More than 560 million donated to culture
The “Pocket statistics of culture in Switzerland”, published on Monday, highlights the precarious situation in which certain actors in the field find themselves.
To support the cultural sector during the pandemic, the Confederation and the cantons paid 562.4 million francs in 2020 and 2021. This is what we learn by leafing through the “Pocket statistics of culture in Switzerland”, published Monday by the Federal Office of Culture.
Cultural companies and cultural actors have thus received compensation for financial losses amounting to 447.9 million francs, financed equally by the Confederation and the cantons.
Professional cultural actors have also been able to apply for emergency aid to cover their immediate maintenance costs. The Confederation has allocated 23.2 million francs to this aid. Non-professional cultural activities were also supported by Bern: cultural associations of amateurs received a total of 28.9 million francs.
Adaptation to digital evolution
For their part, cultural business transformation projects received support for a total amount of 57.9 million francs, again financed equally by the Confederation and the cantons. The aim of such projects is to help the companies concerned to attract new audiences and to reorient themselves, for example to adapt to digital evolution, explains the OFC.
These transformation projects will remain important after the corona crisis: the Confederation and the cantons will continue to support them until October 2023.
The pandemic has also revealed the precarious situation in which certain cultural actors, such as independents, find themselves. The situation has been particularly serious in the music sector, the performing arts and the visual arts. Improving the working conditions of cultural actors will be one of the priorities of the next culture message for 2025-2028.
Amateurs: 7000 requests for support
Finally, the past two years have also made clear the importance of amateur culture. The impossibility of rehearsing and performing in public, which affected brass bands, choirs and amateur theater troupes, was hard felt: it sometimes threatened the very existence of these societies, as evidenced by the approximately 7,000 requests for support lodged by amateur associations during the pandemic.
In 2021, there were 281,000 people in Switzerland carrying out their main professional activity in the cultural sector (5.7% of the active population). The largest number of people practicing their main profession are found in the sectors of architecture (48,000) and books and the press (37,000). Next come visual arts (24,000), audiovisual and multimedia (17,000) and (15,000).
In addition to information on aid linked to the pandemic and the cinema, the “Pocket statistics of culture in Switzerland”, published in the four national languages, provides an update on several cultural sectors: museums, libraries, theatre, dance and opera. , languages and school exchanges, youth and music, to finish with music and festivals. It can be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Federal Office of Culture.
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