ZAGREB, February 5, 2019 - The No More Cuts! initiative, unhappy with the allocation of Culture Ministry funds, staged a protest outside the ministry on Monday and outlined their demands to Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek, who invited their representatives to talks, but they did not show up.
"We are asking that the culture budget be increased to 3%. We demand that the work of cultural councils be public, based on clear criteria and explanations of the decisions adopted," the initiative representatives said.
They said they also wanted to shatter the public perception of the field of culture as a hotbed of "idlers" and "sinecurists", adding that surveys showed that more than half of the country's artists and culture workers could not live off their work.
"That's why we are asking for conditions in which artists and culture workers can live off their work. We are asking for safety at work and social welfare," they said, adding that they had also had it with "shameful working conditions and insecure types of work which bring short term and uncertain project financing."
They are also asking for public financing of non-profit media as a space for investigative and critical journalism which, they said works in the public interest.
Minister says culture budget has risen by 300 million kuna since 2016
Minister Obuljen Koržinek told reporters she invited the initiative's representatives to talks to see what cuts they were referring to. "In this government's term, since 2016, the Culture Ministry budget has been increased by about 300 million kuna," she said, adding that this included original and European funds and that the increase in original funds was about 100 million kuna.
"For this year we announced the adoption of a new law on financing and a new law on cultural councils, which is a prerequisite for any serious reform of the financing system. We also envisaged the adoption of a new law on artists and artistic activity," the minister added.
She recalled that three new calls had been advertised for projects to be financed from the European Social Fund in the amount of 90 million kuna.
She also recalled that non-profit media were financed via the Electronic Media Agency from the media pluralism fund.
As for the status of artists, the minister recalled that, under this government, all public lending right debts had been paid and continued financing of artists' copyrights had been ensured.
Obuljen Koržinek said she could not accept claims that cuts were being made and that this could easily be verified, reiterating that funding had been increased in all activities.
She said the No More Cuts! initiative did not take into account all of the Culture Ministry's financing, including 70 million kuna in programme funds for all public institutions founded by the ministry.
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