Czech Republic/ 6. Financing of culture  

6.1 Short overview

The development of overall expenditure of the division related to culture within the Ministry of Culture in 2004–2011 is included in the following Table and chart.

Table 5:     Total expenses of the Ministry of Culture, in thousands CZK, 2004-2011

Source:     Ministry of Culture.

In 2004-2008, there was a year on year increase of Ministry of Culture expenditure (without extra budgetary sources) with the exception of 2008 and 2009 when there was the order for the ministry not to spend part of finances in the specific year by the Act on Budgetary Rules. Stagnation of expenditure between 2004 and 2005 was caused by the fact that the budget for culture did not include funding (129 607 000 CZK) for the programme of supporting regional libraries. The money was transferred to the regional budget in connection with the amendment of the Act on Budgetary Allocation of Revenues. The highest increase of total expenditure was recorded between 2006 and 2007. The increase in expenditure in 2007 was projected in expenses for financing the new programme of care for national cultural heritage. Large projects have commenced in this investment programme – such as the reconstruction of the main building of the National Museum, a new building for the National Library, reconstruction of Klementinum and others. The increase in the budget in 2007 allowed significant enforcement of financing the programmes for support of the arts and cultural services in that year. In 2009 expenditure decreased from 2008, which already saw a decrease from the previous year. A further decrease also occurred in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The budget of the MC has been relatively increased thanks mainly to the use of structural funds, but support for culture itself both through state budgetary organisations and through grants and subsidies has increased all the more. Cuts in the budget for culture in 2011 primarily affected the operations of the Ministry of Culture itself and the activities of state budgetary organisations. State budgetary organisations experienced cuts of 15%, expenditure on grants were not reduced from the previous year of 2010. The MC and its organisations are also cutting costs by downsizing, getting rid of indefinite work contacts, and cutting wages. Some organisations like the National Gallery and the National Theatre have also narrowed their activities and reduced the number of exhibitions, theatre premieres, and so on. 

For 2012, subsidies for non-state cultural activities were to be cut by almost one-third. In the end, the new Culture Minister managed to find some money in the budget, but this kind of solution is non-systemic and further substantial cuts are expected for 2013.

One of the tasks to implement the State Cultural Policy of the CR 2009–2014 is to create a Satellite Account for the Culture Sector. This task has been entrusted to NIPOS, a state budgetary organisation of the MC. The objective of creating a Satellite Account is to map all the financial flows into culture from various sources and just as effectively map the financial flows out of culture. The account should also show the level and effectiveness of management in individual areas, the extent of labour and investment resources used, the level of wages, and finally, with the aid of financial indicators, display the weight of culture in the economy.

In September 2011 the results of the first, test Satellite Account for Culture for 2009, prepared jointly by the MC, NIPOS, and the Czech Statistical Office, were presented at a press conference. For the first time the account includes other sectors in the field of cultural and creative industries in the field of culture. In the account, the field of culture covers:  

• cultural heritage (monuments, museums);
• live original art works (performing arts, visual arts and crafts, music – including music recording and music publishing, design, advertising, and architecture) cultural media (books and the press, film, video, television, radio, computer games); and
• administrative work (public administration and copyright protection).

In 2009, gross value added (GVA) in culture was estimated at 81.9 billion CZK, which is approximately 2.5% of the GVA of the CR. Advertising agencies accounted for more than 25% of this, followed by the book and press sector (13.9%) and television broadcasting (11.2%). According to the Satellite Account, design, advertising, and architecture (design  and creative services) contributed most to GVA, followed by television broadcasting, game software publishing (interactive and audio-visual technology), and books and the press. The smallest contributions are from cultural heritage and traditional arts. The volume of GDP is estimated at 64 billion, which approximately 1.76% of total GDP of the CR, and the total observed volume of employment is 81 500 employees and more than 2 100 voluntary workers. The total volume of production in the culture sector for 2009 can be estimated at 202.8 billion CZK, which represents approximately 2.3% of national production. One-third of production comes from advertising, followed by publishing (16.3%) and architectural work (12.4%) and the broadcasting of television and radio programmes (10.3%). Cultural heritage contributed just 3.3% to total production. To see the resulting Satellite Account for Culture for 2009 go to: http://www.nipos-mk.cz/wp-ontent/uploads/2010/01/Vysledek_uctu_kultury_CR_za_rok_2009.pdf

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