BBJ: What have been the major changes?
Dávid Zsoldos: Cultural policymakers are under pressure from a sector eager for change. At the same time, the human and financial resources required to implement the changes, along with the time-consuming legal and administrative procedures, make immediate action impossible. Consider that immediately after taking office, the government set about securing the recovery of the EU funds to which the Hungarian people are entitled. Unfortunately, it seems increasingly certain that many long-awaited measures will not be ready in time to be placed under the Christmas tree.
BBJ: What has been your experience of professional consultations?
DZs: A major step forward is reinstating the Erasmus program, which offers invaluable opportunities for university students and opens new possibilities for researchers. Every sector, large and small, has a strong demand to be at the table and raise its specific concerns and questions, from instrumental performers and publishers to music venues, music historians, and writers. The new government has appointed highly qualified professionals to the relevant positions, and they have already put forward well-considered proposals. Hungary seems to have both the expertise and the determination to make progress in every area.
After years of democratic deficit, we still have to relearn the art of dialogue. This applies not only to consultations within the cultural sector, but also to understanding where the line lies between freedom of professional opinion and the responsibility that comes with political decision-making. Perhaps the debate surrounding the transparency of theater funding applications has illustrated this most clearly. We are still searching for a sensible balance between healthy, desirable transparency and the kind of public verdicts social media delivers.
BBJ: In which directions might cultural funding evolve?
DZs: The greatest challenge facing the cultural authorities is not whom they appoint to head various institutions, but how quickly they can free decision-making and resource allocation from the grip of a system designed for centralized, top-down control. The recently launched online funding database is an important, useful initiative that lets the public track the amounts awarded through grant applications.
BBJ: So, is a lack of funding really an issue in the cultural sector?
DZs: The lesson is clear; there were, and presumably still are, ample resources within the system. The problem was that they were allocated to purposes that hadn’t been professionally vetted and used with catastrophic inefficiency. Of course, we still need additional funding, but it certainly shouldn’t come from the cultural budget.
One solution would be the reduced VAT rate for culture, long championed by the sector. This would reward the revenue cultural organizations generate. Meanwhile, a system of tax incentives, successfully used around the world (and, unfortunately, distorted beyond recognition in Hungary by the TAO [corporate income tax] scheme in sport), would unlock private-sector funding.
Dávid Zsoldos is a Hungarian cultural entrepreneur and music-industry representative. He founded and leads Papageno, a cultural media platform, and helped establish important Hungarian cultural media outlets including Fidelio, Klasszik Rádió, and Müpa Magazin. He trained as a pianist and musicologist at the Liszt Academy of Music. He was elected president of the Hungarian Music Council (Magyar Zenei Tanács) in 2021 and was unanimously re-elected in May 2024. The council is a professional umbrella organization representing music schools, orchestras, concert organizers, composers, and other music-sector bodies.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of October 30, 2026.
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