Slovenia/ 6. Financing of culture  

6.1 Short overview

Within the public sphere, culture in Slovenia is co-financed by two main actors: the state and local communities. On the state level, the Ministry of Culture is responsible for the distribution of the majority of public funds for culture (ca. 90%). Various programmes and projects are supported by the cultural budget including those of public cultural institutions (national and municipal), the Film Fund of the Republic of Slovenia and the Public Fund of the Republic of Slovenia for Cultural Activities, programmes and projects of both minority groups as well as subsidies and grants for artists, professional societies, scholarships, cultural festivals, investments in information technology, sites and monuments, minimum social security for freelance artists, retirement benefits for cultural workers etc.

In Slovenia, there are still no regional authorities that operate between the state and local level. In a country of 2 million people and approx. 20 000 km² there are 210 local communities. The obligations of the local communities in the cultural field are: to ensure conditions for common library activities, cultural and arts activities and amateur cultural activities, conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and other cultural programmes of local importance. In areas where national minorities live, the local communities are also obliged to support their cultural activities.

Public cultural expenditure in 2007 amounted to approximately 272 million euros and corresponded to 0.81% of the GDP.

The share of the state in public cultural expenditure was 61% in 2007, with the local level providing the remaining 39%. (This division includes all local level expenditure on culture, but at central level it only refers to the expenditure of the Ministry for Culture).

The share of state cultural expenditure, as part of the total state expenditure in 2007, amounted to 2.12% and the share of local community cultural expenditure, as part of the total local community expenditure in 2006, amounted to 6.3%.

Household spending on cultural activities and goods in Slovenia was calculated on the basis of the National Household Budget Survey carried out by Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. In 2006, this amounted to ca. 485.7 million euros or 4.27% of the total household budget (in 2005 it amounted to ca. 474.3 million euros or 4.34% of the total household budget). The majority of cultural household expenditure was spent on the RTV subscription (32.5%) and press (20.6%). Household spending on cultural activities and goods in Slovenia, in 2006, corresponded to 1.59% of GDP (in 2005 it corresponded to 1.68%).

National cultural expenditure, calculated on the basis of public cultural expenditure and household spending on cultural activities and goods, in 2006, amounted to 742 million euros and corresponded to 2.44% of GDP (in 2005 it amounted to 705 million euros and corresponded to 2.49% of the GDP).

Table 11:   Share of household spending, 2000-2006

Sources:     Ministry for Culture, Ministry for Finance, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
*                  A revision of GDP calculation for the years 2000-2006 was made in the middle of the 2008. The methodology of household spending was harmonised with COICOP-HBS classification (Division HE09 Recreation and culture, witch covers main cultural expenditure of households). The same methodology was used in the publication of Eurostat: Cultural statistic, 2007 edition.

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