Before 25 years we have realized a century-old dream of our ancestors to live in our own country. But without culture that reflected through our, Slovenian language, we would not rejoice in our independence and sovereignty a quarter of a century ago. Culture is the face of our nation, because it gives us identity. In the history culture has had a decisive role in the formation of the Slovenian nation and Slovenian state. Culture and within it everything related to the Slovenian nation and Slovenian language as foundation of our being and creativity, has always been the unifying force of the Slovenian nation. It reflected in the patriotic feelings which prompted the events of 25 years ago, which led to our independence and our own country.

Culture is also important in the development of an innovative, knowledge-based culture. It contributes to the efficiency of education, economic growth, employment and the development of democracy. It is an inalienable part of our nation and the essence of our civilization. Culture, which is reflected in all of our national consciousness and our history, must therefore become both our brand and our mission. It is important to be aware that the Slovenian language and our culture are also the foundation on which our nation has based its identity. That is why it is one of the essential tasks of the Ministry of Culture taking care of an appropriate cultural policy, which considers the modern conditions and pays particular attention to the cultural wealth of the nation. Only in this way we will progress as individuals, co-creators of our common cultural tomorrow, and as a country with an internationally recognized our own cultural identity.

The richness of cultural heritage

The idea, that we can create in our own country, to care of her, because it is ours, a quarter of a century ago woke up a desire of self-recognition in all parts of Slovenia. And who, in addition to the cultural heritage and the Slovenian language may be the best institution? To give them the right force, a new Law on Cultural Heritage Protection Act and the Law of Public Use of the Slovene has been adopted, and they became the legal basis for holders of our identity.

Enthusiasm in the reconstruction of forgotten and neglected monuments and local settlement centers in the middle of the nineties undulated Slovenia as the sprouting spring. It was followed by more planned renovation of monuments regarding their importance, historical role and threats. To this end it was adopted a special law on cultural tolar, which provided additional funds for the restoration and presentation of the most important and most endangered monuments.

In those years it National Gallery was upgraded, in the renovated premises of the former barracks some national institutions, that keep the most valuable artistic and historical treasures, got their modern home, as well as those findings found during the construction of the motorway network, which have brought many surprises to archaeologists and unveil a fraction of the secrets of our past to all of us.

With the museum and the establishment of "Paths of Peace" the debt was paid to the long overlooked history of 'Great War' at Isonzo Front, which took place on our soil and has found its place even in Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms.

With the facsimile of fundamental parts of John Vajkard Valvazor, the author of the first Slovenian encyclopaedia Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, we reciprocated the sin of ‘provincial estates’ of more than three hundred years, when the impoverished polymath, a member of the Royal Society in London, needed to sell his valuable library elsewhere. After twenty-five years of our independence we can say that the effort to preserve the cultural heritage is still important for the existence of our identity, so special care for it will continue into the future.

Amateur culture - an inexhaustible source of cultural growth and lifestyle

Amateur culture is inspired from the richness of the cultural heritage of our nation. In this quarter of century it significantly shaped the intrinsic cultural development and cultural activities in Slovenia, in neighboring countries and between our compatriots around the world. It may seem that the foundation of amateur culture lays only in "hobbying" and the range of different personal talents, but also amateur activities creates one of the basic conditions through which individuals and groups facilitate the entry to the fields of top cultural creations. Moreover, for different ages, in different social and geographical environments, they enable the confrontation of different cultures and their mutual knowledge, insights and thereby enriching the creative ordinary days and holidays. It is not surprising that the amateur cultural activities, that is professionally and program led by the Public Fund for Cultural Activities, developed in many areas. You can find excellent numerous and qualitative achievements in the field of choral and instrumental music. Dance activity and activity of folklore groups achieved excellent international successes. Individuals and groups are active in the fields of theater and puppetry, film, literary and artistic activities. Amateur cultural creativity is strongly open to the public and co-creates numerous festivals and other cultural events. In the context of individual cultural genres there are competitions, which should be understood as an important ‘tool’ to raise the content and the overall level of quality. The two are related with continuing education and publishing activities as their core support.

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." (Richard Steele)

Despite the fact that after the independence the culture and with it the sphere of books slightly moved away from the scene of dialogue and conflicts on development and relations in society, thinking that in the conditions of political pluralism such debates should be left to political parties, the literature soon found out that this attitude is not appropriate, and that among the basic conditions of democratic society is also a dialogue between social subsystems (politics, economy, culture, science and education, etc.). Among the first to recognize this were the writers, who are traditionally creators and bearers of national programs and dialogue within Slovenian society.

Despite catastrophic predictions concerning the future of the printed book and reading culture, we have been witnessing booming in this area after Slovenia's independence, as the annual number of all kinds of books published during this period almost doubled. In the narrower field of literature this was encouraged by the establishment and regular awarding of literary prizes of national importance: the Kresnik Prize for the novel, Fabula for the short story, Jenko’s and Veronika’s Award for poetry, Rožanc Prize for essays, an annual competition of Slovene Writers’ Association and Sodobnost for the best short story and essay and others.

As an important and encouraging acquisition of the books’ area it is worth mentioning the establishment of the Slovenian Book Agency and the enforcement of the library compensation as one of the basic forms of copyright in the field of books.

