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Culture has always played a prominent place in Tunisia. It is considered
as one of the country's most vibrant sectors and a factor of balanced development, likely to better anchor the
country's national identity, as well as a way to better withstand the effects of the globalization process.
To put this approach into effect, effort has focused, since the Change, on promoting the cultural sector by carrying
out structural reforms, developing laws and creating reference institutions, as well as supplying a platform that
will encourage creativity and innovation and various incentives that have opened up wide prospects to men and women
of culture, giving them the means to stand out and thrive.
The new style of relationship with intellectuals and artists rests on a package of choices of principle, powerful
supports of the Change, and guarantees them the marks of attention and protection they deserve. The various measures,
incentives and encouragement provided in this field are proof of this. They encompass many aspects (guaranteeing
freedom of creation in all artistic fields, social cover guaranteed to people of learning and the arts, and a system
of monthly allowances provided to a great many artists and their families).
Increase in the budget of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Preservation
The budget of the Ministry has increased on a regular basis. It has been multiplied more than sevenfold in 21 years,
from 17.4 million dinars in 1987 to 133.4 million dinars in 2008; it is anticipated to be 1.25% of the General
Budget in 2009. The state has done much in this field, as have increasingly private investors, through the incentives,
encouragements and facilities laid down in the Investment Code. Cultural sectors :
In Tunisia, the growth of the book distribution sector is a result of
several factors, the most important of which is certainly the President's decision, that came into force in November
2007, lifting administrative control over all kinds of publication.
Among other favorable factors was the abolishing of the permits that were previously due to set up publishing houses
and their replacement by contract conditions, as well as motivating private publishers by introducing modes of
diversified grants which enabled Tunisian publishing houses to enjoy many material advantages, such as the Budget's
bearing three-quarters of the cost of printing paper, as well as the tax and procedural facilities given to the
book distribution sector by the Investment Code.
Similarly, the state helped publishers by acquiring, for the network of public libraries, a considerable number
of volumes of the works they publish.
Production of cultural books
|
Year
|
Number of titles
|
Increase
|
|
1988
|
389 |
|
|
2006
|
1,500 |
285.60% |
Purchases to encourage production
|
Year
|
Budget
allocated |
Titles purchased |
Increase |
|
1988
|
183,000 |
306 |
|
|
2006
|
1,078,667 |
992 |
224.18% |
Grants for paper for cultural books
|
Year
|
Budge allocated |
Number of titles |
Increase |
|
1988
|
113,530,399 |
91 |
|
|
2006
|
746,559,000 |
944 |
937.36% |
Increase in the number of Tunisian publishing houses
|
Year
|
Number of publishing houses |
Increase |
|
1988
|
40 |
|
|
2006
|
125 |
212.5% |
Public libraries are the main channels of promoting reading among the wider public. Their number has grown greatly,
and their situation is clearly better. As well as the continuous enriching of their funds, their role has taken
on a new dimension due to their being connected up to the internet.
Network of public libraries
| Year |
Number of libraries |
Increase |
| 1987 |
247 |
|
| 2008 |
378 |
53,04 % |
Books in the public
| Year |
Volumes |
Increase |
| 1987 |
1,849,318 |
|
| 2008 |
6,187,237 |
234.57 % |
The theatre sector
The measures of support, which the state has launched to provide to encourage the production of plays, have helped
the creation of new private production companies and troupes that specialise in drama production and promotion.
These troupes and companies, both public and private, are active all year round and participate in cultural events
and festivals, presenting their creations to a discerning public that is well informed on the features of the Tunisian
theatre.
The Change was a real turning point for Tunisian cinema, with many new incentives that offered moral and material
support.
Given the development of Tunisian films, the considerable financial means required for production and the continual
rise in costs, the state provides effective material support in many forms: grants for producing and showing films,
rehabilitation of cinemas, etc.
In 2007, there were 43 subsidised short and feature-length films, 21 feature-length and 22 short; the state contributed
5 million dinars.
One of the factors that has contributed to the success of Tunisian films has been the constant support of the state
through a package of incentives, such as the tax exempt status of Tunisian films as regards equipment and distribution.
Every year the state sets aside a sum of about 400,000 dinars for supporting musical production. The result has
been that the national production of music has made a quantitative and qualitative leap. The Ministry also encourages
inside and outdoor musical production and actively supports the presence of Tunisian music at various cultural
events, as is obvious in the doubling of loans granted for the acquisition of Tunisian shows, of which there are
about a thousand per year throughout the country. This has largely helped stimulate artistic life, step up musicians'
activity, and spread musical production to a wide public.
Setting up the Centre of Arab and Mediterranean Music (Ennejma Ezzahra) is something the Era of Change is proud
of. This important reference institution is in charge of collecting, safeguarding and spreading Tunisia's musical
heritage, or of doing specialized field research to highlight the wealth and diversity of our musical heritage
Plastic arts have benefited greatly from the cultural and intellectual
environment that has prospered with the Change of 7 November. The state has made sure that the conditions for a
favourable climate for the plastic arts to flourish are being created. The first of these reforms concerns the
laws that organise the sector. Incentives are used to stimulate artistic activity. They take different forms: prizes
and subsidies, like the annual prize for the plastic arts. The texts also set up various commissions. These started
in 1989 to organise the acquisitions made by the state. Also, decrees and contract conditions supervised the creation
of private galleries where works of art are shown, or private workshops.
Among the results of such initiatives were the growth in the number of works of art acquired by the state, and
thus the increase in the fund set aside for this. This provides sizeable income for artists. These funds have helped
artists integrate in the plastic arts market and become professional artists.
