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1. Reducing obstacles to young people's access to culture

2. Disseminating information on cultural opportunities

3. Knowledge of cultural heritage amongst young people

Reducing obstacles to young people's access to culture

There is no document that discusses the mechanisms for facilitating young people’s access to culture and their participation in cultural events. An important instrument in this respect (albeit, like most government programmes, it is addressed to the general public) was the Accessible Culture portal funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, whereas the National Centre for Culture is responsible for staging a call for applications for the programme. The portal provided information on the most interesting events in the vicinity of one’s place of residence and aimed to popularise participation in culture as a way of spending one’s free time. At the same time, it targeted those users who cannot always afford to buy cultural services: admission to many of the listed proposals was free, whilst the ticket price of others did not exceed PLN 20. Moreover, accessibility icons mark the places that were friendly to families with children and people with disabilities. The portal also featured a database of websites containing cultural resources, namely films, e-books and 3D museum exhibitions. Since 2023, the portal focuses on Culture Available in Cinemas  (Kultura Dostępna w Kinach) and promotes Polish movies. Archi-adventures (Archi-przygody) project is also being enacted, with the goal of providing architectural education for elementary school children.

In addition, the National Centre for Culture runned the long-term grant programme; its current edition is the Very young culture 2023-2025 (Bardzo młoda kultura 2023-2025). Its main goal is the increase of active participation of young people in culture. The programme includes social change through cultural education aimed at encouraging young people to creative, agential, and innovative action on the basis of mutual cooperation, social trust, and responsibility. The Programme is supposed to respond to various civilisational changes and challenges, including new forms of participation in culture, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the progressive digitalisation of various aspects of social life.

Disseminating information on cultural opportunities

Potential sources of funding can be found in the programmes implemented under the Strategy for Responsible Development 2020 (with a 2030 perspective) (Strategia na rzecz odpowiedzialnego rozwoju do 2020 roku (z perspektywą do 2030 roku)). The Strategy  defines one of its objectives as “strengthening the role of culture for economic development and social cohesion”, and emphasises that “educating the beneficiaries and developing their cultural competences contributes to the development of culture and innovation”, because “due to these competences and participation in culture, society develops its identity, respect for tradition, a sense of belonging to a community and its history on the one hand, and on the other its creativity, innovativeness, openness and tolerance”. Among the planned activities, it is worth noting the topics, which the documents discussed so far have not identified in such a clear way, for instance “designing a system to support the development of the creative sectors: to provide conditions for the development of creative sectors in Poland, which will affect the development of the whole ecosystem of supporting culture. Another example is strengthening the identity, sense of community and intergenerational bonds through participation and broader access to cultural institutions and works of culture at all the levels, where communities operate (local, regional and national), as well as the elimination of ‘blank spots’ in access to culture”. Furthermore, fulfilling all the goals of the Strategy for Responsible Development will necessitate “the involvement of significant public (domestic and foreign) and private resources, which by 2020 are estimated at about PLN 1.5 trillion on the part of the public sector, and over PLN 0.6 trillion from private investments”. The public resources are identified as a wide range of institutions and agendas subject to various ministries, which causes concerns as to the coordination of this undertaking.

Knowledge of cultural heritage amongst young people

There is no data on the level of knowledge of cultural heritage of young People in Poland. A study indicates that 74% of adult Poles is aware of the concept of “cultural heritage” and thinks it important, and 83% of Poles believe that it is vital to take care of heritage and protect it. More research indicates that Poles treat Polish historical monuments similarly to those belonging to a cultural heritage of other cultures, but located within the territory of the Polish state. The main factor contributing to “treatinng a monument as “one’s own” is its presence within the Polish territory and acknowledging it as a part of our history”. The significant majority of the population believes that “it is necessary to take care of monuments of other cultures in our region” (84%) and that “protection of monuments is personally important to them” (78%).

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage runs the National sites of memory and permanent commemorations programme (Miejsca pamięci i trwałe upamiętnienia w kraju). It is however dedicated to the wider public, and not to young people directly.