Croatia

GOVERNMENT MEASURES – COVID-19

During 2020 and 2021, the measures by the Government of the Republic of Croatia to assist the cultural sector in order to minimize the adverse effects of the COVID-19 virus pandemic have been continuously created, changed and implemented. The Ministry of Culture and Media has also continuously worked in coordination with the Civil Protection Headquarters and the Public Health Institute in order to develop a series of recommendations so that artistic activities can be realised. These recommendations contributed to the production, distribution and use of cultural content, and they were, and still are, changed according to the current epidemiological situation. The public debates regarding the measures are present continuously, together with the different pressures from the sector, which, to a certain extent influence the restructuration and creation of some of the measures.

Up to the summer of 2020, two packages of measures were adopted, and in the autumn of 2020 the third package of the measures was initiated, with the aim to realise the changes by the end of the year. However, some of the measures are still in the process of adoption, while some new ones have been created.

Here is the list of the third package of measures, the available data on their successive calls in 2021, together with the additional measures that were created in the period from autumn 2020 to autumn 2021:

• Additional funding has been allocated to support film production and the grants awarded by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) pursuant to criteria developed by the Centre. The Decision on implementing the decision on additional support for production of debut feature films and feature films that could not be produced due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was issued by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre in October 2020. The total sum of funding amounted to 5 million kuna in 2020.

• In November 2020, The Ministry of Culture and Media opened a Public call for partial compensation of performance costs in theatre, dance and music (classical and jazz music), with the aim of stimulating further activity in the performing arts, within the current circumstances of reduced spatial capacities and the consequent inability to meet all performance costs.
• In November 2020, The Ministry of Culture and Media opened a Public call for digital adjustment programmes and the creation of new cultural and educational content to admit applicants across all cultural disciplines (audiovisual production, performing arts, literature and translation, visual arts). The total funding of the 2020 Call was 8.189.193,00 kn, while in 2021 through this Call the funding distributed amounted to 7.935.000,00 kuna.

• The Croatian Musicians Union (HGU) has published a Call for proposals for concert programmes – ‘Jer svirati se mora!’ (Because we need to play!) – under the Agreement with the Ministry in November 2020 (4.5 million kuna) and again in December 2021 (7 million kuna allocated for ‘Jer svirati se mora 2!’).

• In continuation of the practice established in 2020, in January 2021, The Ministry of Culture and Media has opened a new Public call to support artists who professionally perform independent artistic activity and whose contributions are paid from the budget of the Republic of Croatia. According to currently available data, in March 2021 the total funding of this call was 6.792.000 kuna.

• In February 2021, The Ministry launched a Public call for independent professionals who do not have a regulated status, are not in the register of taxpayers, do not pay contributions or have not acquired the right to pay contributions from the state budget. Through this public call, artists will achieve a right for one- off fees through artistic associations in which they are members. According to currently available data, in March 2021 the total funding of this call was 5.936.000 kuna.
• In March 2021, The Ministry launched a Call for professional associations to provide one-time assistance to their members due to obstacles in working conditions caused by the coronavirus.
• The prolongation of the loan guarantee programme for entrepreneurs (SMEs) active in the field of culture and creative industries was announced for 2021 in March. It was established in 2020 by the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Ministry of Finance and the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investment (HAMAG-BICRO). Entrepreneurs not founded by a public authority are able to take out loans amounting up to 800.000 EUR, with a 100% guarantee provided by the Croatian Government. This measure is based on the European Commission’s Temporary Framework for State Aid measures. In 2020 through this measure, 40 guarantees were issued in the total amount of 38.263.219,40 kuna. For 2021 54.000.000,00 kuna were allocated for this measure.
• In July 2021 a Call was issued for programmes of small value to support the establishment and normalisation of activities of the cultural and artistic events industry whose activities were endangered by the pandemic of COVID-19. The total amount of funding of this measure was 5.731.095,07 kuna;
• In July 2021 the Ministry also opened a Call to cover the costs of COVID-19 testing for concert organizers and promotors in the amount of 5milion kuna;
• Diving centres are exempt from paying the cultural goods tax in 2020 and 2021.

REPORT ON THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND EARTHQUAKE ON CSOs IN CONTEMPORARY ARTS AND CULTURE IN CROATIA

In May 2020 the Foundation ‘Kultura Nova’ published the report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Zagreb earthquake on civil society organisations in contemporary arts and culture in English. This report (previously published in Croatian) is the result of a test phase of a larger longitudinal research dedicated to the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural sector in Croatia.

