The Council of Culture and Arts approved the proposal of the now former Minister of Culture Vaida Aleknavičienė that the new term commission be headed by literary scholar, poet, translator Mindaugas Kvietkauskas.
He served as the director of the Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Institute from 2008 to 2018, and as Minister of Culture from 2018 to 2020.
It is proposed to appoint actor and theater pedagogue Vytautas Anužis, writer, poet, playwright, interdisciplinary artist Vaiva Grainytė, art historian and exhibition curator Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, opera soloist Edgaras Montvidas Prudkauskas, architectural historian Vaidas Petrulis, and photographer Remigijus Treigis as members of the National Culture and Arts Awards Commission.
According to the project, film director Arūnas Jonas Matelis, musicologist Rūta Stanevičiūtė-Kelmickienė, art historian and dance historian Helmutas Šabasevičius, and historian Aurimas Švedas would remain on the commission.
The current commission members’ term ended on August 12.
The commission is composed of laureates of culture and arts awards, creators of culture and arts, and professional art evaluators representing different fields of culture and arts. Its composition is approved by the Government.
Commission members decide on the awarding of the Lithuanian National Culture and Arts Awards.
Their term lasts three years.
This year, by decision of the National Culture and Arts Awards Commission, the highest culture awards ceremony was held not at the Presidential Palace, as usual, and diplomas and badges were presented to laureates not by the acting president, but by artists who had won national awards in previous years.
The commission chairman, head of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and one of the leaders of last autumn’s cultural workers’ protest A. Gelūnas said that this decision is “conscious and value-based,” aiming to ensure artistic autonomy.
Cultural workers protested in the autumn of 2025 against the ruling party’s decision to transfer the Culture Ministry portfolio to “Nemuno aušra,” for which the president was also held responsible.
The Lithuanian National Culture and Arts Awards recognize the most significant cultural and artistic works created by Lithuanian and Lithuanian diaspora creators over the past seven years, as well as works representing the long-term creative contribution of the creator to culture and arts.
Six awards of 800 basic social benefits each are given annually. This year they amounted to nearly 60 thousand euros.
