Slovenia/ 8.1 Support to artists and other creative workers  

8.1.3 Grants, awards, scholarships

In Slovenia, there is only one national award in the field of culture (Prešernova nagrada). It is given by the Administrative Board of the Prešeren Foundation. Members of the Board are appointed by the Parliament and are artists, creators of cultural life and / or scientists from all major fields of culture (15 members in total). Every year, a maximum of 2 national awards for outstanding achievements or lifework are given. The Prešeren Foundation also awards up to 6 prizes for important artistic achievements.

The selection of award winners and their works has always been of utmost importance for the formation of the field of art, for understanding the role of culture in different political systems (socialism, self- management, democracy) and for determining the proportion of power between the politics and classes of artists and among classes of artists themselves. The national award ceremony is held on the eve of the National Day of Culture, which is celebrated as a public holiday. The convergence of these two events bestows a particular significance to the award and together they represent an annual ritual. The ceremonial parade of award winners, is not only festive, but celebrates the existence and recognition of Slovenian cultural identity and promotes an understanding of common values.

In addition to the national award for culture there are around 70 other prizes awarded in the field of culture in Slovenia. The prizes pursue a balance between the exposure of an artists' body of lifework and the recognition of an individual work of art which is meant to be an incentive for more artistic achievements. The total financial value of the awards granted in the year 2003 including the national award, was approximately 312 500 euros. This amount is approximately one twelfth of the amount invested into the social security system for self-employed artists. The national award accounts for half of the total financial value of all prizes. The biggest number of awards was given in the field of publishing and performing arts, namely in the field of theatre. This reflects the meaning of "language" in the national consciousness. Professional associations of artists give the largest number of prizes (18) while public institutions award 16 prizes and public foundations 11 prizes. The reason why the number of prizes increased in the 1990s is due to the opening of public institutions to new audiences, the need for greater visibility and the presentation of a diversity of productions (all of which is financed from tax payer money).

Professional associations manifest their presence and express their competence to claim what is the best in individual fields through awards. Through public institutions they organise festivals and meetings through which they promote their work and the prominence of their products.

The awards given by public foundations help them to invigorate their position as stakeholders of cultural policy and at the same time as designators of criteria of excellence in their fields. In this regard public foundations compete with professional associations. However, the difference is that the prizes awarded by the two public foundations in the field of culture (Slovenian Film Fund and Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities - JSKD) are not financial, while professional associations are making an effort to add a financial component to their awards. Public foundations therefore envisage the meaning and significance of their awards as recognition of its own importance. On the contrary, professional associations are already aware of the problems of artists and thus try to give financial awards. The state helps them in doing so by providing funds from the state budget up to 70% of all financial awards. With one exception: all prizes which are awarded by local communities originate from the former political system, leading us to conclude that the politics of the time considered culture as an element of development and an outward affirmation of the local community.

Table 15:   Breakdown in the number of awards given in different culture fields, 2003

Source:      the questionnaire prepared by Darja Jurjec, Nataša Pihler, Saša Jocič and interpreted by Saša Jocič (2003).

Table 16:   Source of awards given in different culture fields, 2003

Source:      the questionnaire prepared by Darja Jurjec, Nataša Pihler, Saša Jocič and interpreted by Saša Jocič (2003).

Table 17:   Overview of the number of awards given by year

Source:      the questionnaire prepared by Darja Jurjec, Nataša Pihler, Saša Jocič and interpreted by Saša Jocič (2003).

Table 18:   Type of awards given and by whom, 2003

Source:      the questionnaire prepared by Darja Jurjec, Nataša Pihler, Saša Jocič and interpreted by Saša Jocič (2003).

In 2004, the Ministry gave national public institutions involved in music the possibility to offer residencies. Young artists were thus given the opportunity to gain their first experiences of working in public institutions which would otherwise, because of a fairly restrictive employment policy, have been impossible for them. This was received enthusiastically by music institutions which made full use of the possibility.

More recently, the Ministry of Culture has been providing funds for participation in residences, within the general public call for project funding in arts (performing arts, music, visual arts, intermedia arts) and literature. In 2007, 20 000 euros was distributed among 10 artists (most in the visual arts). There are already four state sponsored art studios abroad, in New York, Berlin, London and Paris. The intention of this scheme, which was worth 120 000 euros in 2007, is to enable promising individuals from the performing arts, visual arts, architecture, design, literature, music, media arts and audiovisual culture, journalism and media criticism, to spend time working in international cultural centres, by covering rent, other expenses (for a period of 3 months) and related travelling costs.

Another mechanism to support individual artists is the presentation of Slovenian contemporary visual arts at international arts fairs, aiming at stimulation, promotion and international recognition of top-level Slovenian visual artists such as Art 39 Basel; Suisse Frieze; Art Fair London; FIAC Paris; Artissima Torino; Paris Photo; and Art Forum Berlin. The same measure is taken for literature, through presentationa at international book fairs in Frankfurt, Leipzig and Bologna. The overall budget for this purpose is around 90 000 euros, with an individual limit of 18 000 euros, under the condition that the public funds don't exceed 70%. The criteria for selection are quality; inclusion of younger artists; creativity and innovation; Slovene visibility; official invitation of event organiser; and criteria for exclusion of double public funding.

In the last few years, a so called working scholarship has gained impetus in different fields such as literature, visual arts, multi media and music, with more than 250 000 euros in 2007. The artists in these fields can compete for project funding too, but the majority of these funds goes to cultural organisations. While individual artists received around 130 000 euros for their projects, the share of the cultural organisations was around of 1.5 mio euros in 2007. Another important budget line is dedicated to scholarships for students of different artistic disciplines on both levels, undergraduate and postgraduate. Around 600 000 euros went for this purpose in 2007 while only 170 000 euros were distributed between different organisations for organising various professional training in the field of culture.

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