Dozens of people protested against the low state support for culture

PRAGUE - Several dozen people gathered today in the center of Prague to express their disapproval of the amount the state plans to allocate for cultural support next year. The organizers deliberately scheduled the event during the time when the parliament is approving the state budget. The budget for the next year allocates less than half a percent to the budget of the Ministry of Culture. If the budget is finally approved, the government's declaration that it would allocate one percent of the state budget for culture would again not be fulfilled.
The gathering under the slogan "One Percent for Culture" took place at Malostranské Square; the planned march to the parliament did not occur, as gatherings are prohibited within a hundred meters of the legislative buildings. Several artists prepared a happening called the "Sale of Culture" at the beginning of the meeting. During the symbolic auction of culture, they tore up pieces of paper with the names of specific projects that requested state grants but received only partial or no funding.
Several dozen theater practitioners from Prague and the regions, representatives of the literary community, visual artists, and other artistic fields came to the building of the Academy of Performing Arts. Two MPs from the parliament attended, Táňa Fischerová (club US-DEU), who presented requests for an increase in the Ministry of Culture's budget in the morning within the budget club, and Petr Bratský (ODS).
"We are here also as one percent, because two MPs represent exactly one percent of the parliament," said Bratský. He noted that the committee rejected most of Fischerová's proposals. "It's not even that important how much money can be 'grabbed' each year, the important thing is the trend; it is currently desperate," he commented on the continuously declining percentage of the state budget allocated for culture. "Our government is uncultural," he added to the applause of those present.
The European standard for the share of culture in the state budget is one percent. However, in the Czech Republic, it has been declining since 1998, and this year it fell below 0.5 percent for the first time. The organizers believe that even 300 million crowns would help culture, thereby bringing the "percent for culture" back to 0.5 percent of the budget. They submitted a proposal to increase the Ministry of Culture's budget by this amount to all MPs.
New Minister Vítězslav Jandák aimed to reverse the downward trend indicated by the Ministry of Culture's share in the state budget. Nominally, the MK budget for 2006 was increased by about 80 million crowns. However, this amount is smaller than the sum necessary to increase salaries and other grants to spiritual institutions, meaning that even less will go to culture than this year. After deducting costs for churches, the percentage for culture is expected to drop to 0.475 percent of the state budget next year. Therefore, it has not been objectively possible to stop the decline.