Greek MPs voted to approve a new multimillion-euro bailout deal in August aimed at keeping the country solvent but with it comes further cuts in public spending.
Leading art professionals say that Greece’s museums and galleries are close to the brink. Katerina Gregos, the curator of the main exhibition of the fifth Thessaloniki Biennale, which opened in June and runs until 30 September, warned that the State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki has enough funds only to pay staff salaries. “Its subsidies do not even cover basic amenities such as electricity, heating, internet etc,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, also in Thessaloniki, is temporarily closed “because the cost of keeping it open will bankrupt the institution, making 20 staff redundant”, according to its artistic director, Denys Zacharopoulos. The museum, which is run as a non-profit foundation, cannot even afford to operate the air conditioning. State funding has fallen from €500,000 in 2006 to €180,000 today.
Zacharopoulos says that the Greek ministry of culture was slowly addressing the issue, by proposing a merger with the State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki. “Art and culture have a role in the crisis. People are beginning to realise that museums and galleries can participate in the debate about the future of the country,” he says.
