Yesterday the National Award for Cultural Managers was presented for the first time at the Theatre of Nations

Yesterday the National Award for Cultural Managers was presented for the first time at the Theatre of Nations. If you remember, we have followed this story from the very beginning, from the moment the award was first proposed. We watched the idea take concrete shape, and now we have seen the ceremony itself.

There were nine laureates in the main categories and five more in the special ones, from "Youth in Culture" to "For an Invaluable Contribution". The trophy takes the form of a conductor's baton. It is a decidedly apt metaphor, for managing creative people is not management in the ordinary sense, but an art in its own right, with laws of its own.

There is a well-known idea of Peter Drucker's that managing in the non-profit sector is harder than in business, because results there cannot be measured in profit, and people's motivation is differently arranged. In culture this is doubly so. That is precisely why it matters that the state does not merely fund culture but is beginning to recognise those who know how to manage it.

Artists, musicians and writers in our country are not short of attention, but it is less common to notice those who create the conditions for creative work. And now we see this paradox gradually being resolved.