Budapest / Hungary

Saving Art Cinemas

Cuts to the budget for culture and the arts by the Mayor of Budapest threatened to force the closure of a unique network of art cinemas that had been serving the public of the capital for decades. Just as other cultural institutions such as museums and theatres, art cinemas are unable to rely on ticket sales alone, and depend on a public subsidy to finance their operation. Despite their cost, art cinemas clearly bring benefit to the public as an outlet for independent and artistic films.

The Mayor of Budapest (from Fidesz, the centre-right governing party in Hungary) planned to totally cut the city’s subsidy to art cinemas as part of his budget reforms. Local councillors from LMP aimed to save this unique and valuable network of cinemas, and ensure that the people of Budapest can continue to watch high quality European and Hungarian films. They engaged in close co-operation with cultural NGOs, started a media campaign, and brought a motion to the city council.

The Result

As a result of their work, the city council accepted that it needed to keep the cinema network alive, and voted in favour of keeping a 70 million Forint subsidy (approximately €260,000), while committing to explore the possibilities of continued financing and subsidies.

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