The discussion on “Financing the Arts, Cultural and Creative Industries in Bulgaria”, organized by the Idea Factory Association in partnership with the Observatory of the Economy of Culture, the Bulgarian Music Association and Createch Bulgaria, was held in Sofia at 19th of March. The event aroused strong interest and brought together over 80 representatives of various sectors, key institutions and organizations to discuss current issues and opportunities for financing the cultural and creative sectors in our country.
The conversation was attended by the Executive Director of the The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) Dr. Boyko Takov, the state expert at Programming Department of the General Direction “European Competitiveness Funds” Galina Sharenkova at the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, the head of Business Development Department Albena Borisova from the Bulgarian Development Bank, Mariana Prodanova – expert “Projects and Programs” and Tsvetelina Stoynova – director “Projects and Programs” at the National Fund “Culture”, the director of the Observatory for the Economy of Culture Diana Andreeva-Popyordanova, the deputy chairman of the BMA Mila Georgieva, Genoveva Hristova from Createch Bulgaria and the moderator was Yanina Taneva from the association “Factory of Ideas”.
The discussion touched on key issues related to the insufficient financial literacy in the sector, lack of adequate targeted instruments and limited access to funding from alternative sources outside the Ministry of Culture and the National Culture Fund. The issue was raised about the lack of policies aimed at the specific needs of the creative industries, as well as the inability of the Bulgarian Development Bank and the The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) to lend to non-governmental organizations and individuals, which constitute a major part of the sector.
The Executive Director of the The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA), Dr. Boyko Takov, emphasized the need for investments in the export activity of Bulgarian creators:
“Every euro invested in export has a direct return of 174 euros, and through GDP growth – 396 euros. This categorically proves how important it is to invest in export as a path to internationalization.”
He announced that a new indicative program of the agency would be launched in September and invited the creative industries to propose specific measures to be included.
Diana Andreeva-Popyordanova drew attention to the growth of added value in the sector:
“This is a sector with a huge growth in the added value of factor costs. The total share in the country’s economy as non-financial enterprises is over 7 billion leva, and the annual growth is over 1 billion leva. This is a rapidly developing sector and today’s event aims to give even greater impetus, and that is why we have joined forces with the Bulgarian Music Association and Createch – to make the sector a priority of the national policy of the Bulgarian economy.”
Mila Georgieva, Deputy Chairwoman of the Bulgarian Music Association, stressed the need for targeted export instruments in the music industry:
“The music industry occupies a very large part of the creative industries, but it is too specific and needs targeted instruments. These export instruments that exist do not work for the music sector, since our export has a certain specificity and I would be happy to work together on this, since one of the most pressing topics in our sector is the creation of the so-called “export unit or office” in the way that this thing exists throughout Europe”.
Unlike other European countries, there are no developed export instruments here. In addition, she stressed that it is necessary to develop various financial instruments that take into account the specifics of individual projects – both those with a social focus and those that are oriented towards generating revenue. According to her, effective support for the sector requires a more flexible approach and a clear distinction of financing mechanisms depending on the goals and sustainability of the projects.
Representatives of the National Culture Fund clearly stated that as of 19th of March, the fund still had no budget or indicative program for 2025, and that unspent funds would be returned to the state budget by the end of the year. Despite the seriousness of these problems, representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the Parliamentary Committee on Culture were not present at the discussion.
Diana Andreeva-Popyordanova PhD from the Observatory of Cultural Economics also presented an analysis of public funding for the sector, emphasizing that the projected budget for culture for 2025 will be 1.041 billion leva, which represents only 0.5% of GDP. According to her, if this trend continues, the share of the cultural sector in public spending could drop to 0.4% of GDP, while in other European countries this percentage varies between 0.7% and 1.4%. At the same time, creative industries in Bulgaria generate nearly 7% of GDP and are one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy.
The discussion proposed a number of concrete steps to improve the financing of the creative industries, including the creation of a sectoral analysis of their economic impact, the development of targeted measures for the various cultural and creative spheres, the promotion of international exchange and export, as well as facilitating artists’ access to financing through specialized financial mechanisms. The possibility of introducing a guarantee scheme to facilitate lending to non-governmental organizations was also discussed.
The next steps are planned to prepare specific proposals to the Ministry of Culture, as well as to organize discussions on individual sectors with the participation of key financing institutions, including the The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA), the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, the Bulgarian Development Bank and others.
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