celebrating its 25th anniversary, the International University Theatre Forum “Vilnius Crossroads” hosted a special event—a roundtable discussion on “Small Creative Communities in European Universities”. It was the first time that a discussion of this kind was organised, bringing together participants from the education, culture and art sectors, as well as representatives of various universities.

On 9 May, Europe Day, the hosts of the event—the staff of Vilnius University (VU) Culture Centre, leaders of collectives, and other members of the VU community—gathered in the Rector’s Hall of Vilnius University (VU): Lijana Savickienė, President of the Students’ Representation (SR), Jurgita Petrauskienė, Head of the Strategic Planning Department, Raimonda Markevičienė, Head of the International Relations Office. Also present were representatives of other Lithuanian universities, and Ema Tamaškovičová, a guest from the Slovak Comenius University in Bratislava, who shared her experience. It was a pleasure to have Viktorija Girinskienė, Division of Grants and Financial Support of the State Study Fund (SSF), who co-financed the event with the Vilnius City Municipality, and Vygintas Gasparavičius, Vice-Minister of Culture, in attendance. The discussion was moderated by Arminas Varanauskas.

Cultural activities contribute directly to citizenship

Perhaps the most striking thread connecting the various speeches was the link between culture and citizenship. Mr Varanauskas, who presented a study commissioned by the Lithuanian Council for Culture “Assessing the Impact of Cultural Education Activities”, revealed that active involvement in cultural activities is linked to all kinds of personal and societal benefits: “We see that these [actively involved in culture] people are the happiest, we see that they vote the most, we see that they are the most proud to be Lithuanian citizens, and they have a strong enough civic and national identity.” Ms Petrauskienė echoed him, adding that cultural activities directly contribute to “what kind of attitude we have, what kind of democratic society we are, what kind of civic society we are”, and being a university that builds society and the state is one of the VU’s strategic orientations. As Ms Girinskienė pointed out, we are very much in need of people who love culture and bring others together, especially now, in the context of war.

In an unfavourable political situation, the University and its cultural life can be a real refuge. E. Tamaškovičová, Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator at the Faculty of Arts, explained how, following the recent parliamentary and presidential elections in Slovakia, Bratislava Comenius University has become an island of progressive, liberal and democratic thinking, a space for different communities to come together, express themselves, and organise events. The Vice-Minister of Culture also recalled the history of Lithuania, in which universities have played a special role in fostering Lithuanian identity, culture and resistance through culture. These examples resonated particularly loudly during the election week, as well as in the context of the 20th anniversary of Lithuania’s accession to the EU, which was the focus of this year’s International University Theatre Forum.

Student engagement also depends on finance

The benefits of participating in cultural life are obvious, as evidenced by the members of the VU collectives interviewed in the video and by the participants who spoke at the event, but not everyone is involved, and the older the respondents are, the lower their participation. Compared to the 15-19 age group, the number of people participating in cultural activities tends to decrease by around 20% in the 20-29 age group, according to a study presented by Mr Varanauskas. One of the reasons for this is financial: students say they do not have the money to pay for paid leisure activities. Countries are tackling the problem in different ways. Gintė Jokubaitienė, head of the VU Culture Centre, gave the example of France, where the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Culture have made it possible for professional art to come to universities cheaper or for free. Mr Varanauskas suggested that perhaps we could attract young people, as in the Netherlands, by more actively funding programmes in areas of culture that are of interest to young people and that are currently rarely offered in Lithuania, such as breakdancing, design, architecture, circus etc. Increased funding for projects that do not restrict students’ self-expression also seemed to Ms Savickienė to be an appropriate means of involving students. For his part, the Vice-Minister of Culture promised that the Culture Passport programme, which has so far been used by schoolchildren and vocational school students, would be extended to higher education students.

More cooperation and student initiatives

Cooperation was another recurrent theme at the meeting. In particular, it was welcomed that VU is creating a network of stakeholders through the event, and that other universities and related institutions have responded willingly to the invitation to join. However, there was also a call for even more active cooperation: the Vice-Minister of Culture discussed the possibilities of cooperation between the Ministries of Culture and Education, Science and Sport, the Head of the VU Culture Centre suggested following the example of the University of Granada and ramping up cooperation between the Culture Centre and the faculties, and the Head of the VU Strategic Planning Department suggested pooling best practices within the organisation, learning from other countries, and encouraging universities to think together about how to take better care of culture at the national level.

There were repeated calls to put culture in the hands of the students themselves. This practice has been successful at the University of the Netherlands, as presented by Ms Jokubaitienė, and student associations are also successfully operating at the Comenius University in Bratislava. The plans to establish a Student Initiatives Centre at Vilnius University, where, according to Ms Savickienė, all initiatives could operate under one roof, are therefore very promising. This is especially true since the students’ drive and curiosity is already reflected in the activities of the VU SR and in their applications to the SSF. “They will never stop, they will always listen, they will always look for ways”, Ms Girinskienė, SSF representative, said with admiration for students.

R. Markevičienė encouraged the expansion of student cooperation, inviting them to think more about how to involve exchange students in cultural life. Long-time ensemble member Prof. Eglė Lastauskienė also agreed with the ideas expressed that although we are proud of the professional VU Culture Centre ensembles, it is worth organising informal activities that do not require a high artistic level, but would help to “ignite students’ creativity”; this is only possible through local initiatives, with active student representation at the faculties.

The welcome speech at the beginning of the event was given by the Pro-Rector for Organisation Development and Community Affairs of VU, Prof. Vilmantė Pakalniškienė who recalled the success criterion for discussions, which she had once formulated: if you take at least one idea away from the discussion, it means that the discussion was a success. There is no doubt that there were some ideas about the importance of cultural life, the possibilities of creative communities and the challenges involved. An hour and a half seemed to be too little time for everyone to speak, to react to the experiences of others and to develop the discussion so as time ran out, conversations moved to other spaces. It is to be hoped that this year’s debut event will come back and that the dialogue will continue in different formats. There is certainly a lot to talk about.