The reinforcement of around four million euros for the 2023 Project Support Program of the Directorate-General for the Arts (DGArtes) “is not enough”, lamented Ação Cooperativista today.
The informal support group for culture professionals describes the reinforcement as a “practically unnoticeable sign” that the Minister for Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, has “finally begun to listen to the demands” of the sector.
Adão e Silva announced the reinforcement of the 2023 DGArtes Project Support Programme in the areas of creation, programming and internationalization on August 11, the same day that more than two thousand artists and cultural organizations signed an open letter asking him to resolve the “calamitous situation” in DGArtes funding.
Nevertheless, Ação Cooperativista also accused the minister of a lack of transparency. “What calculations were made to arrive at the figure of four million? (…) Who from the sector was heard when this decision was made?” it asked.
On the other hand, the group argued in a statement that the decision “comes too late” to correct the “catastrophic” results of the 2022 Project Support Program, which allocated funding to 382 projects.
According to Cooperative Action, of the 1,010 applications that were left out of the funding, some had scores above 90% and many had scores above 80% in terms of meeting requirements.
“This unacceptable result must be corrected immediately. It can’t wait for new tenders which, opening in October, will drag on into next year,” the group argued, warning that some of the entities may be forced to close down.
The six calls for tenders under the 2023/2026 Sustained Support Program had allocated a total of 81.3 million euros. In September, Pedro Adão e Silva announced an increase in this amount to 148 million euros.
However, this reinforcement only covered the four-year competition, and the two-year competition was left out, forcing dozens of structures to seek funding from the project support program.
According to information released by the minister to the Lusa news agency, the DGArtes annual declaration for 2022 provided for 8.65 million euros for the Project Support Programme, in the areas of creation, programming and internationalization, and this year’s declaration had 9.52 million euros earmarked for these areas.
The increase for 2023 brings this figure to a total of 12.66 million euros, of which 7.8 million euros are for creation, 3.7 million euros for programming and around one million euros for internationalization.