The research results, summary of findings and the final report is available at the following link: https://kulturanova.hr/eng/news/english-version-of-the-research-on-the-pandemic-and-earthquake

REPORT ON THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE EARTHQUAKE ON THE CULTURAL SECTOR IN CROATIA

As a follow up from the test phase initiated in 2020 that was focused on the stakeholders from the civil society sector in culture and the arts (see above), the Foundation ‘Kultura Nova’ together with the Ministry of Culture and Media, executed larger scale research on the impact of the COVID-9 pandemic and the earthquakes on the cultural sector in Croatia. The report was published in 2021 by the Foundation ‘Kultura Nova’ and, together with the detailed findings, offers some policy recommendations for the sector. The summary report conclusions showed: how culture has reaffirmed its importance to society during the pandemic; how the crisis has had immediate negative as well as positive effects on many aspects of the work of the cultural sector; the crisis has affected cultural participation and it has changed the habits and behaviour of audiences; the crisis pointed to structural problems in the cultural sector originating before the pandemic; and how the negative effects of the crisis are not evenly distributed among the actors of the cultural sector.

The report is available only in Croatian at the following link: link: https://kulturanova.hr/istrazivanje_covid_potres_2_faza/izvjestaj/

(Below you can see previously announced measures from March to 26^th of May 2020).

Government measures

After several measures to assist the cultural sector in minimizing the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, adopted by the Croatian Government on March 17th 2020 (see previous update below), additional actions were put into place:

• Following the aims of the measure oriented to supporting the preservation of jobs available for cultural and creative sectors through the Croatian Employment Service, Ministry of Culture opened a complementary call for freelance artists on April 1st. Through this call, the support is open to freelance artists working in art professionally and whose contributions are paid from the budget of the Republic of Croatia (members of Croatian Freelance Artists Association – HZSU). For applications received by 15^th of April, the first payment was HRK 3.250,00(EUR 433) or HRK 1.625,00 (EUR 220) per applicant, depending on the status of the artist. With this measure, 773 freelance artists were supported in April with a total amount of HRK 2.388.750,00 (approx. EUR 318.500).
  (A new measure is also being developed, which will be dedicated to freelance artists who are not members of Croatian Freelance Artists Association (HZSU), are not part of any official registry and who can prove that their income has decreased due to the suspension of activities related to special circumstances caused by COVID-19.)
• On May 12th, the Ministry of Culture has opened a Call for Artistic Professional Associations for funding of the one-time assistance to their members who have been affected by the adverse effects of the pandemic. The members of the associations apply for funding through their association, while the association then jointly applies to the Ministry for funding.
• A Call for the Support of Journalistic Work in Electronic Publications has been issued by the Agency of Electronic Media on April  30th with a budget of HRK 1million (approx. EUR 133.333). This measure is dedicated to journalists, photo reporters and cameramen whose work has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

New public call ‘Arts and Culture Online’

On the 18^th of May, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia has issued a call for proposals entitled ‘Arts and Culture Online’ within the framework of the Operational Programme Effective Human Resources 2014-2020 financed by the European Social Fund. The aim of the call is to increase online cultural and artistic participation of persons under 25 years old and over 54 years old. The call is open to activities related to the preparation and implementation of online artistic and cultural activities aimed at increasing social inclusion of these target groups. Both public cultural institutions and civil society organisations (artistic organisations and associations active in the field of culture and arts) are eligible to apply for this call. The total financial envelope of the programme is HRK 25,000.000 (approx. EUR 3,333.333) while the budget of the project applications should be between HRK 100.000 (approx. EUR 13.000), and HRK 500.000 (approx. EUR 66.666). The share of financing per individual project is 100% of the eligible costs, out of which 85% is secured from the European Social Fund, while the mandatory share of national co-financing of 15% will be secured by the Ministry of Culture through the State budget of the Republic of Croatia. The deadline for submitting project proposals is 31 December 2020, i.e. until the financial envelope is exhausted.

Relaxation of restrictions

Due to the improving situation in Croatia regarding COVID-19, a decision by the Government of the Republic of Croatia on the three step relaxation measures has been issued on April 23rd, so as to initiate economic and other activities in the conditions of the declared epidemic. In the first week of these measures, the actions related to culture included the opening of museums, archives, galleries, libraries and bookstores who now have to adhere to recommendations issued by the National Civil Protection Authority, the Croatian Institute of Public Health and the local civil protection authorities. Furthermore, on May 15th, the Croatian Institute of Public Health published recommendations regarding further easing of measures related to rehearsals, cultural programmes and events and the organisation of recording audio-visual and music content. It is recommended that as many cultural programmes as possible should be organised outdoors. If they are held indoors (such as cinemas), seating arrangements have to be arranged to adhere to physical distancing measures, etc.

On May 25th, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre published a set of recommendations for filming during the COVID-19 pandemic, prepared by principal professional associations and in line with the recommendations issued by the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

Appeals of the independent cultural sector

The independent cultural sector has continued to advocate for the position of cultural workers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. An initiative for better working conditions has been developed by independent cultural workers, entitled ‘Platforma za radne uvjete u kulturi – Za K.R.U.H. / Platform for working conditions in culture – for B.R.E.A.D’. It includes several civil society organisations in culture and the initiative ‘Enough with the Cuts’, which includes BLOK, CDU, OOUR, Skribonauti and Ateliers Žitnjak. At the beginning of May, the group issued a public appeal for better working conditions in culture that can be found here.

