A number of cultural organisations have written to President Christodoulides demanding immediate action against senior leadership in the Deputy Ministry of Culture, citing systematic marginalisation and censorship affecting the arts sector.
Forty cultural organisations signed an open letter dated 1 September 2025 addressed to the President of the Republic, expressing “deep disappointment and serious concern” over the formation of a “new order” in the Deputy Ministry of Culture that has caused “visible and serious consequences in the cultural life of the country”.
The groups wrote: “Cultural entities and independent cultural workers are experiencing unprecedented devaluation, intimidation and an environment that now openly undermines artistic and cultural production, the cohesion and health of the broader culture ecosystem.”
Venice Biennale debacle
Among others, the organisations cite the handling of Cyprus’s participation in the Venice Architecture Biennale as indicative of broader problems.
Deputy Culture Minister Vasiliki Kassianidou ordered the withdrawal of a publication from the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale that was written in the Cypriot dialect and details events of the 1974 Turkish invasion after DIKO MP Pavlos Mylonas accused the government of failing to oversee cultural funding and content, with Kassianidou claiming the authors did not have the right to list the deputy ministry of culture as a publisher without “documented official written approval.”
To justify the withdrawal, the Deputy Minister stated artistic expression would be limited to the “official languages of the Republic”, which the organisations penning the letter described as promoting “unacceptable methods of state censorship for democratic regimes.”
The Deputy Culture Ministry’s unsigned response to previous complaints contained “inaccuracies, distortions of events and public accusations” against the team that participated in the Biennale, including claims they “violate basic principles of ethics” and “lie”, according to the letter.
The groups described the ministry’s approach as revealing “the superficiality of handling and making apparent the lack of seriousness and the transactional perception with which matters of institutional responsibility are treated”.
Funding reforms
The letter details concerns over funding programme reforms that organisations claim have distributed funding to “significantly fewer beneficiaries, hit key sectors, and undermined long-standing festivals”.
Grant amounts for approved applications “remain unchanged for thirteen years, ignoring inflation and the surge in production and living costs”, the groups stated.
The organisations criticised proposed artist status legislation, claiming it was presented to Parliament “with serious design flaws in planning, without substantial dialogue with cultural workers”.
The letter also reported inequality in theatre funding schemes that “strengthen entities because of their ‘historicity’” whilst excluding “not only newly formed creative groups but also organisations that develop independent artistic identities”.
Ministry officials criticised over conduct
According to the letter, a senior Deputy Culture Ministry official told cultural workers in an open meeting: “Do whatever you want, I will still receive my salary”. During meetings with visual arts representatives, she allegedly stated: “You should not consider grants as given.”
The organisations described these responses as “contentious, devaluing and lacking empathy”, revealing “a highly problematic attitude of public administration towards the very people of culture”.
They wrote: “Such responses reveal not only a lack of seriousness but also damage the prestige of institutions and the prospect of a healthy cultural ecosystem, which cannot exist without respect, sincerity, understanding and substantial cooperation”.
State cultural policy
The groups noted that the Deputy Culture Ministry has suspended activities at two State Galleries in Nicosia – the Majestic and SPEL – which “previously constituted vital cultural and educational centres of the country”.
They stated: “Entire artistic sectors, with the indicative one of visual arts that showed significant mobility, have been weakened with removals, transfers and departures of experienced staff from the Contemporary Culture Department.”
Ministry officials “systematically absent themselves from the most important cultural events and festivals of the country”, the organisations alleged, demonstrating through this “resounding absence, they practically devalue the cultural activity of the country”.
The letter concluded: “It is an unprecedented phenomenon for the history of culture in our country, documented through a multitude of public elements. The very leadership of the Deputy Culture Ministry and the Contemporary Culture Department, which should be the basic champion of the cultural community, constantly stands against it, choosing to compete with it instead of serving it.”
The groups requested the President “take decisions and act to restore institutional order, protecting artistic and intellectual creation and ensuring the public interest in the culture sector”.
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