The Renaissance Year is both about tradition and innovation, about preserving values and creating them, Hiller said.
Hiller said a proposed piece of legislation that ensures one percent of state investment expenditures go toward contemporary fine and applied arts would come before Parliament in the spring. He added that the ministry would call a HUF 100 million tender by the end of the month for a statue to be placed in a public square. The ministry will spend the same amount to renovate János Vitéz's studio and a statue of King Matthias by János Fadrusz in the centre of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Hiller presented the Culture Sponsor prize to utilities company E.ON for its support of Hungarian culture both abroad - E.ON played a big role in the "Ungarischer Akzent" Hungarian Year in German in 1997 - and at home - E.ON is a sponsor of the Veszprém Festival, the Pécs Culture Days, the Győr Ballet, the Pécs Ballet and the Liszt Music Academy. The company has spent more than HUF 200 million on culture and education in Hungary over the past several years, making it one of the country's biggest sponsors of the arts.