In the time since independence, one can notice the successful promotion of Slovenian literature abroad and an increase in the number of translations of important texts and authors (Tomaž Šalamun, Evald Flisar with drama and prose, Jančar, Boris Pahor with the raid in French, Italian, German cultural space etc.), which has boosted interest in the work of younger artists.

After 1990 the Slovenian literature became extremely diverse in genre and style; it is no longer possible to talk about what the dominant school or direction, like a few decades ago. Thus, the profession, critics and audiences equally carefully and favorably accept top achievements of the most mature authors and classics (Zlobec, Pavček, Kovič, Pahor, Jančar) and of the authors, which relate to the tradition of modernism and postmodernism, authors who restored the tradition of engaged literature with social critical messages, as well as the youngest authors that profession lists in a so-called post-postmodernism (including transrealizem), and that already equivalently and successfully compete with the most prominent national awards.

Recently, there has been somewhat more pronounced orientation towards reflection on recent history (experience with multinational Yugoslavia and social situation and the relationship of an individual company in the previous socio political system), particularly in the novel and in the genre of biography and autobiography.

In any event we can say that the independence of Slovenia positively echoed in the book.

 World of Theatre

 Slovenian theater landscape both in the number of professional theaters as in scale of theater productions by the total population clearly is at the forefront of Europe, which shows that the Slovenian cultural environment, despite its uneven development is very favorable to the theater as a form of an in-depth artistic expression and space and collective social reflection. With the independence of Slovenia, the current drama, musical, puppet (and other) theaters gradually profiled to the specific theater poetics. Due to the relatively favorable economic situation in the country and the introduction of the Cultural Tolar, we have witnessed numerous architectural implementation and upgrading, and later also the buildings refurbishment and renovation, technological upgrades and other general improvements that have enabled the leap into a new, modern European era of theater. Slovenian theaters as institutions with a wide-ranging repertoire policy, that at least in a certain segment responds to the current social situation, invested heavily in the development of their artistic program, technological improvements, in recruitment and the creative development of artistic ensembles which achieved top results in our young country and were also noticed by international public.

Time ahead us, due to limited financial resources, surely offers us new challenges and encourages us to continue achieving greater visibility of our cultural brand, and greater competitiveness compared to foreign internationally renowned theaters. Slovenian theater wants to continue to open up to different theater aesthetics and technological innovations in the field of the performing practices and to ensure the most visible position in contemporary Europe and the world, but with the same vigor encourages and nurtures Slovenian culture, the Slovenian language and theatrical creativity.

 Art culture as national identity

 Slovenia has managed to create a constructive environment for diverse artistic creativity and its implementation in the domestic and international arena. Despite some difficulties, with which the newly existed country had to confront in the field of art and wider culture, Slovenia achieved significant results in the development of the visual arts and their accessibility to different target groups of visitors. During this period, several top artists successfully represented our country on the world's reference exhibition and festival events and in the most genuine way enforced our young country. We need to give special attention to the worthy performances of Slovenian artists in international exhibitions and exhibitions of architecture in Venice, where in recent years Slovenia returned from a dislocated gallery to the main exhibition area of the Biennale, and with such a direct contact with other world countries became even more recognizable. Many individuals successfully represent Slovenia at prestigious fairs, festivals and exhibitions, or they received important awards for their work. We are especially proud of important artistic successes younger artists, who have established themselves abroad while not denied their national identity. Authors, especially young people who are just starting out, are encouraged by public funds from various, including international financial resources, fellowships and residencies. And also renowned artists middle and older generations received awards for their creative work at the highest professional level.

In this period several profiled galleries developed, which together with national museums and regional centers represent the emergence of the gallery network at the national level, and which in cooperation with small local institutions, associations and individual artists ensure the widest accessibility, which is written in all resolutions of the National Programme for Culture. 

 A look through the film

 With the independence of Slovenia the address of the first Slovenian feature film from 1948 - At our own land was realized. In these twenty-five years the cinematography in own country was a kind of avant-garde cultural policy, since different organizational forms were tested in this field - Slovenian Film Fund as a government agency that supports (co-)funding productions - which were later in a similar manner transposed to the field of publishing, but some are in favor of similar models in other arts.

The period 1995-2015 represents a resurgence of Slovenian film and its growing enforcement on the map of European and world cinema. In these 25 years Slovene films created quite a few high performances, which were also noticed abroad as Slovenian films reap successes both at European and at international festivals. We have seen a couple of hits and get some films that will remain a distinctive mark of this time. In the field of television production, in this period brought a few high-profile television series and series, mostly on commercial stations.

In the last couple of years, Slovenia became popular for co-productions, both for advertising and for the full-length productions. This was very useful for the education and maintenance of professional fitness technical teams, but now with few exceptions, it has not yet allowed a greater international breakthrough of Slovenian authors.

As many experts believe, for the further development of Slovenian film is crucial to ensure that the most visible authors get long-term stable conditions for their continuous work, like musicians and actors in theatres, and that viewers receive permanent presence of Slovenian films and series on public and personal screens. In that way the Slovenian film would be able to perform its role of (more or less aesthetic) chronicler of our time and space able to even a greater extent.