The Culture and Arts Sector Under Rouhani's Government

In June 2013, Abbas Kiarostami, an Iranian filmmaker, described the cultural and artistic environment in Iran as never having been this bleak. The conditions Kiarostami spoke of were the result of policies pursued by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government over eight years in the culture and arts sector. The Iranian House of Cinema, the most important institution for independent filmmakers, was shut down, and the strict and arbitrary censorship of books reached a point where many publishers were effectively unable to continue their work, and writers had almost lost hope of continuing their activities. If they did not want to entrust their books to a publisher outside Iran or publish them in cyberspace, they had to forgo publication altogether. Government intervention in the artistic space and the appointment of managers unfamiliar with culture and arts had reached a point where even holding exhibitions of visual and conceptual artworks in galleries sometimes faced prohibition. In the performing arts, for the first time, state festivals like the Fajr Theater Festival in Tehran and other cities encountered new restrictions, leading to a boycott of the festival by artists. One of the side effects of this period was the halt of statistical activities in the culture sector, resulting in the cessation of annual reports on the culture sector. The absence of such reports, the last of which dates back to 2005, makes it impossible to accurately assess developments in the culture and arts sector. Therefore, most evaluations rely on scattered statistics that have not been independently collected and assessed. Thus, the following assessment of the developments in the culture and arts sector under government supervision is largely based on general evaluations derived from the analysis of scattered statistics and qualitative inferences, and consequently, is imprecise, but it may provide a general evaluation of the two-year performance of the culture and arts sector under Hassan Rouhani's government: 1 - Policies and Management of the Culture Sector: The declared goals and policies for the culture and arts sector in Hassan Rouhani's statements marked a fundamental change from the policies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's eight-year term. Rouhani's main slogan was to entrust culture to cultural figures. This slogan, along with three other declared policies: removing the security atmosphere, emphasizing the rights of cultural figures within the framework of civil rights and freedom of expression stated in the constitution, and emphasizing the interactive link between culture and political, social, and economic developments that should be pursued in the country, can be considered the main principles of Rouhani's cultural policy. Over the past two years, the implementation of these policies has largely been influenced by the process of nuclear negotiations, but overall, it can be said that except in the press sector (which I will address later), there has been general attention to these policies in other areas. The appointment of Ali Jannati as Minister of Culture can be seen as one of Rouhani's most important actions in his efforts to adhere to the declared policies. The position of the Minister of Culture has always been one of the most determining factors in the cultural and artistic sector in the country. Three groups of ministers can be reviewed: Mohammad Khatami, Ataollah Mohajerani, and Ahmad Masjed Jamei were among the reformist ministers who each sought to create a more open and thriving cultural environment in their own way. Mostafa Mir-Salim and Ali Larijani were among the moderate principlist ministers who tried to adjust the policies of reformist ministers, albeit in their own ways. Mir-Salim was more committed to administrative bureaucracy and was less receptive to developmental perspectives, while Larijani had a more developmental outlook. Despite differences in priorities, both groups maintained the main structure of the culture and arts sector during their management. However, during the tenure of Mohammad Hossein Safar-Harandi and Mohammad Hosseini, the culture and arts sector underwent radical changes. With the extensive displacement of human resources in the culture and arts offices, the sector became filled with individuals who were either unfamiliar with the sector's activities or opposed to its general policies. In the new policy, the culture sector was effectively placed under the control of other sectors that, in the Islamic Republic, were under the supervision of the Supreme Leader, the Revolutionary Guards, or political and religious organizations outside the government, which primarily bore the responsibility for the political and ideological propaganda of the regime. One of the most significant features of this period was the halt of the development of cultural infrastructure in both hardware and software aspects. Ali Jannati, as Minister of Culture, relying on his family background and the political trust he has in the Iranian government system, has been able to act as a mediator for dialogue among various power factions to reach a compromise on cultural disagreements over the past two years. He has not been successful in all cases, but this ability has managed to maintain a degree of stability in culture and continuity of the government's desired policies during one of the most tense and closed political periods. Another feature that has helped Jannati in implementing Rouhani's desired policy is that, unlike previous ministers (except for Mir-Salim), he does not see himself as the designer and architect of the culture sector and has largely facilitated the independence of managers, experts, and cultural figures. This managerial approach has significantly increased the independence of the culture sector from the government to the extent possible within the structure of the Islamic Republic. 2 - Cultural Planning Model: Cultural planning experts worldwide usually refer to four models of cultural planning: idealistic cultural planning, realistic cultural planning, strategic or pragmatic planning, and developmental planning. The cultural planning model in Iran in the first decade after the revolution was a kind of idealistic planning model. The planning model in Iran shifted to a developmental planning model from the early 1990s, which continued until the end of Mohammad Khatami's presidency. Ahmadinejad attempted to revive the idealistic planning model again, but due to the non-cooperation of non-governmental sectors and cultural figures on one hand and the lack of a documented planning system in the government on the other, he was unable to achieve success. Rouhani's government, instead of returning to the developmental planning model that necessitated extensive inter-sectoral coordination, reverted to a kind of strategic or pragmatic planning, the most important feature of which was the reduction of government intervention in the culture sector. The reduction of government intervention over the past two years has led to greater independence of non-governmental and private sectors in the culture domain. The meaning of reduced intervention does not imply the removal of structural state censorship but rather the government's abstention from employing prescriptive and proactive policies. This government policy has led to the emergence of spontaneous and independent cultural activities in all sectors (publishing, cinema, theater, visual arts), except for the press, resulting in an increase in the diversity and number of activities. However, due to the structural limitations of the cultural market and the monopoly prevailing over state media, which should help in cultural dissemination, these activities remain limited in scope and less economically productive. 3 - Policy of Reducing Censorship: After a few months, Ali Jannati was able to somewhat change senior and mid-level managers in the Ministry of Culture in a way that reduced direct government pressure on cultural figures and artists. However, he was unable to take control of the main supervisory institutions that are considered the main bodies for enforcing censorship. Thus, changes in the Supreme Council for Book Supervision and the Press Supervisory Board were not significant enough to lead to a major change in censorship policy, but in the book sector, managers in this area used their powers more to ease the licensing process and remove arbitrary restrictions. This did not occur in the press sector. The reduction of censorship intensity in the theater and music sectors was greater, perhaps due to the greater independence granted to the Ministry of Culture by law, but this reduction in censorship faced resistance from the judiciary, law enforcement, and pressure groups supported by the Revolutionary Guards and institutions under the Supreme Leader. Thus, the more open atmosphere in these areas gradually began to close towards the end of the first year of the government. The difficult conditions for performing theater in the past year and the confrontation with music concerts that peaked in the last six months, which the government was effectively unable to counter, indicate that Rouhani's government's capacities in this area have nearly reached their limit, and no significant changes are expected. In a simple summary, it can be said that Rouhani's government has succeeded in reducing tension and security dominance in the cultural space. It has also pursued a policy of non-prescriptive intervention in the culture sector, which for the first time has led to a degree of independence and an increase in the diversity of cultural and artistic activities. However, it has had limited success in the policy of reducing censorship. The result of these achievements and failures is that we are now in a better situation than the bleak conditions Kiarostami once spoke of.