Rewarding the best

Among budget recipients, some are more equal than others

The independent sector is not alone in feeling threatened. Public cultural institutions are also unclear as to which ones deserve to be rewarded.

Banja Luka is home to Banski dvor, an institution that is funded from the city’s budget and faces regular scrutiny of its artistic policy.

"Everything is in danger. The metal is being eaten away by corrosion, the textile by insects, the paper by damp." Adnan Busuladžić Director of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo

The organisation has been criticised for its New Year’s parties, which hire folk stars from neighbouring Serbia, along with brass orchestras and tamburitza players. Banski dvor gets about 50,000 marks (€25,600) as additional funding for each of the annual parties.

The sum is somewhat greater than the 45,000 marks (€23,000) allotted this year for productions in the Museum of Contemporary Art, located some 200 metres away from Banski dvor.

The annual budget of the Museum of Contemporary Art, provided by the government of the Republic of Srpska, is around 460,000 marks (€235,000).

The Facebook social networking site hosts a group calling for the dismissal of Milorad Petric, the director of Banski dvor. The group currently has 665 members.

Banski dvor is intended as the city of Banja Luka’s cultural centre. It organises book promotions, concerts of classical music, as well as art exhibitions. Its budget for this year, paid by the city, was 1,114,000 marks (€569,600).

The budget of Banski dvor is greater than the total budget of all the city theatres. Its roof is leaking, its facade is ruined, and the whole facility is in need of restoration.

Of the money it received this year, 639,000 marks (€326,700) is due to be spent on the salaries of 37 employees. A further 465,000 marks (€237,750) is due to be spent on maintenance bills.

Director Milorad Petric says that so far this year the institution organised 58 events, of which 37 were concerts. It received 12,600 visitors.

In response to accusations that he wastes public money, he says: “No one wants to deal with the problem of Banski dvor seriously. People are just pointing to my office, which has furniture from Vrbaski ban Milosavljevic [a historic local leader], and say  that I fool around and lie about on medieval furniture.”

The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the so-called “nobody institutions” that has no founder to guarantee its funds, has been the custodian of priceless treasures and traditions for more than a hundred years.

The museum gets 850,000 marks (€434,600) from the ministry of civilian affairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina annually. It receives a further 168,000 marks (€85,900) annually from the Sarajevo canton.

The museum must use this money to maintain a 15,000 square-metre space and to pay a monthly electricity bill of 5,000-6,000 marks (€2,560-3,067).

According to the director, Adnan Busuladzic, the museum has an annual shortfall of around 350,000 marks (€179,000).

He says the funds cover salaries for only seven of the museum’s 12 employees, and that the whole museum itself is in peril.

“Everything is in danger. The metal is being eaten away by corrosion, the textile by insects, the paper by damp,” he says.

While the museum is wasting away because of institutional decisions within Bosnia and Herzegovina, smaller museums in the Republic of Srpska have secured financing from the budget.

“Museums in Bijeljina, Trebinje and Banja Luka have influence and significance, but these institutions are not even close in rank to the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. That should be said loud and clear,” says Busuladzic.