Greece

Last update: October, 2013

Public expenditure on culture (as indicated by general government expenditure in the cultural sector divided by total population) per capita in 2011 was approximately 45.05 EUR (on the basis of population as calculated in the preliminary results of the 2011 population census). It corresponds to 0.23% of the GDP.

These figures are based only on expenditure channelled to culture through the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s ordinary and public investment budgets, as well as funds allocated to libraries and historical archives from the ordinary budget of the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs, i.e., it excludes cultural spending of local and regional government and other Ministries.

Last update: October, 2013

Table 1:    Public cultural expenditure: by level of government in EUR, 2011

1      This is the allocation of the ordinary state and public investment budget of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, excluding ordinary budget funds for Tourism and for Sport but including public investment budget for Tourism and for Sport. It excludes revenues of the Archaeological Receipts Fund.

Last update: October, 2013

Table 2:    State cultural expenditure: by sector, in thousand EUR, 2006

Source:    Regular Budget of the Hellenic Republic: 
Public Investment Budget of the Hellenic Republic: https://www.minfin.gr/web/guest/home?p_p_id=3&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=maximized&p_p_mode=view&_3_struts_action=%2Fsearch%2Fsearch&_3_redirect=%2Fweb%2Fguest%2Fhome&_3_keywords=Public+Investment+Budget+of+the+Hellenic+Republic&_3_groupId=0

Notes:     
a) The amount for rows 1-2 excludes funds for archives (included in row 4: libraries); it may be slightly overestimated as it includes, apart from wages and salary costs for the 3 000 strong archaeological service, that of Ministry staff;
b) Total is based on the Ministry of Culture’s ordinary budget, excluding funds for the General Secretariat of Sport and including funds for libraries and archives, administered through the Ministry of National Education and Religions;
c) Public investment budget for the Ministry of Culture in 2011 was an additional 122 million EUR. 

Table 3:     State cultural expenditure: by sector, in thousand euro, 2006

Source: Regular Budget of the Hellenic Republic: A) Ministry of Culture: http://www.mnec.gr/el/economics/budgets/ypoio_kratikos_proyp_2008/proyp2008/PDFProyp/2.5.10.3.pdf  b) Ministry of National Education and Creeds: http://www.mnec.gr/ el/economics/budgets/ypoio_kratikos_proyp_2008/proyp2008/PDFProyp/2.5.9.3.pdf,

Notes:      
a) The amount for rows 1-2 excludes funds for archives (included in row 4: libraries); it may be slightly overestimated as it includes, apart from wage and salary cost for the 3 000 strong archaeological service, that of Ministry staff;
b) Total is based on the Ministry of Culture ordinary budget, excluding funds for the General Secretariat of Sport and including funds for libraries and archives, administered through the Ministry of National Education and Creeds;
c) Public investment budget for the Ministry of Culture in 2006 was an additional 284 million euros.  

Last update: October, 2013

There is indirect, rather than direct, support by the state for literary and artistic creativity. In the case of literature, these take the form of bulk purchasing of literary works by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In the case of photography, the Ministry co-operates with private galleries to support the "photography month", providing an opportunity for the sale of photographic work. In addition, there is an obligatory 1% of the budget of public buildings to be allocated to the acquisition of art works.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has established a universal honorary pension scheme for recognised writers and artists, however, the pensions given through this scheme are very meagre, and the scheme is currently being evaluated. Law 2557/97 makes indirect provisions for a number of issues relevant to the promotion of creativity and the role of creators, from literary, dance and drama prizes to the creation of galleries or art, education in the performing arts, and support for artistic and cultural associations. The Ministry has introduced a new scheme for supporting performing arts groups that need a space for rehearsals, by offering the venue of Tae Kwon Do built for the 2004 Athens Olympics free of charge for such use.

Festivals supported by the Ministry of Culture include the Documentary Festival of Thessaloniki, the short film festivals of Drama (300 000 EUR annually), the Naousa digital shorts festival, the Ancient Olympia film festival for children and young people with workshops and movies for children, Ecofilm in Rhodes, Health Films festival in Kos, the "Agon" festival of Mediterranean archaeological documentaries, the Mediterranean festival for new directors taking place in Larisa; also, the International Science Films and the Athens International Animation Festival.

Last update: October, 2013

There are several sectoral artists’ support programmes and schemes. More specifically:

• The Greek Film Centre supports international co-productions of feature films in which a Greek producer is a minor partner with a participation of at least 10%. The condition is that the film should either be shot in Greece or with the participation of Greek artists and or technicians or production laboratories.
• The National Book Centre of Greece holds a "writers in residence" grant programme where incoming writers are hosted at the House of Literature on the Aegean island of Paros. The Greek authors’ abroad scheme offers Greek authors the opportunity to travel abroad for promotional activities and work presentations upon invitation from publishers, universities, cultural associations etc.; and, the Greek authors’ visits to bookshops nationwide project supports events where authors visit bookshops especially in the periphery to present their work.
• Athens System is a scheme promoted by the UNESCO Hellenic Centre of the International Theatre Institute, aiming to enhance the communication between the Greek and the international theatre scene, either by supporting Greek theatre production presentations abroad or by inviting international critics, festivals and venue directors and programmers to attend shows in Greece. The initiative started as a pilot project in 2007, and is supported by an online application and selection procedure since 2011.
• The Onassis Foundation provides scholarships and research grants for all artistic disciplines.  Special attention is given to Greeks living abroad.
• The Ioannis Costopoulos Foundation and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation provide support to non- profit projects that either promote Greek culture abroad or facilitate the formation of public-private partnerships as effective means for serving the public good.
• Foreign Cultural Institutes in Greece (especially the British Council, the Fullbright Foundation and the Goethe Institut) provide scholarships or travel grants to Greek artists or arts researchers.
• ECOSE (European Cultural Organisation Social Education), a cultural and educational NGO, has been the leading partner in a Mobility project supported by the European Commission called Art Farers, aimed at supporting transnational mobility initiatives in the field of culture and among artists.
• The European Animation Centre supports South Eastern European cooperation by establishing the BALKANIMA prize, the AnimArt annual internships, the participation of Serbian and Turkish citizens or residents to the AnimArt workshops, and the AnimFest.
• The Mediterranean Film Institute provides scholarships for screenwriters and producers to facilitate participation in screenwriting workshops that take place in Greece.
• The European Cultural Centre of Delphi (ECCD) provides events participation grants and scholarships to young artists and students, especially during the annual International Meeting on Ancient Drama.

Last update: October, 2013

The awards system has been restructured in recent legislation. The Νational Literary awards have been reorganised, to allow for both recognising the contribution of a writer in his or her lifetime (through the special "great" literary prize) and the contribution of younger, less established writers, based on work published in the last twelve months. There are also awards for Children's Literature, Translation and a Reader's Award. A number of awards have been established for dance, and a major prize in commemoration of Melina Mercouri was introduced to reward cultural contributions of national importance. The Thessaloniki Song Festival has been recently revived, and provides an opportunity for typically non-established popular music composers and singers to compete and be publicly exposed.

There are also National Quality Prizes for movies and short films, in the context of the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the Short Film Festival of Drama. In 2010 the Hellenic Film Academy (HFA) was founded, gathering together accomplished professionals from the cinema sector. One of HFA's most important tasks each year is to organise the conferment of the national cinematography awards, after a secret voting procedure among its members.

Last update: October, 2013

All professional artists and cultural professionals are organised in associations or unions to promote their professional rights, such as the Hellenic Actor's Union, the Association of Greek choreographers, the Association of Greek Directors, the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece etc. All major associations of writers, visual and performing arts artists receive a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture.