Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts (Belarusian: Беларускі дзяржаўны універсітэт культуры і мастацтваў Russian: Белорусский государственный университет культуры и искусств) is a state-owned institution of higher education in Minsk, Belarus. A Minsk Metro station "Institute of Culture" is named after it.
It was established in 1975 as the Belarusian Institute of Culture by order of the Council of Ministers of the BSSR number 139 dated 04.05.1975 and the order of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the BSSR № 234 from 14.05.1975. and reestablished as a university in 1993 and renamed into the "University of Culture and Arts" in 2004. First, the institute had only two faculties: the library, created in 1944 on the basis of the Minsk Pedagogical Institute named after Maxim Gorky and the Faculty of social and cultural activities. In its early years, the Institute developed very intensively: dorms were built, and in 1986 was created by a third faculty, amateur musical and choreographic art. In 1989, the university opened in graduate school, which increased the number of students.
Events of the late 1980s and early 1990s demanded radical changes in the training of specialists in the field of culture.
At this time the second wave of the intensive development of the university: subscribe interuniversity cooperation agreement, and create new specialty departments, MSc and opens branch Mozyr distance learning faculty, and in 1996 the University successfully passed the international accreditation. Based on the results of accreditation with the November 26, 1996 the University received the status of a leading educational institution in the cultural profile of Belarus.
In 1999 and 2000, during a visit to the University of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the university received its own art gallery, a second body, as well as Youth Theatre stage. At that time, were created Student Symphonic Orchestra and scientific creative laboratory of traditional crafts Belarusians.
In 2003, the University hosted the second reorganization, new departments and faculties, some of them changed their names from the perspectives of the development of modern social and cultural practices in the country. On October 8, 2004 - Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts.