Hungary/ 4. Current issues in cultural policy development and debate  

4.3 Other relevant issues and debates

The decision taken in 2005 to nominate Pécs for the European Capital of Culture in 2010 very soon became the subject of widespread debates in the press. Key personalities of the project stepped down from their office one by one, and the main investments suffered serious delays and were modified consequently. The malaise was largely due to the disproportional role of capital investment (and the gaining of European Union resources) in the communication and in the actual planning, which has characterised preparations for Pécs 2010 almost till the end, at the expense of cultural programming. In the end, in the absence of most of the planned new infrastructure, and with an accent on the variety of offer, and the increased number of visitors to Pécs, the season is considered a relative success and satisfaction to the city.

Monitoring of culture had reasonable developments in the last few years, especially in a specific field. Five professional associations established a joint project for the registration of festivals, in conjunction with the ministries in charge of culture and tourism. By the end of 2011, over 300 – art, heritage, folklore, gastronomy etc. festivals – entered detailed information into the online database. Besides providing information and gaining visibility, the intention is to offer guidance for public and private sponsors. The next phase was to work out a complex rating scheme of Hungarian festivals, based on visits realised by monitors. At the end of 2011, there were 105 qualified festivals on the list. (A report on the rating system of Hungarian festivals is available at http://www.budobs.org/pdf/Festrating_HU.pdf.)

Your Comments on this Chapter?