The federal government will cut funding for important cultural players from 2029
Keystone-SDA
Large-scale Swiss cultural events, such as the Locarno Film Festival, will lose state funding from 2029 as part of a cost-cutting drive by the administration.
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The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) will dissolve partnerships with cultural events, also including the Culturescapes Festival and the Visions du Réel documentary film festival.
+ Outlook for the Swiss arts scene in 2025
Also affected are Artlink, the Fribourg Film Festival FIFF, the International Short Film Festival Winterthur, the Salon africain du salon du livre de Genève, the film distributor Trigon-Film, the Unesco Fonds international pour la diversité culturelle, the film production fund Visions Sud Est, the Zürcher Theater Spektakel and the Südkulturfonds.
From 2025, the SDC has cut its funding for cultural cooperation by 45% from CHF3.7 million to CHF2 million per year. The remaining funds could be affected by further cuts.
In December, parliament cut CHF110 million from the 2025 international cooperation budget and CHF321 million from the financial plan covering the the years 2026 to 2028.
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Translated from German with DeepL/mga
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