A cultural promotion law for Baselland
The Government Council of the Canton of Baselland is submitting the revised version of a cultural promotion law to parliament. In 2009, the cantonal parliament had requested a cultural policy model for the resolution.
The Cultural Promotion Act replaces the 1963 Act on the Payment of Contributions for the Promotion of Cultural Endeavors. It regulates the promotion, communication, creation and maintenance of cultural activities in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.
According to the canton's press release, the law takes into account "the cultural policy practice of recent years". In promoting creation, it is intended to respect the freedom of creative artists and promote all genres, levels and degrees of effectiveness.
The law also promotes access to regional culture for the people of Basel-Landschaft and ensures that the cantonal cultural institutions and facilities (cantonal library, cantonal museum, cantonal archaeology, Roman city of Augusta Raurica, Basel-Landschaft cantonal publishing house) are anchored in law. It clearly defines the tasks and responsibilities of the cantonal bodies and authorities.
In 2001, the Audit Committee suggested that the 1963 Cultural Contributions Act should be brought into line with existing cultural funding practice in order to ensure the legal certainty of cultural policy action. On November 12, 2009, the District Council referred the resulting draft of a new Culture Act back to the Government Council with the instruction to first draw up a cultural mission statement. Together with the Government Council's Strategy 2012-2022, this forms the conceptual basis for the revision of the draft law.
