CULTURAL SECTOR WORKERS HOLD A PROTEST FOR PROTECTION OF BULGARIAN CULTURE

Protests of Bulgarian cultural workers were held outside the Council of Ministers in Sofia and the building of the municipality in the Black Sea coastal city of Bourgas on 18th of April. The main demand was for protection and development of culture.

The protests were organized by citizens’ initiative “Bulgarian Culture”, which includes cultural workers from all areas of art across the country.

The protesters were adamant that if their demands were not satisfied they would ask for resignations. They said the protest was not “against”, but “for” the development of the Bulgarian culture and insisted that the national strategy for culture be developed and most of all applied. The protesters said they expected the Gambling Act to be coordinated with the Budget Act and suggested 10 percent of the proceeds from online bettings for 2015 to go into the National Culture Fund as an alternative resource for the Bulgarian culture.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Culture said that their doors were always open for dialogue and reminded that namely the Minister of Culture, Vezhdi Rashidov, in his capacity of an MP in 2014 proposed that 10 percent of the proceeds from online gambling should be used to support culture.

A letter with the demands of the protesting cultural workers for salary updates and increase of the government subsidy for theatres, symphonic orchestras and opera will be sent to all government institutions.