Council of Culture begins to allocate 2 million euros of EU funds
Belarusian culture has to somehow live without the state budget / Collage by Ulad Rubanau, Euroradio
ArtPower Belarus, a project of the Belarusian Council of Culture, provides grants to Belarusian artists. A total of 2 million euros has been earmarked. On April 21, the results of the first round of support were announced, which resulted in the distribution of 485 thousand euros.
Euroradio asked the head of the Council of Culture Siarhey Budkin where the money will go, how many ideas Belarusians have and why 2 million is not much.
"Projects for 7 million 200 thousand euros have been submitted"
As much as 440 thousand euros will be distributed among 16 applicants for midi-grants (up to 60 thousand euros each). More than 25 thousand more will go to 6 mini-grants. More than 20 thousand euros for 9 people who will receive mobility grants. They can be used for travel, study or research.
"We have announced the results of the first round of selection for the midi-projects of ArtPower Belarus, which we carry out together with the Danish Cultural Institute with the support of the European Commission," says Budkin. "In the first round we had the funds to support the ideas of cultural figures for the total amount of 440 thousand euros. The budget limit for projects was 60 thousand euros. But projects were submitted to us for 7 million 200 thousand euros. From this we can conclude how few resources there are and how many proposals there are from creators. This is certainly an inspiration. On the other hand, it is sad that only one tenth of the projects were supported. More than a hundred ideas were worthy of support.
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Siarhey Budkin notes that with the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, support programs were redirected to Ukraine. But the Council of Culture, together with activists from other organizations, is working on a roadmap for cooperation with the European Union.
"This is not just about supporting cultural projects. It is an influence on the preservation of the independence of our country. In the roadmap, we specifically analyze the needs of each area and make recommendations on how we can help. We are also working with the office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, so that during her visits she touches on the importance of culture. We will work more closely with her. We already know from the results of the first competition how many ideas there are. In fact, we have no alternative to the state budget for culture, which in various countries amounts to tens of millions of euros," concludes Siarhey Budkin.
