I want us to stop talking only about money and start talking about the meaning of what we do. This was said by the acting Minister of Culture Naiden Todorov in the studio of "The Day Begins" on BNT.
Minister Todorov explained that the method of financing theaters in our country should have been changed several years ago, when it became clear that the current one was no longer working. This model has led to the fact that state cultural institutes have become market competitors of private ones, which Naiden Todorov described as "absurd". For him, the problem is that currently in culture, quantity is measured, not quality, which he hopes to change.
Naiden Todorov, Acting Minister of Culture: “We need to measure not quantity, but turnover, how much money we earn. We need to measure what kind of production we create, for whom we create it, what its impact on society is. Naturally, income is one of them. The number of visitors. The number of visitors in the city where you are located. Because what is happening right now is that theaters located in small towns are forced to travel all over the country, because there is not enough audience in that city to make the income that is required of them by law. Accordingly, a formula must be put in place by which theater visitors are percentage-bound to the population in the respective place. Because we cannot ask the Sofia Philharmonic to have an audience of 1,200 people per concert and ask the Vidin Symphony to have an audience of 1,200 people per concert. This is murder, for example, for the Vidin Orchestra. One of the measurements is what is the ratio of people who are interested in culture and enter the hall to the population of the city or this settlement. Another measurement is working with young people. A third measurement is staging new works. Working with contemporary artists.“
A battle is beginning to change the standard by which museums, galleries and community centers are financed, the Minister of Culture added. Among other problems in the system is the “Culture“ Fund, which initially operated with 200-300 thousand leva, and now, under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, the funds have increased to 90 million. The Minister assured that there will be no problem with financing the projects, new verifiers have been appointed, and there will soon be a competition for a new director.
Regarding the National Film Center, Nikolay Todorov pointed out that there are working solutions in this area in other countries and there is no need to “open the hot water“.
The Ministry of Culture has prepared 220 events on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the April Uprising, it will be celebrated in every major city in our country, said Naiden Todorov.
Naiden Todorov, Acting Minister of Culture: “We are also preparing a decision of the Ministerial Council council, which we will discuss on Friday with the Minister of Finance for additional funds for events in the municipalities where the April Uprising took place. We have joint initiatives with the Ministry of Education, with whom I have a meeting today at lunchtime precisely on this occasion. We are preparing hard for the April Uprising. There will be two major events in Sofia. One will be at the National History Museum, the other will be at the National Palace of Culture, with the Bulgarian National Radio ensembles. So we have not forgotten the April Uprising. We cannot forget it, because if it had not happened, there would be no Bulgaria. We are currently trying to catch up on these missed deadlines and I am firmly convinced that we will do so. The accents will be, in addition to Sofia, the municipalities where the April Uprising took place, but in fact it will be celebrated in all larger settlements in Bulgaria."