Monika Tódová selected and commented on the news
1. Anger at Ondrík
The decision of the Art Support Fund to take already approved money from cultural organizations will be assessed by lawyers. At a press conference in front of the fund’s headquarters, the organizations announced that, according to their legal analysis, the fund was not entitled to such a step and will ask the General Prosecutor’s Office to intervene.
This is 2.1 million euros, which had several festivals or projects approved for three years. They planned their events accordingly and suddenly found themselves without support.
For example, it is also the theater festival Touches and Connections in Martin, the name of which was once invented by Matúš Oľha. He is now the chairman of a fund that destroys culture. “This decision is illegal and we will defend ourselves against it,” said Monika Michnová from the Martin Theatre.
The fund’s decision also applies to Kremnické gags and children’s magazines. The organizer of the Saxophobia festival said that she already had to cover some of the costs out of her own money, because she does not want to treat the commissioned artists rudely.
As the analysis of the Ján Kuciak Investigative Center showed, the FPU Council took money from projects that were approved by the expert committee, or, on the contrary, gave it even where the expert committee did not give a recommendation. The justifications for the decisions showed that the council often made ideological decisions; she stated, for example, that the project did not meet the values of traditional life, understand, it was an LGBTI+ theater festival. In the summer, the council stopped publishing the justifications.
The fact that the situation in culture is critical and emotional is also proven by the fact that after Monday’s press conference, three of its participants, including Matej Drlička, happened to meet SNS MP Roman Michelko in the Medical Garden, and their exchange of views was so intense that the cafe’s operation called the city police.
