<p>Culture will receive half a billion less in 2010 than this year.</p>

Prague - The Ministry of Culture will have a budget that is half a billion crowns lower next year than this year. Due to the economic crisis, it will need to cut spending by about seven percent. The resulting budget proposal amounts to 7.9 billion crowns, while the ministry originally requested two billion more. This was reported by the ministry spokesperson Viktorie Plívová.
    According to Plívová, the ministry's share of the budget for next year will be about 0.8 percent, similar to last year and the year before. It is more than between 2001 and 2006, when it hovered around 0.6 percent, but less than in 1999 and 2000, when this share was 0.88 and 0.85 percent, respectively. One percent for culture, which is common not only in Western Europe but also in many post-communist countries, is considered a necessity by cultural managers – if the state acknowledges the values that culture brings.
    Last year, the office managed a sum of 8.8 billion crowns, and according to the spokesperson, this year it had 8.4 billion crowns available.
    According to the ministry, budget cuts will affect practically all areas; both the office itself and the contribution organizations it oversees will need to save. Funding cuts will likely also affect subsidies and programs. However, in this area, according to Minister of Culture Václav Riedlbauch, savings should be minimized, Plívová stated.
    "Every reduction in funding for culture is perceived as negative, especially at a time when creative sectors should be supported in finding ways out of the economic crisis," said Jan Vávra, a representative of the initiative For a Cultural Czech Republic, to ČTK. Culture, like science, should not be seen as some sort of superstructure because it generates quite a lot of money for the state budget. Support for culture is not "pouring money into a black hole."
    "In Europe, there are studies showing that creative sectors generate more money than, for example, the automotive industry," added Vávra.