?If we add this HUF 3-3.5 billion to the HUF 200 million, I would say this is an extremely efficient form of cultural subsidy and investment,? undersecretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture Márta Schneider said on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new community centre at the Békés County Library in Békéscsaba, in southeast Hungary. Schneider noted that far more money would be available for cultural investments under the second National Development Plan, the framework in which EU development funding will be disbursed in Hungary in 2007-2013.
Zoltán Varga, president of the Békés County Council, said converting one of the library?s old wings into a community centre had cost HUF 27 million, of which HUF 20 million came from the Közkincs programme and the rest from the county. The old wing was once the city-owned residence of the mayor, but it has served the county?s readers since 1952. When the library was expanded in 1985, the old wing was turned into a children?s reading room as well as a storage space for old books.
With its conversion, the old wing will become a space for meetings of writers and readers as well as a venue for musical performances, Varga said.
