ORGANISATIONAL REFORMS:

Bulgaria: In June 2006, the Council of Ministers transformed the autonomous national arts centres into government agencies.

Georgia: In 2006, the budget of the programme for the Support of Cultural Heritage Institutes was increased significantly. Intensive work has begun to register and certify heritage monuments.

Germany: Negotiations continued on a merger of the Federal Cultural Foundation and the Cultural Foundation of the Länder. After a stand still of these talks between the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media Affairs and the Länder Prime Ministers in December 2006, it was decided that a new model of closer cooperation between the two foundations should be developed.

Hungary: The Ministry for National Cultural Heritage merged once again with the Ministry of Education.

The Netherlands: The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has initiated a specific regulation that 15% of the commission members of the Council for Culture should have a dual cultural background by 2007.

Slovenia: A special working group was established to study the transversal issue of cultural rights in cooperation with different government ministries.

Spain: In April 2006, the Ministry of Culture supported the creation of the Institute of Gypsy Culture.
Sweden: Ministry of Education, Research and Culture became the Ministry of Culture in January 2007 after the new government reorganisation.

United Kingdom: Reorganisation of Arts Council England results in the reduction of 33 posts.

 

NEW LAWS:

Austria: Plans to introduce new legislation to improve the tax benefits for sponsors of cultural events.

Estonia: The Act on Creative Artists and Creative Artists’ Unions was amended in 2006. It introduces an additional source of government funding and new means to calculate the yearly subsidies for artists unions.

Ireland: The Artists' Exemption Scheme from paying tax on earnings generated much debate in the lead-up to the 2006 government budget. The Arts Council and other bodies argued for its retention and were successful. The scheme was capped at €250,000 by the Minister for Finance.

Italy: The new government announced plans to establish a system of public lending rights intended to benefit literary authors.

Russia: The Ministry of Culture and Mass Communication is to submit a draft Law on Public Broadcasting 2007.

Serbia: Drafting continues on new Library Law and new Law on Cinematography. New legislation for self-employed artists is currently being debated.

Sweden: The new government announced its intentions to propose a new Swedish Language Act, intended to safeguard access to the Swedish language as a condition for democracy.

United Kingdom: A Culture Bill for Scotland is currently in the drafting stage and is likely to be debated in the Scottish Parliament in autumn 2007.

Many countries: New laws on theatre and/or performing arts have been passed or are being prepared for 2007 (e.g. in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Ukraine).

POLICY DEVELOPMENTS

Bulgaria: Culture plays a key role in the National Action Plan on the Roma Inclusion Decade (2005 – 2015). The main purpose of this action plan is to achieve sustainable and cultural integration of the Roma people in Bulgarian society.

Croatia: To date, much of the debate on the impact of EU enlargement on culture has been focussed on tax policies and a possible re-introduction of a higher VAT rate on books.

Estonia: The discourse on immigrants and migration has so far been intertwined with the debates on the integration of minorities, citizenship policies and language policies.

Italy: The criteria for allocating state money to the performing arts are under review. They have been criticised for acting as a barrier to access for funding new, less established organisations. There are also calls for urgent action to reform the whole system of opera theatres

FYR of Macedonia: In 2006, strikes by cultural workers ended in an agreement between the unions and the Ministry of Culture to increase monthly salaries.

Malta: In 2006, the scope of activities supported by the Lottery Funds for Good Causes, was expanded to include the culture field.

The Netherlands: Culture and Economy is a cooperation programme initiated in 2006 by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Culture Ministry to strengthen the economic scope of culture and creativity, by giving an impulse to the Netherlands' creative industries.

Romania: New strategy paper on the privatisation of cinema theatres and cinema studios is currently under public debate.

United Kingdom: Arts Council England published its corporate plan, Our Agenda for the Arts, for the period 2006-2008.

 

NEW STATISTICAL DATA

Albania: Estimates show imported media content make up around 80% of terrestrial and 95% of digital broadcasts.

Hungary: The decrease of personnel in the arts is counterbalanced by a growth in the areas of heritage and socio-culture, where the number of professionals increased by over 30%!

Ireland: A new study, "Public Participation in the Arts" was published in late 2006, updating the last comprehensive survey which took place in 1994.

Italy: A new ISTAT survey on cultural participation was published in 2006.

Poland: New plans indicate a 25% increase in public expenditure on culture and national heritage over the next four years.

Spain: The number of jobs in the cultural field rose from 397,600 in 2000 to 499,500 in 2004, an increase of more than 25%.

Russia: In the Culture of Russia (2006-2010) Federal Target Programme, funding for culture was cut by 4%.

Many countries: New data on the share of government financing for culture available for the following countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine.

Many countries: New data on state funding for culture by sector available for the following countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Belgium (Flemish Community), Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden.

 

REGIONAL OR LOCAL LEVEL HIGHLIGHTS

Belgium (Flemish Community): In November 2006, the Flemish government organised the "Week of Taste" facilitating interaction between the heritage sector with education, agriculture, the catering industry, public health, welfare, etc.

Bulgaria: A mapping exercise on the creative industries in the town of Plovdiv has been carried out with the support of the British Council.

Croatia: Efforts are being made to design local strategies to promote the cultural industries, the most interesting initiative being taken in the city of Split.

Germany: Some Länder governments dismantled their specific Ministries for cultural affairs and transferred responsibility to their respective Offices of the Prime Minister (Staatskanzlei).

Italy: New Houses of Cultures in Rome and Milan act as public meeting spaces for immigrant communities.

Moldova: Priorities set out in the state Programme on the Development of the Regions (2005-2015) entitled "Moldovan Village" include: protection of local cultural heritage; cultural policies for youth; restoration and development of the regional Houses of Culture; libraries and museums.

Serbia: The deadline to privatise local public media has been postponed to the end of 2007.

Slovenia: In 2006, the Slovenian constitution was amended to facilitate the sensitive political process of setting up regions. This will be one of the main issues on the government's 2007 agenda.

Spain: The process of updating the first “Strategic Plan for Culture” in Barcelona was initiated in 2006. One of its strategic lines is to make culture a key element of social cohesion.

Sweden: "Regional artists' consultants" are being engaged to promote cultural diversity.

Ukraine: Despite the decentralisation of responsibilities and financing of basic cultural services from local budgets, there has been an increasing trend towards a re-allocation of funds in favour of the state budget.

United Kingdom: The Arts Council of Northern Ireland set up an Interculturalism Programme to help black and minority ethnic groups develop their capacity to engage in arts projects.

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