"I have ordered an inspection on the subject with Ivo Arakov and I await its result", said the acting Minister of Culture Nayden Todorov regarding the funds allocated by the National Culture Fund (NCF) for the actor's musical projects.
Various projects by Arakov have been approved for financing with a total value of nearly 400 thousand euros. The artist is currently on a European tour, where he is presenting his music album. A tour for which the artist also has a contract with the fund.
"The National Culture Fund" is the way for the Bulgarian state to push its cultural policy. When there is no such - we know that at the moment there is not even a strategy for the development of culture in Bulgaria, it turns out that public funds are being distributed for things that the state has no influence on what is happening“, Todorov pointed out.
In his words, in order to prevent any speculation about what state funds are being given for and to make it clear what is happening, the department has begun working on creating a strategic plan for the development of culture:
“The National Fund "Culture" as a producer of Bulgarian culture sets the topics on which to create, and accordingly the topics on which the state will finance culture“, added the acting minister.
In this regard, Todorov gave an example of the celebration of the anniversary of the April Uprising. If there was a state cultural policy, last year the National Fund for Culture would have announced a session for writing works - literary, musical, paintings, plays, etc., on the theme of the "April Uprising". There is currently no such policy and as a result, people apply with their own ideas, the National Fund for Culture evaluates without having a direction in which the state says it wants the policy to develop," the Minister of Culture also commented.
According to Nayden Todorov, the state should stimulate through the National Fund "Culture" what direction the development of Bulgarian society and culture should take. I believe that with the adoption, God forbid we live to see it, of the strategy for the development of Bulgarian culture, there will be no more such cases, he added in connection with the case of Ivo Arakov.
Regarding the situation at the National Theater "Ivan Vazov" and the problem between the director and one of the actors, the acting Minister of Culture commented that the National Theater has financial problems, but it is one of dozens that have such difficulties. The financial situation not only of the National Theater, but of almost all state cultural institutes in the field of performing arts is extremely difficult, which actually led to the fact that we are looking for an option to change the financing system, he pointed out.