Kazakhstan marks Culture and Art Workers’ Day with key milestones

The Kazakh minister said: “There are 7,600 culture facilities, providing up to 58,000 people with employment. Those include 3,890 libraries, 57 theaters, 231 archives, 275 museums, 2,994 cultural and leisure centers, 113 cinemas, 36 concert organizations and four circuses”.

Kazakhstan inaugurated the Qazaq Culture information platform in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Kazakh and Turkish, showcasing the country's rich and unique culture.

As part of Kazakhstan’s ongoing efforts to develop cultural facilities, nine republican facilities were granted the national status.

Kazakhstan for the first time unveiled its pavilion featuring the domestic works at the 60th edition of the Venice Art Biennale. Kazakhstan hosted the Kazakhstan: The Great Steppe Treasures exhibition at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris, France, the Golden Man and the Great Steppe exhibition in Tianjin, China, while Da Vinci’s ‘The Beautiful Princess’ was displayed at the Kazakh National Museum.

Last year, the Culture Days of Kazakhstan took place in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as well as the Culture Days of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Sakha Republic were held in Kazakhstan.

Balayeva noted: “255 Kazakhstani artists were the winners of international competitions in 17 countries”.

Under the Kazakh and Chinese Presidents’ initiative announced at the SCO Summit, work is ongoing to create a Kazakh Culture Center in China.

The country marked 80 years since the Great Patriotic War with up to 2,000 festivities as well as launching the Batyrlarga tagzym online platform, publishing six books, photo albums, releasing 80 videos, 17 documentaries and TV series as well as Aliya feature film.

As part of the country’s digitalization efforts, 2 million 654 thousand documents or 10% of the total documents preserved at the National Archive Fund have been transformed into a digital format. Kazakhstan’s National E-Library, currently, offers access to 80,465 documents in 64 languages.

According to Balayeva, Kazakhstan is to hold celebrations to mark 30 years since the adoption of the Constitution, as well as birth anniversaries of the country’s key figures, including Abay, Shokan Ualikhanov, Mirzhakip Dulatov and Nurgisa Tlendiyev.

The country recently hosted the international symposium themed “The Legacy of Yasawi in the Dialogue of Times and Cultures: Humanistic Landmarks and Contemporary Challenges” in Turkistan. The National Museum of Kazakhstan hosts these days the 3^rd International Museum Congress, launching the Virtual Network of Museums of Kazakhstan portal with 3D models of unique cultural facilities.

Kazakhstan is set to host Culture Days and exhibitions in China’s Shandong province, Uzbekistan, France, Armenia, Qatar and Vietnam.

Of the country’s 16 films shot with state support last year, seven received 34 international awards. The market share for Kazakhstani domestic films stood at 22.97% and the films in the Kazakh language at 19.76%.

The Kazakh culture minister highlighted: “There are over 25,000 historic and cultural heritage sites in Kazakhstan. Of these, 265 are of republican significance, and 12,000 are of local significance”.

In 2024, the Betashar, a Kazakh traditional wedding ritual, was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Moreover, the Underground Mosques of Mangistau and the Silk Roads: Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor were confirmed in the running for a UNESCO’s World Heritage status.

The country also eyes establishment of a unified digital platform of historic and cultural heritage of the Central Asian countries as well as a restoration center in Astana.

Earlier it was reported that Culture Minister Aida Balayeva had highlighted the achievements of Kazakh museums.