How does the Gagauz culture develop during the pandemic? What are the Gagauz authorities doing to promote and preserve the cultural heritage, including the Gagauz language? How can tourism contribute to that, as well as the fact that Comrat will become the cultural capital of the CIS in 2023? Marina Semenova, the Head of the General Directorate of Culture of the ATU Gagauzia, spoke about that in an interview.
– Let us start with the pandemic which affected all spheres of our life. How did it affect the work of Gagauz theatres, museums, cultural centres and libraries?
– The COVID-19 pandemic imposed certain adjustments on development of culture of Gagauzia. Employees of theatres, museums, cultural centres and libraries were not able to work as before. Before 2020, theatres and cultural centres used to play to full houses. That means live applause, live emotions – what we are used to, the atmosphere in which my colleagues have worked all their lives.
Museums no longer have an opportunity to hold guided tours for visitors who before the pandemic used to come freely, who were interested in the history and culture of the region, in the history of the Gagauz people. Libraries lost readers because of the pandemic.
I am grateful to my colleagues for the fact that in such a short period of time they managed to get reorganized because everyone understands that the sphere of culture gives people positive emotions, a sense of joy and positivity.
Together with my colleagues, we decided that we could not just sit and wait for the pandemic to end. We are looking for ways out and for solutions. Cultural centres are holding online events and online concerts with the participation of performing artists. Museums and libraries of Gagauzia work in a new operating mode. It is not easy for them because not a single museum or library had full-time staff members responsible for filming, editing and publishing videos.
There are also positive aspects to that: for example, while before, one of the Gagauz museums used to have one thousand visitors a year, during the pandemic, the number of its virtual visitors reached almost one million.
– What are the opportunities and prospects for the development of the sphere of culture in the autonomy, including that in light of the experience related to the pandemic?
– COVID-19 pushed us towards digitizing our resources. We have digitized the collection of the art gallery of Gagauzia. The digitizing of the collection of the Central Library of Comrat has been underway for six months already. Following the Central Library, other libraries are also digitizing their collections. However, library staff are worried that young people would stop visiting them offline all together and for that reason, they organize various events on a regular basis.
A year and a half of the pandemic accelerated the development of museums. On their websites, they demonstrate exhibits, stage theatrical performances and shoot mini-documentaries with local residents.
During these one and a half years, we have done a lot to preserve our tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Heads of cultural centres say: “We will be no longer be here in fifty years, but this invaluable material will remain”.
During the pandemic, the General Directorate of Culture created a collection of folklore music. Elderly people living in the autonomy took part in that. In the regional recording studio, we recorded songs and musical compositions performed by them.
“Preservation of cultural heritage is our key objective”
– What is the current state of tangible and intangible heritage of Gagauzia now?
– This year the autonomy will celebrate its 27th anniversary. Unfortunately, up until the last year, we did not have a register of intangible cultural heritage.
A couple of years ago the General Directorate of Culture of the autonomy has started compiling a local register of intangible heritage. Such a need arose when we wanted to include certain elements of Gagauz culture in the UNESCO lists. As practice has shown, we are not able to do it right now because elements of the Gagauz culture are not in the republican register of Moldova. Moreover, they were not there because the Gagauz register did not exist.
The Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Gagauz People was created with involvement of staff members of the General Directorate of Culture of the autonomy, employees of libraries and museums, with participation of academia. The register included 508 elements. For example, folklore, songs, performance techniques, folk costumes, national instruments, etc. A dossier was compiled for each element and last year, the Executive Committee of Gagauzia approved this register.
As for the elements of the tangible cultural heritage, unfortunately today many historical and architectural monuments are not in the best condition because they are not protected by the state.
We are also working on two local registers, which we presented on December 16 at the meeting of the Executive Committee. These are the register of historical and architectural monuments located in public places. Both registers include 100 monuments. Once the lists are approved, the monuments will be protected by the state.
I am convinced that tangible and intangible cultural heritage is the main asset of any nation. This is the wealth that people pass on from generation to generation, against all odds. This is what every person is born with and lives with. Preservation of cultural heritage is the key objective of the General Directorate of Culture of Gagauzia.
– In Gagauzia, local and international experts developed a draft of the Special Purpose Programme for the development of culture of the autonomy. What is the purpose of this programme?
– This special purpose programme has been developed in Gagauzia for the first time. Its goal is to integrate national and international standards in the field of culture, to realize rights of every resident to participate in cultural life and development of creative potential, to preserve and revive the Gagauz culture and cultures of people residing in the territory of the autonomy. Gagauzians, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Russians and Moldovans have lived in peace and friendship here.
The need to create such a programme is long overdue. Today, the sphere of culture faces a lot of challenges. This programme presents a detailed analysis of the situation in the sphere of culture and proposes the most efficient solutions which are needed to overcome many problems that culture in the autonomy faces today: This includes the situation regarding the material and technical base and also staff shortages.
