Programmes already started by the ministry will be continued, Hiller told the committee. Cultural developments in areas outside of the capital will remain a priority. Within the framework of the Integrated Community and Service Space, as many as a hundred community centres in places with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants could be renovated by 2011.
Speaking about Hungary's cultural presence abroad, Hiller said Extremely Hungary, the Hungarian cultural season in New York and Washington, was continuing, and a Hungarian cultural month would start in Japan in September. A three-and-a-half year renovation of the Hungarian Academy in Rome will be completed in May or June, he added.
The Ministry of Education and Cultural has planned four big cultural investments: the expansion of the Szentendre Open-Air Museum, or Skanzen; the construction of an underground addition onto the Museum of Fine Arts; and the reconstruction of the Music Academy and the Buda Castle, Hiller said. The latter, he noted, "was killed" because the District I local council would not allow the investment.
The ministry's preparations for the 2010 Pécs European Capital of Culture programme are proceeding smoothly, but with the city losing two mayors in just three years, it is difficult to see ahead, Hiller said. The city's local council can still not decide on many important questions in the absence of a mayor, he added.
Looking beyond the next general elections to 2011, when Hungary takes the rotating European Union presidency, Hiller said a government commissioner would be appointed by the ministry to oversee the cultural programme for the six-month term.
Asked about the Ministry of Education and Culture's budget for 2009, Hiller said the ministry did not belong "among the primary crisis-management ministries...but whoever thinks that the crisis can be solved without culture is not living in the 21st century."
"I firmly believe that culture is the most modern form of culture management, it treats not only the superficial wounds, but is capable of healing at deeper levels," Hiller said.
Hiller said the Hungarian State Opera would get its earlier promised HUF 5.3bn in support, though in a different form than earlier planned.
Speaking about a union between the National Association of Hungarian Artists and the Hungarian Artists Foundation, Hiller said the Ministry of Education and Culture supported the move, but the Justice Ministry still needed convincing.
Resources for the National Culture Fund need to be rethought, or there will be serious material problems within 2-3 years, Hiller said. Parliament needs to come together on these steps right away, he added.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI
