Thursday, 1 April 2010

Twenty-Fourth Sitting of the Culture and Information Committee

At the sitting held on 1 April, the Culture and Information Committee held a public hearing on the cooperation of private and public sectors in financing culture, a topic debated at the three-day conference organised by the Zubin Mehta Belgrade Philharmonic Foundation in cooperation with the US Embassy in Serbia, that the hearing is part of.



At the sitting held on 1 April, the Culture and Information Committee held a public hearing on the cooperation of private and public sectors in financing culture, a topic debated at the three-day conference organised by the Zubin Mehta Belgrade Philharmonic Foundation in cooperation with the US Embassy in Serbia, that the hearing is part of.

Opening the gathering, the director of the Belgrade Philharmonic Ivan Tasovac said that the conference debated the prospects and perspectives of including the private sector into the financing of culture in Serbia and presented legal and economic aspects of donorship.

Lawrence Tamburri, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and one of the leading world experts in the field of private sector engagement in financing culture, was a guest at the sitting. Presenting the Orchestra’s work and financing, Tamburri said that 30% of the budget was realised through personal income, 13% came from the state, while 29% was private investment. In addition, the Orchestra’s budget also has assets, in a special account, that are increased yearly through various investments.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, as well as the city itself, have come a long way in the filed of culture and art mostly thanks to private investment, Lawrence Tamburri stressed.

The directors of Serbian cultural institutions who took part in the sitting asked the guest various questions, mostly about the manner in which tax relief for private investors investing into cultural institutions functioned.

Director Tamburri said that in the USA tax payers who give money to cultural institutions receive a tax deduction in the same amount, but they also receive other types of relief that stimulate private investment. He added that philanthropy and the feeling that it is important to assist the development of culture were still the most important reasons why private investors invest in culture.

The Committee members and participants of the public hearing pointed out that the implementation of such a manner of culture financing was still not possible in Serbia, but that the recent alterations to the tax system also enabled tax relief for investments into this field. They are not promoted enough so potential investors are not aware of them. It was also estimated that the existing model of investment into cultural institutions was obsolete and had to be replaced by a new model that would provide new conditions for the cooperation of private and public sectors in this field.

The sitting was chaired by Vesna Marjanovic, Committee Chairperson.


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friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

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