EN
The author believes it is essential that the potential of culture be looked at in a complex way. On the one hand, it is seen as valuable in and of itself, passed along from one generation to the next and defining a country’s identity. It is also a source of satisfaction and emotion, a field of creativity of outstanding personality. On the other hand, it is an area in which Poles may express their desires and expectations. This paper suggests looking at culture as the basis of society’s knowledge, the foundation of modernity, a catalogue of essential tools for the human race of the twenty-first century to meet the demands that lay ahead. Culture is constantly being changed by the passing of time. Tied to history while never remaining indifferent to modern changes, culture carries within itself an element of duration and one of change, and likewise a social factor integrating the two. In the social sciences the recurrence of certain regularities and phenomena, characteristic of the culture from earlier times, are observed and may be revived in new forms of modernity. The strengthening of creative environments allows for a fuller use of existing cultural and artistic potential, which is becoming a real factor in regional development, increasing the attractiveness of a region for its inhabitants, investors and tourists alike. The standard of cultural bases needs to be improved and the conditions for taking advantage of existing potential creative environments to be created. It is also important to promote the culture of a region within the country and beyond its borders. A developed cultural exchange will be an important area of intraregional, interregional and international cooperation.