There has been a significant qualitative change in cultural action as regards both general policy and quantitative
development. The idea of spreading culture has been replaced by that of democratising culture.
To put this choice into effect, substantial changes have been made in the structures, modes of action, and methods
of planning and funding cultural activities.
To implement President Ben Ali's decision to craft a plan intended to boost the role of the community arts centres
and guarantee their influence, the Ministry laid down a national plan to upgrade these centres. The Cabinet meeting
held under the aegis of the President of the Republic on 1 August 2001 approved this.
2007 was the year when the actions of the community arts centres were completely transformed. Upgrading led on
to improvement of content, in accordance with the plan whose launching the President had ordered to mark the 20th
anniversary of the Change. This was preceded by the announcement of a host of new gains for the sector, particularly
the developing of human resources.
To enshrine the democratic aspect of cultural activity, greater attention was paid to supporting the effort of
civil society and developing relations between the community arts centres and the various local cultural structures
and associations.
Festivals now constitute a popular tradition rooted in cultural activity in Tunisia. These are the events that
are most widespread throughout the country, and have the greatest hold on the different social groups. There are
about 400 festivals.
Major events :
- The Carthage Film Festival
The Carthage Film Festival, or Carthage Film Days (JCC), was the first
festival in the world to show interest first and foremost in black African cinema (just then taking its first steps).
It was also the first event to host the creators of the "new Arab cinema" which was emerging in a few
countries.
This event was a milestone, a time of intense emotion, in the history of African and Arab cinema and one factor
in its development and influence. Four decades after it started, we can say that many of its essential aims have
been attained.
Tunisian film-making has made waves in this festival, since Tunisia has won over twenty prizes (between the golden,
silver and bronze Tanits) as well as a number of other prizes (prize for the best actor, the jury's prize, etc.).
It is also present and influential in many international film events.
- The Carthage Theatre Festival
The Carthage Theatre Festival - Carthage Theatre Days (JTC) - started in 1983 and developed regularly to gain great
influence at Arab, African and international level. It offered an area of rapprochement and free dialogue. It was
also a window always open onto fruitful cultural osmosis and the enriching of our common creation.
- The Tunis International Book Fair
Each year our country hosts an International Book Fair in the belief
that books are important as an essential means of building up the faculty of thought and awareness despite the
host of cultural, digital and other aids. This event is one of the memorable features of the Tunisian cultural
landscape and a major cultural event nationally, since every publication in the Fair gives rise to a host of intellectual
and literary activities and encourages mutually enriching encounters between creators and public to discuss all
the issues that concern them.
These are seen as the drivers of the cultural process in its entirety.
Because of their sector-based assignments, they are places where ideas are born and where projects and future plans
are carried out in the context of an integrated system, determined by the country's development plans and general
cultural policy.
The Institute of Tunisian Music, the Rachidia, was restored and renovated to become a musical institution responsible
for collecting the national heritage of songs, safeguarding it, spreading it and promoting the teaching of its
basic principles. Also in this context we can place the creation of the Ennejma Ezzahra Centre of Arab and Mediterranean
music. Similarly, the Hammamet International Cultural Centre was restructured and has become a place where human
civilisations and cultures meet. The National Ceramics Centre is devoted to promoting and protecting this important,
specific artistic and architectural heritage. The roles and prerogatives of the National Heritage Institute have
been developed, and a National Agency to Valorize Tunisian Heritage and Promote Culture was set up to mobilize
the heritage potential in the service of development.
New premises were built for the National Library, according to the most
sophisticated international standards, to safeguard and develop our written memory. The Tunisian Academy of Science,
Arts and Letters, Beit Al-Hikma, still exerts intellectual influence and spreads the noble values of the spirit.
It is anticipated that this Academy will be enhanced by adding a national museum of fine arts and another for film
memory.
The two museums will be housed in the new Culture City, a presidential
project which is designed to give Tunisian culture and cultural heritage the place it deserves on the national
and international scale.
Tunisia, a melting-pot of different civilizations, has always had
a rich cultural activity, as testified by its prestigious museums and cultural institutions and by the various
international festivals held throughout the year. Sustained efforts have been deployed to promote the cultural
sector. The Heritage Code grants companies important tax breaks to encourage investments in restoration and protection
of archaeological monuments (e.g. Cathedral of Carthage;) promulgation of legal texts allows free importation of
books and paper destined for cultural purposes and the exemption from customs duties of musical instruments.
A whole strategy has been put in place to set up institutions serving as points of reference in the various domains of cultural activity. Among
them, the National Dance Center of Borj El Baccouche, the House of Baron d'Erlanger converted into a Center for
Arab and Mediterranean Music, and the Husseinite Museum (covering the period of the Beys) in the Palace of Ksar
Said.
Other projects are in the process of completion, such as the Museum of Modern Art, located at the Palace of El
Abdellia, and the National Cultural Center of Tunis. In addition, the International Cultural Center of Hammamet
has been refurbished and transformed into the House of the Mediterranean, specializing mainly in theatrical arts.
The institution of "Beit el Hikma" was converted into an Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in order
to better contribute to the cultural and intellectual activity of Tunisia. The academy also welcomes distinguished
scholars wishing to conduct research in various fields and serves as a meeting place for debates and exchanges
between researchers, scholars and artists.
FESTIVALS
Tunisia hosts numerous international film, arts, and historical festivals,
including the Summer festivals of Carthage, Dougga, and Hammamet, which host top international artists, the International
Festival of El Jem for classical music, the Andalusian Music Festival of Testour, the Sahara Festival in Douz,
the International Film Festival of Carthage, the Mythological Films Festival in Jerba and the Theater Festival
of Carthage.
List of
Festivals in Tunisia :
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