The article studies some tendencies of cultural policy of the late 1950s - early 1960s and features of its implementation in the southern province. The author studies directions of local government work in relation to the artistic culture of the Stavropol Territory. In this regard the attention was paid to the change in the functions of the new administrative bodies with respect to the development of culture. The control over the ideological "purity" and quality of art products was the main function. In turn, the authorities were under the control of the party leadership of the Stavropol Territory. The author focuses on two features of this work, the first one concerns the requirements to local literature and art activists to actively participate in ideological work and in propaganda of party politics. Another feature of the cultural policy in the region was pragmatism in relation to art, as well as the material strengthening of cultural institutions of the Stavropol Territory, which in the previous decade were desolate.