People and companies from the culture sector want more from the National Recovery Plan

Prague - The Czech cultural and creative sector disagrees with the reduction of support in the National Recovery Plan. They have therefore sent an open letter to the government requesting the approval of the original proposal, which the Ministry of Culture had demanded over eight billion crowns from this plan. The government is now proposing only 2.5 billion crowns for culture from a total of 182 billion crowns that the Czech Republic can obtain from an extraordinary EU contribution.

A total of 140 signatories from the business, non-profit, and public sectors, including associations, regions, cities, universities, and significant cultural organizations and individuals, joined the call. Lucie Ševčíková, the coordinator of the initiative For Creative Czechia, informed ČTK today. A list of signatories is available on its website. Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek told ČTK in October that 2.5 billion crowns could go to culture and creative industries from the mentioned source. However, Ševčíková said today that the original amount was estimated at 8.233 billion crowns, and those who comment on the government proposal, representatives of both the public and private sectors in the field, are advocating for that sum.

MK spokesperson Michaela Lagronová told ČTK today that the Ministry of Culture will strive to obtain eight billion crowns and that it was involved in the creation of the initiative For Creative Czechia. The final proposal will be submitted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the government at the end of February.

"Culture in the Czech Republic has been long-term underfunded. Every year, it falls short of the promised one percent of the state budget. Since 2006, it has been cumulatively deprived of 150 billion crowns," Ševčíková calculates. "Therefore, we ask the government not to cut the budgets flowing into the cultural and creative sector. The money that the government invests in culture will multiply return to Czech society," she stated.

The cultural and creative sector generates 5.3 percent of GDP in the EU, significantly more compared to the expenses directed toward it. It creates jobs, high-value-added products and services, attracts tourists and foreign investors, and contributes to regional development. The authors of the initiative remind that when the Czech Republic has been talked about abroad in recent years, it was partly thanks to the Oscar statue for the film Daughter and the video game Beat Saber.

"In Europe, 12 million people work in creative industries, and the financial turnover in 2019 for the main activities of cultural and creative sectors was over 640 billion euros. It is a sector that was among the first to be hit by COVID, and will be among the last to reopen. Targeted investments from the National Recovery Fund into culture and creative sectors will actively contribute to the revival of the economy - and also to the vision of transforming the individual and society," stated Zdeňka Hubáček Kujová, the ambassador of the initiative from the South Moravian Innovation Centre.