Sorry, but this post is not available in English

The neighbour’s grass

Here in Italy the goverment grants for entertainment and music are more and more lower. Mr berlusconi goverment (luckily gone) has lowered it from € 516 million in 2001 to € 375 million in 2006. The new government told that in 2007 the national grant will be increased until the 2001 level. Musicians wait and pray.
Now I read that in France the grants are € 901 million (about 3 times with respect to present Italy’s grants), and € 745 million in UK. To find a grant equal than our, you must look at the little Denmark that spend € 344 million for the music, but has a population of 5.400.000 (1/10 than Italy).
The new issue of the Finnish Music Quarterly reveals that the Finnish government is spending € 359.5 million on the arts this year, of which 60.5 million goes to music. This grant has been described as inadequate and the Prime Minister has signed a law stipulating that orchestra subsidies should increase by 37% per year over the next 3 years. The Finnish population is about 5.000.000.