We present to you an analytical review of the state of the Belarusian cultural sector during the period of 2020-2023.

This analytical review was prepared in August 2023 on the basis of regular cultural sphere studies carried out by the Center for European Transformation (CET) over the past eight years. In 2015, our researchers developed a methodology to evaluate the implementation of the values and norms of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Belarus and carried out an initial study1. The next stages of monitoring were carried out in 2019 and 2022, which made it possible to compare the results and to trace the dynamics of development within the Belarusan cultural field. The conclusions of the latest monitoring survey and other studies of the Belarusan cultural sector conducted by the CET over the past three years underlie this review.

In the period of 2020-2023, the Belarusan cultural sphere was affected by three severe shocks:

• the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19 pandemic and unprecedented measures to combat it;
• the acute internal political crisis in Belarus and the related ongoing mass political repressions against the country’s civil society;
• the beginning of Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, in which Belarus took the side of the former.

These events equally became shocks and created new challenges for cultural figures, served as an impetus to rethink the content of Belarusan culture per se, to fill it with new meanings, and to actualize cultural traditions and heritage. For many, the sphere of culture ceased to be an area of leisure and entertainment, but became to be associated more with civic solidarity, the current political agenda, and problems of civil society.

Under these conditions, creative activity is increasingly becoming an effective tool and driver of changes in society, which determines a special research interest in the sphere of culture in the context of socio-political transformations.

The structure of this review is based on four questions:

1. What did the Belarusan cultural sphere lose and what did it gain in the period of 2020-2023?
2. How has Belarus’ state policy in the field of culture changed?
3. How have Belarusan non-state cultural actors adapted / restructured?
4. What are the main challenges faced by the Belarusan cultural sphere today, and are there any strategic proposals / visions of its further development?

In our review, we shall try to briefly outline the main results and trends in the development of the situation in the Belarusan sphere of culture in these four dimensions.

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