L. Donskis: lobbyism and guild distribution should be avoided in the awards of National Culture and Art Prizes
In brief: There is much of lobbyism in the world of culture too; therefore, creative organizations strongly fight for candidates offered by them when prizes are awarded, the head of the committee of the National Culture and Art Prizes Leonidas Donskis states. “Still, the creative organization or an artists’ guild is not public voice necessarily. It is a professional group, influential in many cases but it may be tendentious, it may offer some lasting chief or activist with a number of merits. Why are we sure that a promising young artist is offered?” he asks.
Still, the professor emphasises that the committee of the National Culture and Art Prizes should see the entire cultural field, look at entire culture of Lithuania broadly and should not succumb to guild distribution. In the interview the professor speaks about mechanisms of transparency, publicity in the awards of prizes.
In his opinion, the report of the chairman of the committee should be announced after every meeting, so that people would know what is happening. Meanwhile, now some of the information is classified, secrets are almost public as the majority know what is being spoken about. He is sure that the mechanism of awards should be improved.