Implications for Rijeka 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on one of the biggest cultural projects in the Republic of Croatia: Rijeka as the European Capital of Culture in 2020. Due to the implications of restrictions connected to the pandemic, the majority of cultural and artistic programmes had to be cancelled or postponed. In the context of significantly reduced public budgets’ following the implementation of coronavirus measures, the budgetary resources planned for the implementation of the Rijeka 2020 programme were also reduced. This also had implications for cultural workers involved in the execution of Rijeka 2020 programme; 59 employees of the Rijeka 2020 LLT company were given notice. The programme will continue in a reduced form, as announced by the organisers.

March 30th 2020

On Tuesday March 17th, the Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted measures to assist the cultural sector in order to minimise the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taking into account the ban on public gatherings, cancellation of cultural events and the closure of cultural institutions, it was noted that the cultural and creative sectors were among the first to experience the effects of the pandemic. By establishing a special crisis fund, the Ministry of Culture plans to provide support for the cultural sector, including independent artists, self-employed and other natural and legal persons who are left without an income due to restrictions on the public gatherings and closing of theatres, cinemas, museums, concert halls.The crisis fund will cover the activities that fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, the Croatian Audiovisual Center and the Foundation ‘Kultura Nova’.

It is planned that the fund will provide resources to natural and legal persons in the cultural field in order to support cultural projects that were already approved and whose execution has been delayed due to the pandemic. Following the announcement of this measure on March 24th, the Ministry of Culture issued a decision on the conditions of this funding in special circumstances. One of the measures announced was the suspension of the revision of the status of freelance artists for a period of six months. This measure was enacted on March 20th with March 17th as the starting date.

Another measure announced is connected to the Agency for Electronic Media that manages the fund for the Promotion of Pluralism and Diversity of Electronic Media 2020. The agency has announced they will redirect a part of the fund towards public monitoring of the coronavirus epidemic. In addition, they will allow for flexibility with regard to the planned programmes of the media service providers.

Another measure is entitled Support for the preservation of jobs in activities affected by the Coronavirus (COVID – 19). This measure is also intended for entrepreneurs from the cultural sector and for persons who, within the cultural and creative sectors, carry out an activity independently and pay the contributions of compulsory insurance (pension and health insurance), such as independent artists, journalists, etc., which, due to circumstances such as the cancellation of cultural events, events, performances, concerts, exhibitions, festivals, etc., have remained without regular sources of income. Employers who can prove the impact of special COVID-19 circumstances on their activities will be eligible for assistance of EUR 433 per full-time worker and EUR 216 per part-time worker. This measure is managed by the Croatian Employment Service and the total fund for all the sectors is EUR 666 million.

In addition, on March 19th the Croatian Parliament adopted the Act amending the law on the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Property, which includes suspending monument rent as an additional measure to help the economy.

Appeals of the independent cultural sector

The independent cultural sector has been very vocal about the need for assistance ever since the first restrictions on the public gatherings, travel, and organisation of events was made on March 12th. On March 14th, a public appeal for support of the independent cultural sector was issued by independent theatre producers, authors and performers, as well as the Association of Concert Promoters – Promo. It was immediately signed by over 4000 cultural workers and organisations. Following the announcement of the measures by the government, the critique towards the Ministry of Culture that followed stressed that the suggested measures are not adequate, and are not implemented fast enough.

On March 19th, an additional appeal was issued by the Platform on the Working Conditions in Culture (NGOs: BLOK, OOUR, Skribonauti, Žitnjak Ateliers, CDU) and the Initiative ‘Dosta je rezova!’. The Platform stressed the drastic impact that the COVID-19 has made on the working conditions and livelihoods of cultural workers and suggested concrete measures to help the sector.

Zagreb earthquake during COVID-19 pandemic

On Sunday March 22nd, Zagreb was hit by the strongest earthquake in the last 140 years, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale. Many people lost their homes and there is serious damage to a number of buildings and the general infrastructure, most notably in the city centres’ Old Town.

As a large number of cultural institutions, cultural organisations and companies are located in Zagreb, and especially in Zagrebs’ city centre, the earthquake has taken a toll on the cultural infrastructure. A large number of cultural objects, offices of cultural organisations and ateliers are severely damaged, others have been completely destroyed. The assessment of the damage is still being made and the Ministry of Culture announced that it will work together with the City of Zagreb, conservation departments and other relevant bodies in order to develop appropriate models for renovation.

On March 24th, the Croatian government opened a donation fund to help those affected by the Zagreb earthquake.

Online culture resources

Taking into account the (movement) restrictions connected to COVID-19, the closing of cultural institutions and organisations and the appeal to citizens to stay at home (#ostanidoma), many cultural institutions and organisations as well as independent artists have offered their cultural content online (films, recordings of theatre shows, concerts etc). The links to most of the online cultural content is available at the website of the Ministry of Culture.