Azerbaijan/ 7. Cultural institutions and new partnerships  

7.3 Emerging partnerships or collaborations

There are a number of new partnerships between public cultural institutions and private sponsors e.g. during 1998-2001, the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Opera and Ballet was able to attract additional funds to cover its expenditure. It formed an Opera Trust Fund, whose members included wealthy oil and other companies such as BP-Amoco, AGIP, Arco, HSBC British Bank, Mobil, Shell, Texaco, Wicklow Group Limited etc. Various other theatres obtain sponsorship for new productions. The Azerbaijan International Cinema Company, a joint venture of the Union of Cinematographers and a private British firm "ITIL", has modernised "Azerbaijan Cinema" and successfully manages it.

Many activities of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, namely festivals, concerts, fairs, etc., both international and local, attract a significant share of sponsorship by private sector.