Like in other countries around the globe, the year 2022 proved still be very challenging for the artistic and cultural sector in Croatia and thus for cultural policy making as well. In order to grapple with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, during 2020 and 2021 the government created a number of different types of measures to assist the cultural sector through the Crisis fund that amounted to approximately 6 300 000 EUR. Debates in the cultural sector concentrated around whether these measures were adequate, or were timely, and whether they could have been made in a more sustainable manner.
The difficult circumstances brought about by the coronavirus were exacerbated by two strong earthquakes in 2020 – one in country’s capital Zagreb and other in Sisak-Moslavina county. As a large number of cultural institutions, cultural organisations and companies are located in Zagreb, and especially in Zagreb city centre, the earthquake has taken a toll on the cultural infrastructure. Cultural objects, offices of cultural organisations and ateliers were left severely damaged, while others have been completely destroyed. The assessment of the damage is continuously updated and the Ministry of Culture and is working together with the cities of Zagreb, Sisak and Petrinja, conservation departments, counties involved and other relevant bodies in developing appropriate models for renovation, securing funding for restoration and providing that all conservation measures are under way. The renovation is progressing rather slowly but a number of projects have been finalised and the funding has been secured for additional ones (see chapter 1.3.3).
The year 2020 brought about parliamentary elections that led to another term of the centre-right government coalition led by the Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica – HDZ). This resulted in the continuation of the cultural policy priorities of the Ministry of Culture, which changed its name to the Ministry of Culture and Media in order to reflect the existing responsibilities of the Ministry and to highlight increasing focus on the media sector. Thus, there were no major changes in cultural policy priorities in relation to the former mandate that has put focus on enhancing cultural creativity and support of independent artists (see chapter 2.3 and 4.1.3); entrepreneurship in cultural and creative industries (see chapter 3.5); development of the audiovisual sector (see chapter 3.5.3); development of (digitalisation of) the heritage sector (see chapters 2.4 and 3.1); supporting the independent cultural sector (see chapters 6.4 and 2.3); and supporting audience development and participation in culture (see chapter 6), while also working on updating the cultural legislation (see chapter 4.2). The debates related to the drafts of the new law on independent artists, electronic media, authors’ rights and the critique of the continuous lowering of funding for independent media and lowering of the working standards of journalists (see chapter 2.5.3). These priorities have continued to be relevant in 2022, in the year that was still marked by struggling with the consequences of the pandemic and the 2020 earthquakes. The year has been marked by the lively discussions on: the key legislative changes in the financing of public needs in culture and cultural councils; the discussions on the draft of the new theatre law and the need for the amendments of the coefficients related to the retirement funds of freelance artists. Comments and critique from the cultural community were related to lack of participatory process in the drafting of the laws, and that some of the policy instruments introduced are oriented towards more centralisation. In addition, in 2022 major changes have been announced with opening of the public discussion on the future National Plan of Culture and Media (2022-2027), which should be adopted in the following year. The Ministry also announced a number of calls for projects that will be opened in 2023 and funded through the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (2021-2026), which will be dedicated to cultural and creative sectors, overall cultural infrastructure, digitalisation of cultural heritage and fact checking in media.
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