Study visit in Sofia – Local context and cultural policies 1. About the city Sofia София Number of inhabitants 1,316,557 (2014) Area in Km² 1,311 Km² Annual budget of the city 1,498,231,200 BGN Annual budget for culture 31,279,193 BGN The local/regional context Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria and the 13th largest city in the European Union. It is the center of the national legislative, executive and judiciary power. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe, with its Neolitic settlements dating from 5000 BC. On the total territory of Sofia municipality there are around 1400 cultural monuments, including one UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2014 Sofia became UNESCO Creative City of Film. Sofia is among the top 30 fastest developing cities worldwide and ranks first among the European capitals in terms of GDP growth per capita in the last 10 years according to the 2015 report of Bloomberg foundation. fDi Magazine defines Sofia as one of the most attractive FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) destinations for 2016/2017, ranking it 4th among the big European cities in terms of cost efficientcy. According to Forbes, Sofia is one of the top 10 cities in the world, where you can launch your startup. The factors such as the relatively low income tax rates (10%) and one of the fastest internet speeds in the world and 56.7% of the territory covered with free internet access assign the Bulgarian capital at one of the leading positions in the global startup ecosystem. Sofia has also become a strong regional hub (attracting top entrepreneurs) as they’ve been able to access the EU investment funds. Sofia is home to 1/4 of the workforce in the country; 1/6 of the industrial production of Bulgaria, and produces 34.3% of Bulgaria’s GDP. CCI snapshot: Sofia is in the top 10 cities in Europe in terms of CCI generated income; 7.3% added value created by CCI; 11.6% employed in CCI of all Sofia workforce, with an annual increase of 0.7%. Educational Snapshot: 16 secondary language schools with business curriculum, 18 language schools with IT curriculum, 73% of school students learn 2 foreign languages, 21 universities, 26 000 graduates per year. Sofia is the fastest growing low-income city in the European Union. Its population increases by 80 persons daily at the average. Sofia’s GDP is still around 50% of the EU average. The population increase therefore poses severe challenges in terms of infrastructure and service development, social cohesion, quality of life. 1 Sofia has quite young population, with over 1/3 of the citizens aged 15-34, and 16% over 65. Specific competencies/governance system Sofia hosts 23 state-owned national cultural institutions (museums, theatres, libraries, ensembles, etc.), which are governed by the state through the Ministry of Culture and several national agencies. The political leadership in Sofia is provided by the directly elected Sofia Municipal Council, and more specifically by its standing committee on Culture and Education. At the administrative level Sofia has a deputy mayor on culture and education, and Culture directorate. Sofia cultural policy is guided by the Cultural Development Strategy 2013-2023, and Sofia Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization, one of the two priority areas of which is CCI. Sofia has 11 municipal cultural institutions: theatres, cultural community centres, art galleries, a library, a museum. To achieve a balance between public and private cultural organizations, to enhance the independent sector development and to compensate for the slow national cultural policy reform, since 2007 Sofia started launching its own funding programmes, which have turned the city into the biggest public donor for arts and culture nationally, distributing bigger funds than the Ministry of Culture. Key cultural indicators/facts Sofia municipal budget for culture: year Total budget Budget for % Budget for culture: Budget for culture: (BGN) culture municipal activities (BGN) competitive funding (BGN) 2015 1,498,231,200 31,279,193 2.1 23,517,398 7,761,795 2014 1,465,945,539 28,032,237 1.9 21,086,913 6,945,324 2013 1,190,787,036 25,421,661 2.1 19,063,823 6,357,838 Cultural participation, audience development: - The decisive factor (41.2%) for cultural consumption is the cost vs. quality (27.7%); - Number of projects funded via competition by the two major grant-making programmes: 2013 – 248 projects (59.6% for private organisations and NGOs); 2014 – 197 projects (82.9% for private organisations and NGOs); 2015 – 233 projects (83.9% for private organisations and NGOs). - Priority given to projects outside of the city centre, free access or subsidized entry projects, projects for special audiences (kids, minorities and migrants, etc.) 2 - In result 74% of the population express growing satisfaction with the city cultural offering in the open and in the peripheral territories (poll by Noema agency, December 2014). Human capital development: - Over 10 tertiary education institutions prepare cadre for arts and culture and CCI; - 7 national art schools (primary and secondary education), over 20 