FOCUNA, Luxembourg's National Culture Fund, has issued a report on the grants it gave out throughout 2014.
In 2014, the National Cultural Fund Committee met 11 times and considered 372 applications brought by artists and organisations working in the cultural field, an increase of 50% compared to 2013.
In total, 252 projects were supported financially against 192 projects supported in 2013 (+34.38%) - the acceptance rate was 69.35%. The total one-time financial assistance amounted to €509,856.09, a decrease of 22.14% compared to 2013 (€654,503.94). This decrease is due to various issues, e.g. the introduction of a global cap of the new policy of aid and support. Due to the high number of applications, different ceilings had to be revised downwards.
The breakdown of aid granted in 2014 across the different cultural areas was as follows:
• Music: €158,901 (31.17%)
• Literature: €139,808.35 (27.42%)
• Theatre: €99,900 (19.59%)
• Visual Arts: €61,862.74 (12.13%)
• Dance: €18,500(3.63%)
• Multidisciplinary Arts: €15,470 (3.03%)
• Street Arts & circus: €9,500 (1.86%)
• Design & trades art: €4,414 (0.87%)
• Cinema: €1,500 (0.29%)
As part of a broad consultation following the publication of the 2014 annual report, the Steering Committee have announced a series of new policy assessment workshops on aids and subsidies from the National Cultural Fund set up in early 2013, open to all cultural actors. The objective of these workshops, organizsed by sector, is to make an initial assessment to better identify the different contributions to the structures and cultural actors. In addition, they will identify areas for improvement in order to ensure a sound operation and more effective action of new aid measures and subsidies.
The various workshops are scheduled on the following dates:
• Tuesday, 20 January: Theatre
• Tuesday, 3 March: Literature
• Tuesday, 21 March: Music
• Tuesday, 21 April: Visual Art
• Tuesday, 2 June: dance
Location: Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain, 41 rue Notre Dame, L-2240 Luxembourg, from 16:00 - 18:00. Registration at info@focuna.lu.
Photo by SIP from the 2014 press conference to announce details of FOCUNA for 2014
