Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

At the time former Soviet republics regained their independence, the population was using the Russian language for most daily activities, the economies were structured with the state firmly in control, and generations had been taught history through the lens of the Soviet Union. The new governments faced many challenges in rebuilding themselves as nations, and one of these tasks included codifying new cultural policies that would nurture the reorientation of society around a uniquely native cultural paradigm. The new governments confronted challenging questions ranging from funding the cultural budget, representing minorities—including sizeable Russian minorities—in cultural activities, and even the role of the government in cultural programming. The former Soviet republics inherited cultural blueprints from the Soviet Union, and this paper explores the extent to which the cultural policies of the newly independent republics were path-dependent on the cultural policies of the Soviet Union.