Hungary cannot afford to waste budget money, which is why we support the creation of cultural centres which serve multiple purposes, Hiller told the conference in Tatabánya.
Hiller also noted that the government had voiced its support for the Közkincs programme of grants for cultural institutions in the draft budget.
Budget funding should be channelled into the true cultural centres of Hungary?s communities, namely their libraries, Hiller said. Libraries should be transformed into electronic information centres, as it makes no sense to separately maintain the activities of libraries, electronic information points and education centres, he said. ?Not even countries more affluent than Hungary can afford that.?
Hiller pointed out that EU funding is mainly available for investments and developments. For this reason, cultural institutions? tenders should focus on ?physically? reviving their infrastructure.
Cultural development projects will receive state funding of HUF 200 million this year, Hiller said. In the past two years, he noted that development projects worth some HUF 3.5 billion had been carried out in Hungary, thanks to preferential loans and grants. Half of these projects were completed in communities with fewer than 2,000 residents.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
