Tale of two cities as Rijeka leaves a solid 2020 legacy

One of the themes of Rijeka 2020, European Capital of Culture is ‘work’ – and boy, have they had to work this year!

Galway 2020’s sister organisation, tasked with delivering a parallel Capital of Culture programme of events in Croatia, Rijeka 2020, has also been impacted by the global Coronavirus pandemic.

And like Galway 2020, Rijeka 2020’s budget has been slashed. The organisation in Croatia’s third city had an original budget of 75 million HRK (Croatian Kuna), which is about €9.75 million, to deliver a year-long cultural programme.

By the time the pandemic hit, the group had spent 28 million HRK (€3.64m); and due to sponsors pulling out and various taxpayer sources of funding drying up, its new budget is 46 HRK (€5.98m), inclusive of what it had already spent. Galway 2020, by contrast, has already spent €18 million, three times Rijeka’s revised total budget.

Like Galway 2020, staff of Rijeka 2020 have suffered, too.

The organisation has confirmed to the Connacht Tribune that some 59 staff were made redundant during March and April when Croatia was in lockdown. This was necessary, according to Irena Kregar Šegota, director of Rijeka 2020, to “prevent losses” to the company, “while ensuring the possibility of returning to existing jobs when the conditions and need to perform certain tasks are created”.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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