specialization profiles in other secondary schools; - 54% of all employed in arts and culture hold masters degree vs. 28% average in all other spheres; - Life-long learning: 627 persons received professional qualifications in the areas of arts and culture, and 3,049 persons received further on-the-job training in the areas of arts and culture. CCI: - CCI rank fourth in terms of added value in the economy of Sofia; - Over 10 functional clusters, among which ICT Cluster, Bulgarian Silk Cluster, Digital Media Cluster, Bulgarian Media and Print Cluster, Cluster for Innovations in Culture; - 2 large-scale accelerators (Eleven и LauncHub), several investment funds (Neveq, Rosslyn Capital, etc.), in result for 2 years now Sofia ranks 3rd in Europe (after London and Dublin, and ahead of Berlin) in terms of investments in start-ups, most of which in CCI. Sofia - UNESCO City of Film: - over 850 operative SMEs related to the film industry; - over 100 million USD of FDI; - 19 cinemas with 96 screens, 20 748 seats, nearly 3 million tickets sold and nearly 25 million BGN income (2014); - 114 movies produced (2014); - world-class production and post-production services, which have hosted the production of 180 feature films, including big-budget movies like 300: The The Rise Of An Empire, Olympus Has Fallen, The Black Dahlia, Killing Season, The Expendables 1, 2 and 3, Conan, The Way Back and Kon-Tiki; - 1 international film festival – Sofia Film Fest – in FIAPF, and in the top 50 film festivals (Variety magazine). Local cultural priorities To guarantee access and participation of our citizens to cultural activities This priority is outlined in the Cultural Development Strategy 2013-2023. It includes several cross-cutting themes: human capital development, infrastructure, funding. Among the main specific tasks are: - Development of new audiences, especially residents who have had no or limited access to culture; 3 - Support for the non-institutional part of the cultural sector; - Support for artistic debut; - Support for the creation of digital cultural content and digital forms of participation; - Renovation of spaces for culture; - Support for access to culture for people with special needs, foreign language speakers, etc.; - Development of infrastructure for information and promotion of arts and culture (urban media for culture); - To achieve balanced territorial development and improve social cohesion. Innovation and CCI - Establishing a Centre for Excellence, a Centre for Competence and several centres for transfer of technologies and know-how and co-creation in CCI in Sofia; - New instruments for support of marketing and export activities and access to international markets and single digital market; - Enhancement of the process of clusterization; - Targeted support for softwear development, videogaming, audio-visual products and services. Cultural heritage and Visitors Economy - Archeological conservation and preservation of unrevealed to the public immovable heritage; - Preparation for nomination of Sofia Largo for inclusion in UNESCO World Heritage List; - Modernization of museums and enhancing mobility of museum collections; - Stimulating cultural tourism, including via participation in alternative international cultural routes and developing national, regional and local ones and related services and cultural offerings; - Diversifying funding sources; - Encouraging international trade in cultural herigate and cultural assets while taking a major role in combating herigate crime; - Utilizing the opportunities of ICT for cultural heritage access, research, digitalization of cultural content. 4 2. About the study visit Main themes Culture for social inclusion, social innovation and intercultural dialogue Sub themes Funding culture: new resources for culture and reforming municipal cultural institutions Partnerships between public institutions and private companies A. Projects and policies to be presented: PPP in Funding for Culture Project 1: Sofia Public-Private Fund for Innovations in Culture Sofia Public-Private Fund for Innovations in Culture was established in 2013 and is the first instrument of this kind in Bulgaria. It proposes a public private partnership model to provide access to funding for more innovative and risky cultural and creative projects: all private funding collected annually is doubled by the Sofia municipality. Private and corporate donors can become Members of the Board of Trustees and participate in decision-making. The mission of the fund is to improve the effective management of financial resources and the development of local philanthropy. It aims at supporting cultural and creative enterprises in Sofia, encouraging citizens’ (particularly young artists’) participation and creating cross-sector partnerships. Areas which are least developed are a specific focus. The Fund has announced two calls for applications so far, with over 30 individual art projects funded and over 100,000 EUR distributed to artists and artistic organisations. Additionally, the Fund initiates and manages other initiatives and projects with financial business support that offer opportunities for young creators.