Government plans to invest CHF1 billion in Swiss culture
The Swiss government wants to invest CHF988 million in cultural activities for the 2025-2028 period – less than it had initially planned. The aim is to make the culture sector more sustainable long-term.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
The Federal Council on Friday announced that it had adopted its culture message and strategy on March 1, 2024, and sent it to parliament to be finalised.
It includes the federal government’s overall strategy for Switzerland’s culture sector for 2025-2029, objectives, key measures and budgets for its support of the Federal Office of Culture, the Swiss Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia and the Swiss National Museum.
“The pandemic has highlighted the precariousness of many cultural professionals and the predominance of atypical situations,” Swiss Culture Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told reporters in Bern on Friday. The situation of many people working in the culture sector is precarious, particularly in terms of social security, she added.
The federal authorities intends to take steps to ensure fair and equal pay and to boost welfare measures. It wants to guarantee fair framework conditions that take into account the recommendations of professional associations.
Baume-Schneider pointed out that culture is an important economic sector in Switzerland. It accounts for around 10.4% of all Swiss companies, or 268,000 jobs.
Due to the financial situation of the federal authorities, the budget has been cut by CHF14 million compared to an earlier figure cited in June 2023. For the previous period, the culture budget was fixed at CHF942.8 million.
On Friday, Suisseculture, the umbrella organisation of cultural organisations, expressed its dismay at the lower-than-planned funding, which it said amounted to a “blow for the Swiss cultural sector”.
For the 2025-2028 period, the government has budgeted around CHF210 million for film and cinema. Pro Helvetia will get CHF187 million and the Swiss National Museum will receive CHF139 million. Other large sums will go towards the conservation of monuments (CHF126 million), languages (CHF80 million), the transfer of cultural property (CHF3 million) and the encouragement of culture (CHF159 million).
Translated from French by DeepL/sb,dos
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
This content was published on
Nemo brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Switzerland with a victory on Saturday evening in Malmö, Sweden. It is Switzerland's third victory in the history of the music contest.
Switzerland abstains from vote on Palestinian bid for full UN membership
This content was published on
On Friday, Switzerland abstained from the vote at the General Assembly on granting the Palestinians new rights at the United Nations (UN).
Protein in abdominal fat could help shape obesity treatment
This content was published on
The study analysed fat cells from different locations in the body, and found that those in the abdomen have unique properties.
North African asylum claims fall after rapid Swiss processing
This content was published on
The accelerated procedure, now out of its test phase, has resulted in a significant drop in applications from North African countries.
This content was published on
The artist's song "The Code" focuses on their journey as a nonbinary individual. It is one of the favourites to win this year's contest.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
How Covid-19 hit the Swiss culture sector
This content was published on
An official information brochure has listed the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Swiss culture sector last year.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.