For culture, the same amount again

For the second year in a row, the program “Tou, Alytau” has been allocated the same amount – 40 thousand from the budget of the city of Alytus. amount of euros.

“First of all, we need to know what we want to do with that money, but if we are talking about a quality product, we must not forget that the work of creators and the cultural product costs money. It may seem to a person that 40 thousand EUR is a lot of money, but if we want to create something or bring it and show it, it is not a big amount. The program “Tau, Alytau”, the financing of which is intended for this money, is intended for the implementation of projects of non-governmental institutions and organizations. It provides for a funding ceiling of 10,000 per project. euros is also not a large amount, especially if you are talking about internationality.

It is difficult to compare a person’s creative intellectual potential with material things that can be touched. In other words, quality, idea, internationality, emotion, impression cost a lot,” said Vida Grišmanauskienė, the former chairman of the Alytus City Culture and Art Council, director of the Jurgios Kunčinas Public Library.

Many culture representatives were surprised and disappointed by the amount allocated because the city budget this year, compared to last year, increased from 99 million euros to almost 115 million euros, and the same amount was allocated to cultural projects of “Tau, Alytau”.

Compared to 2019, when the city’s budget was 64.6 million euros, 120,000 euros were allocated to cultural projects, which means that funding for cultural projects has decreased three times this year.

In 2019, 25 projects were financed, compared to only 3 last year. Meanwhile, the Alytus City Municipality Administration invites applications for funding of “Tau, Alytau” cultural and educational projects.

At the end of last year, a new Alytus City Culture and Art Council was elected, which consists of: Chairperson – Gabrielė Dambauskaitė, Director of the Alytus Music School, Deputy Chairperson – Jurgita Guževičienė, Deputy Director of the Alytus Cultural Center, members: Jurgita Šukevičienė, Vice Mayor of Alytus City Municipality, Mayor of the Municipality delegated member, Arūnas Grigaitis, architect, Mantas Kazakevičius, Alytus art school teacher, public activist, Indrė Mikelionytė-Pranculevičienė, Alytus City Theater communication manager, Goda Prapuolenytė-Leonavičienė, communication specialist, Lina Valaitytė, art researcher, museum consultant-consultant, Irma Verene, Alytus Senior librarian of Jurgios Kunčinas Public Library.