To mark the Palestinian National Culture Day on March 13th, PCBS and MoC reviewed the status of cultural institutions in Palestine.
The Number of Cultural Centers Operating in Palestine Decreased Compared to the Previous Year
There were 566 cultural centers operating in Palestine in 2019, while the number of cultural centers operating in Palestine was 597 in 2018.
The gap between the West Bank and Gaza Strip is still large in the number of cultural centers.



Cultural centers, that responded , reported conducting about 9.2 thousand cultural activities in 2019. While in 2018, the number of activities was about 9.5 thousand.
Training Courses continued to rank first among cultural activities held in cultural centers.



About 558 Thousand People Participated in Cultural Activities of Operating Cultural Centers in Palestine
In 2019, about 558 thousand people participated in cultural activities of the operating cultural centers that responded: about 424 thousand participants in the West Bank and 134 thousand participants in Gaza Strip. The highest participation in cultural activities was in Ramallah & Al-Bireh Governorate with about 162 thousand participants. In 2018, about 462 thousand people participated  in cultural activities.

About 388 Thousand Visitors to Museums
There were 34 museums operating in Palestine in 2019: 29 museums in the West Bank (four of them did not respond) and 5 museums in Gaza Strip. There were about 388 thousand visitors to the museums that provided data: 73% were Palestinians and 27% from other nationalities. The results showed that the largest number of visitors was in April with about 82 thousand visitors, while the lowest number was in January with about 18 thousand visitors. In 2018, the number of visitors to museums was about 337 thousand.
   
38% of Theater Plays were for Adults
There were 17 operating theaters in Palestine: 14 in the West Bank (one of them did not respond) and 3 in Gaza Strip. 323 plays were performed in Palestine in 2019: 256 plays in the West Bank and 67 in Gaza Strip. Out of which, 38% of plays were for adults, 29% were for children and 33% were for both children and adults. There were about 90 thousand theatre attendees; the highest number was in September with about 12 thousand attendees, followed by January with about 10 thousand attendees. In 2018, the number of theater attendees was about 85 thousand.

Bethlehem Capital of Arab Culture 2020
Bethlehem city was adopted as the capital of the Arab Culture for the year 2020, by the official decision of the Arab Culture Ministers in January 2016.

In 2019, the Ministry of Culture has implemented around 868 cultural activities through two programs: 643 cultural activities were conducted through “culture for all” program (including 147 activities that had to do with the occasion of Al-Quds Capital of Islamic Culture 2019). 225 activities through "heritage protection" program (including 85 activities on occasion of the Palestinian Heritage Day that was included performances in cinema, stage, fine arts, literature festivals, youth cultural meetings. where 5 items of heritage were collected and classified. On the other hand, UNESCO decided to include the Date palm tree in


the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity). It should be noted that during the implementation of its activities, the Ministry has taken into consideration educational institutions (Palestinian schools and universities).

The Ministry of Culture has organized 5 national book fairs. The Ministry worked to enhance its cultural presence on the Arab and international level through participation in many international events and exhibitions, as it participated in six international book fairs in Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Sultanate of Oman, Jordan and Belarus and organized cultural weeks in Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq, and it also worked on Re-launching the State Appreciation Award for Arts, Arts and Humanities, where 11 writers, intellectuals and artists won the award, in addition to honoring many cultural figures.

Moreover, the Ministry of Culture funded around 61 cultural projects, including 41 projects that were supported by the Palestinian Cultural Fund with around USD 648.5 thousand. Furthermore, 20 projects were funded by the Cultural Initiatives Program with about NIS 843 thousand.