The programme sets out strategic areas of work in the sphere of culture of Gagauzia until 2030. Colleagues and experts from CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation helped us with the development of the programme.
Soon, I hope that with the help of our colleagues from CMI we will hold public hearings on the programme, where we will invite employees of libraries, museums, cultural centres, craftsmen and artisans. We hope that this programme will contribute to fruitful and qualitative development of culture in Gagauzia.
– And what powers do authorities of Gagauzia have in the sphere of culture? Does the autonomy have legislative, institutional and material resources to protect the heritage?
– Today, the activity of the regional authorities is aimed at preservation and promotion of the Gagauz culture. It is not only preservation of intangible and tangible cultural heritage, but also replenishment of library collections, collections of works of art, regular publication of new literary works in the Gagauz language, improvement of the material and technical base of our creative teams.
For example, we buy national costumes: today they cost a fortune. It is worth clarifying that museums, libraries, cultural centres are under the jurisdiction of local authorities and that is why a lot depends on them. But they are not always able to provide the teams with very expensive costumes.
Among other things, authorities of the autonomy pay great attention to children’s creativity. Funds are allocated in the budget so that our children and children’s groups, of which we have quite a few in Gagauzia, would have an opportunity to travel abroad, where they meet with similar gifted children and represent our Gagauz culture. However, the most important thing is that these children are bearers of our culture and when they grow up, they will pass it on to the future generations.
We also pay special attention to development of folk applied arts and for this purpose, among other things, we open craft schools for children.
– In 2010, the Gagauz language was included in the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages In Danger of Disappearing. What are authorities of the autonomy doing to preserve and promote the Gagauz language?
– Today, we have indeed faced the fact that the Gagauz language is an endangered language. There are fewer speakers of the Gagauz language today. People can be Gagauz by nationality but not speak the native language.
For the purpose of preserving and promoting the Gagauz language, Gagauzia adopted the ‘Law on Expanding the Spheres of Application of the Gagauz Language’, which covers almost all spheres: education, science, culture, television. According to the Law, today more than 60% of events in Gagauzia are held in the Gagauz language. This is of crucial importance.
In addition, thematic collections were created in the autonomy. For example, a collection of dramatic works in the Gagauz language. Every year a competition is held among playwrights. All pieces remain in the collection and according to the legislation, they have to be staged in our theatres.
– Does tourism contribute to promotion and preservation of the cultural heritage of Gagauzia? And to what extent is this area represented in tourist routes in the autonomy?
– Of course, culture and tourism are interconnected. Especially if we are talking about event tourism which could be our main advantage. Every year, we organize a huge number of events: Hederlez, Wine Day and a festival of Gagauz costume in Vulcanesti, a festival of kilims in Gaidar.
In 2019, at least 10 thousand people attended the Hederlez Holiday in Ceadir-Lunga. No doubt, it is possible to say that Gagauzia attracts tourists. But the pandemic imposed its own amendments.
Tourism is not developing the way we would like it to develop. But it is difficult to make conclusions about tourism development because of the pandemic. As soon as restrictions are tightened, we immediately see a decline.
– What are the prospects for development of culture in the autonomy? Do authorities of Gagauzia intend to attract young specialists in this sphere, in particular, cultural managers?
– Today, there is already an acute shortage of specialists in the sphere of culture. Last year, we carried out analysis, which showed that in the sphere of culture we have far more working pensioners than young people. The reason first of all is low salaries in the sphere of culture. For that reason young people choose other professions.
Today, we offer grants, scholarships, contract payment to our students who master creative specialties. Last year, we helped to pay for a contract with a girl who studies to be a choreographer. This year we provided assistance to a young man who entered the Department of General Stage Management.
We are actively working with the Pedagogical College named after M. Ciachir in Comrat. Next year a specialization in ‘cultural studies’ is due to open there.
“Comrat as the cultural capital of the CIS”
– In 2023, Comrat will become the cultural capital of the CIS. How is Gagauzia preparing for that and could this status contribute to development of the city?
– To say that it will be an interesting year is to say nothing. The year will be full of various events with participation of creative teams from all CIS countries. So far, Moldova is the only country that has not taken part in the project ‘Cultural Capital of the CIS’. I hope that all events that we have planned will take place on the scale that we have conceived.
In this regard we had a meeting with the Minister of Culture and we discussed the plan of events. The work in this area has just began and I hope that the Ministry of Culture will approve the steering committee which will definitely include representatives of Gagauzia. We hope that residents and guests of the autonomy will keep an eye on the call board, as it will give a great impetus to development of culture of Gagauzia, to development of the capital of the autonomy – Comrat, and also to the development of friendly relations with CIS countries.
