There is no overall legal framework to specifically promote and develop the cultural and creative industries. The legal provisions that affect cultural industries refer to specific cultural sectors (book production, music, audio-visual products, etc.) and to economic sectors, e.g., micro and small-medium sized enterprises, activities of transnational media corporations in Croatia, etc. Thus, they are administratively identified within the established cultural creativity areas like music, film, audio-visual, etc. and supported through regular public calls and subsidies of the Ministry of Culture and Media at the national level and through similar calls of cities and counties at the local level. However, selected calls dedicated to the ‘cultural and creative industries’ have been developed throughout the years. In October 2008 the first attempt to support the cultural industries as a specialised field of cultural production was launched by the (then) Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the former Ministry of Economy, Labour and Enterprise. The competition for funds to cover the costs of technological equipment, administrative and office expenses etc. was opened and over 450 cultural entrepreneurs applied to the call. In 2013 this model was partially changed and the Ministry of Culture was responsible for part of the project, while the Ministry of Enterprise developed a special line devoted to SMEs in creative industries as a part of the call, newly titled “Entrepreneurship Impulse” that distributed 3 million HRK (approx.400 000 EUR). In 2014 the Ministry of Culture distributed 1 526 900 HRK (approx. 200 000 EUR), while the Ministry of Enterprise and Crafts did not announce the new calls for creative industries’ projects, but did open a Pilot Project for contemporary design and artistic and traditional projects in the amount of 500 000 HRK (approx. 67 000 EUR). The Ministry of Culture and Media continued with the Programme with increased funds, which is now titled ‘Entrepreneurship in Cultural and Creative Industries’. The following table shows the number of supported projects and the amount of funding since the inception of the programme in 2008.
Table 2 – Number of projects and amount of funding (2008-2022) ‘Entrepreneurship in Culture/Entrepreneurship in Cultural and Creative Industries’ programme
Year |
Number of supported programs |
Amount of funding HRK/EUR |
2008 |
70 |
2 000 000 HRK (approx. 280 000 EUR) |
2009 |
108 |
4 000 000 HRK (approx. 560 000 EUR) |
2010 |
136 |
4 000 000 HRK (approx. 560 000 EUR) |
2011 |
128 |
4 000 000 HRK (approx. 560 000 EUR) |
2012 |
90 |
4 000 000 HRK (approx. 560 000 EUR) |
2013 |
39 |
1 649 880 HRK (approx. 219 984 EUR) |
2014 |
44 |
1 526 900 HRK (approx. 203 586 EUR) |
2015 |
60 |
1 854 096 HRK (approx. 247 212 EUR) |
2016 |
60 |
1 817 577 HRK (approx. 242 343 EUR) |
2017 |
107 |
8 000 000 HRK (approx. 1 066 666 EUR) |
2018 |
119 |
8 000 000 HRK (approx. 1 066 666 EUR) |
2019 |
127 |
8 000 000 HRK (approx. 1 066 666 EUR) |
2020 |
139 |
8 497 150 HRK (approx. 1 127 765 EUR) |
2021 |
171 |
11 133 250 HRK (approx. 1 477 636 EUR) |
2022 |
152 |
5 102 200 HRK (approx. 677 178 EUR) |
Source: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.
It has to be noted that during the pandemic in 2020, as one of the crisis measures, a Loan Guarantee Program (loan approval using state guarantees) for entrepreneurs active in the field of culture and creative industries entrepreneurs has been developed while the largest investment in this field is developed as a part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Within this Plan, the Ministry of Culture and Media is body responsible for the implementation of the investment ‘to strengthen capacity, increase competitiveness and adapt the operations of the cultural and creative industries on the digital single market’, for which 250 million HRK (33 180 702 EUR) in grants have been secured. During 2022 the Ministry opened public discussions on the type of measures needed and the implementation of the programme is expected for 2023.
Thus, the government, and in some cases local and regional authorities, subsidise book production, music production and the recording and film industries (see chapter 7). During the last two decades, several innovations have been introduced, such as bursaries for writers and translators, fixed book price regulations in the form of an agreement between publishers and relevant ministries, and the implementation of public lending rights for authors (see chapter 3.5.2). Legislation regarding audiovisual activities was put into force in 2007 and 2011, which established the Croatian Audiovisual Centre as an arm’s length body with changes in legislation in 2018. A cash rebate system for filming in Croatia has been heralded as one of the measures to support the cultural and creative industries, while further measures regarding videogames support and streamers’ input to local audiovisual production were introduced (see chapter 3.5.3).
Some sectors such as publishing or film and music distribution and production are almost entirely privatised and have generated funds from a variety of sources including public funding and sponsorship but also direct investment and their own income. The products of domestic cultural industries are mostly distributed and consumed in the domestic market with the exception of pop-music and soap-operas, which are successfully exported throughout the region of South East Europe. Films also find their way to international audiences (mainly through festivals) and the works of selected authors are translated and distributed internationally. Liberalisation of the audio-visual market, and the presence of private broadcasters on the Croatian market, has contributed to an increase in domestic audio-visual production. However, there is ample space for development of independent audio-visual productions, not only in relation to private broadcasters but also in the important role of Croatian Radio Television as a public broadcaster and AV (co)producer. The previous research showed that the cultural and creative industries consist mainly of micro-enterprises, mostly employing people with a higher education, that is, self-employed people that are employed through non-typical forms of employment. The authors showed that the cultural and creative industries in Croatia are competitive and more resilient to recession than other economic sectors, but are also weakened by long-term recession (Rašić Bakarić et al, 2015: 178-179).
The recent study by The Institute of Economics (2022) showed that until the beginning of the pandemic the cultural and creative industries in Croatia recorded continuous growth with a share of 3.1% in domestic GDP in 2019, while in 2020 their decline was 8.4% in 2020, which is also the most pronounced decline in the comparison with all other sectors. The sub-sector of music and performing arts proved to be the most affected by the pandemic with the drop in revenue of 40.8%, followed by film sector with 35.9%, arts -23.6%, photography -22.5%, advertising and marketing communication -15.3% and publishing with 11.4%. The decline in business income was recorded in all activities of the cultural and creative industries sector. However, the subsectors of computer programs, games and new media, architecture and museums, libraries and cultural heritage proved to be the most resistant to the crisis caused by the pandemic.
It has to be highlighted that public funding remains the main source of financing of the cultural and creative industries in Croatia, which has become even more evident in the crisis caused by COVID-19 in 2020. As in other countries globally, Croatian cultural and creative industries have been seriously hit by the crisis on the level of production, distribution and consumption. What is more, the Zagreb earthquake in March 2020 has exacerbated this situation, as a number of exhibition and concert halls, clubs, ateliers, and offices have been damaged by the earthquake. A number of measures by the government have been developed to try to tackle different levels of problems caused by the pandemic and the earthquake. As the research data noted above has shown that Croatian CCI has shown resilience in previous recessions, the current situation tests these notions, and it also opened discussions in the cultural community on the need for the development of a more sustainable approach to financing of culture in general.
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