cultural fair report
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Answer:
The increase in the numbers and importance of festivals is a world phenomenon. Those
in cultural professions, the public authorities involved in cultural policy and funding deci-
sions as well as the general public are all interested in the artistic, social and economic back-
ground of festivals.
In 2004 the National Cultural Fund (NKA, to use the Hungarian acronym for Nemzeti
Kulturális Alap) decided to promote strategic research in various fields of culture. The Ad-hoc
Board of Culture and Tourism1 thus found this a proper time to initiate research in its field of
competence, on cultural festivals that were important in regard to tourism.
Apart from a need for orientation that arises from the variety and versatility of the
field, the Board hoped for answers to certain specific questions as well. How is it possible to
select between the different festivals? How can it be checked if the subsidy was appropriately
or (inappropriately) awarded? The NKA was founded to promote cultural projects: to what
extent can it undertake the consolidation of the festival industry?
The present text gives a summary account on the research that the Budapest Cultural
Observatory2 carried out. In addition to a succinct review of the survey’s findings, some con-
clusions and proposals also follow. The full report on the hitherto biggest festival survey in
this country has been published in Hungarian3.