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A memo sent to local
correspondents, friends and acquaintances of The Budapest Observatory in
October 2000
Dear Colleagues,
I believe that in the
past month we have managed to improve quite a lot on our web-site so that it
can really be a reference point for financing, culture and east-central Europe.
The growth of the 'Country by country' page is particularly noteworthy and the
EU-Observer* section has started rolling (and collecting digital moss), too.
Public Grants
In a month's time, on
Friday, the 1st of December, from half past 4 pm, I am going to
co-moderate a session based on our project on public grants at the Ottawa World
Summit of arm's length agencies, see http://www.budobs.org/grant-Ott.htm.
(My partner will be David Poole, Head of Media Arts at the Canada Council.) The
remaining time will be used for updating and expanding our collection - the
practice of Austria, for example, would be a useful contribution. Also about
Latvia and the Czech Republic, who are attending the summit, anyway.
The most outstanding
profile has just been added to our Public Grants chapter: its size was one of
the reasons why the presentation of the selection and financing procedure at
the National Endowment for the Arts took us several weeks to process after it
reached us by mail. How many people in the world might be interested in the
workshop secrets of dishing out cultural grants: 30 000? 3000? Or altogether
300? Who knows. For them http://www.budobs.org/grant-usa.htm
will be an exciting piece, a sort of Whitham Report. For us, east-central
Europeans the authentic English (American) terms used in the profile are of
particular value.
Best Practices
http://www.budobs.org/best-motovun.htm
tells you how in Croatia an alternative film festival was put together and has
been made financially sustainable.
The rise in number and
quality of the cases brings us closer to the point, when comparisons, analyses
and conclusions can be drawn from them. Your observations are welcome, as
usual. To generalise from a few examples is always a great temptation, but the
risk decreases with the growth of authentic cases.
Question of the month
In the heart of the
Buda Castle district, a splendid neo-gothic building is owned by the Hungarian
Cultural Foundation. The name suggests a governmental formation but it is one
in its genesis only. The state donated the building to the foundation 8 years
ago and it has led an autonomous life ever since, with no subsequent state grants
for its operations; the bulk of the income is the revenues generated from the
building - renting rooms, running a small hotel etc. Gabor Koncz, executive
director of the foundation (also on the board of our foundation) believes this
is a unique construct.
However, this reminds
me of the Pyramid in Tirana. Do you know of similar cases, when the main or
exclusive state contribution to a cultural undertaking was by donating real
estate with the potential of generating income?
Sponsoring and Taxes
In order to clarify
some points in the Hungarian legislation I had to apply to the highest source.
A substantial four-page response arrived from the State Secretary at the
Ministry of Finance which enables us to complete and correct the presentation
of this country.
The Hungarian 'one
percent law' has created interest internationally: now you can study it
starting out from the page http://www.budobs.org/tax-hun.htm.
And what about the
other countries in the region? No news in october. The work on this chapter
must progress in november to collect ground for our ambition (see next
paragraph).
After Hanover
The draft report of
the Hanover meeting (observatories of the world unite!) has been sent out.
Hopefully the final version is available soon on http://www.unesco.org/culture/development/policies.htm
or nearby. If the idea raised in Hanover gains flesh, The Budapest Observatory
is inclined to act as world coordinator of sister-observatories with regard to
the theme of sponsoring and legislation.
Open Society Institute
In spite of the
proximity and the working cooperation with other parts of the Soros network, my
first contact with the (new) person in charge of culture at OSI Budapest took
place in mid-october. She is Lidia Varbanova, an economist by education and
familiar to most of the addressees of this message.
Houses of culture
These houses (centres,
palaces) in a way were a typical feature of communist cultural policy. In a
way, because they partly had their own national historic antecedents as well as
near-equivalents in the west, too. But the way they were administered and
financed was characteristic of state socialism before the Wall went down.
What happened to them
since? Have there been comparative analyses of their fate after 1990? Can you guide
us to sources on the way they are financed in your or any other country in
east-central Europe?
An opportunity for junior colleagues
The remaining two
months from 2000 may be enough for an ambitious junior colleague of yours to
compose a draft lecture in 2000 words in response to the announcement received
from Glasgow and Aachen: see http://budobs.org/MemoOct-Glasgow.
*Just
received, un-official information from Brussels: the the call for proposals
2001 would be published around the 1st December. Likely deadline for
applicants: beginning of March and the results to come beginning of June.
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