In 2018, the Minister of Culture and the representatives of the majority of municipalities signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. The aim of the Memorandum is to consistently increase the pay to artistic and cultural employees working in municipal cultural institutions. Based on the provisions of the Memorandum, municipalities agree to allocate the same amount to increase the pay for the employees as the amount allocated for this purpose by the government. It is expected that the average salary of art and cultural employees will be gradually raised to equal to at least 90 percent of the average salary in the country.
In 2019, the Government and municipalities allocated USD 9 294 966 for the salary increase of art and cultural employees. In 2020, allocation of over USD 15 million from the state budget is foreseen for the salary increase of up to 10 percent on average. Over USD 2.1 million shall be additionally allocated by municipalities during the same year.
There is no fixed financing allocated to the implementation of this measure. The financing of the measure is negotiated each year.