The war and its consequences characterised the 90’s in Croatia. The cultural institutional infrastructures of that time were inherited from the socialist past, and therefore were not very well developed. The repercussions of this stagnant period are today's biggest problem. Thanks to the political changes, non-governmental institutions came to life. One of them was our Institute for Contemporary Art, then SCCA - Zagreb, which was a part of the Soros Foundation, the only institution offering grants for culture in Croatia. In the first couple of years of our activity, fund raising was practically impossible regardless of our efforts. The main reason for this, was that the work of the Soros Foundation was not politically supported in our country, and we were not even deemed worthy of an answer from the Ministry or the City Councils. Abroad, there were two obstacles: we were a Croatian institution and we had a rich funder, Soros. Apart from the Soros Foundation, there was no other institution offering funds except state administrations. Collaboration with other institutions at that time was twofold. One group was ready, and the other was not. By collaboration, I mean: being ready to apply for grants, to offer spaces for projects and to cooperate with the vast documentation activities. By non collaboration I mean not accepting grants from the Soros Foundation, not even to pay the rent, and refusing to participate in projects from state institutions or related to SCCA. Things did get better and in 1998 we became a totally independent institution, but the change was hardly felt, there was only disappointment at the lack of funds. The state cultural administration has never recognised the difference between the functioning of state funded and independently funded organisations. There were indeed very few of them and there was no other institution devoted exclusively to visual arts. Even today, when we do get some projects partly financed by Croatian funds, costs like phone bills, or other office expences are not included. And there is no sign of that changing.
The elections in 2000 in Croatia really changed the atmosphere, and the next are due in November 2003. Although we are a non-governmental institution we still depend on political changes. This tells us that the cultural system still does not work efficiently and that there are no regulations which support or protect non-profit and non-governmental institutions. But the overall situation has changed a lot. There are public forums where everybody can discuss, debate, complain or express their opinions. The administration offices are open to suggestions, whether they listen to them is another question. But there are some positive reactions at times. Collaboration with cultural institutions is still poor, but now the obstacles are not external, they’re probably due lack of understanding of the real force of collaboration, and inertia. The majority of joint projects means an exchange, and not real co-production. In this sense, as non-governmental institution we face no problems, on the contrary, only this year, we held 16 exhibitions in 16 different locations, all of them in collaboration or co-production with governmental or private institutions. Regarding funds and fundraising, we regret that the state is the only financial source for culture in Croatia. Since the Soros Foundation is out of activity, we have only one new private source, FACE Croatia (Fund for Arts and Cultural Exchange Croatia), based in Zagreb but operated from the USA. Then, there is the local bank (Zagrebacka Banka) with an annual competition in the cultural field. We are very proud that in 2003 we started to give grants to artists again, this time for their works and exhibitions. Another novelty regarding the system of financing culture is the project that we started in collaboration with HTmobile (local operator of one of the mobile phones network). This is, I can say without false modesty, the first time that a Croatian company joins a project with a cultural institution, in an atmosphere of equal partnership (not only sponsoring the project), a project aimed at supporting artists and contemporary art production. In the meantime, the government in Croatia opened an office for non-governmental institutions, with the intent to support their activity. The office's policy is strongly focused on the development of a civil society but does not regard cultural activity as contributing to the civil society. The maximum effort goes to the preservation of the cultural heritage.
In my work at the moment I am focused in two directions: first I want to involve more corporations, enterprises or profit making institutions in fund raising in the cultural field and then I hope that the administration will apply some regulations regarding the work of non-profit institutions in Croatia. The most influential events of the near future will be those administrative steps taken at the Ministry which will bring us closer to EU. And what has to happen one day - is the constant public acceptance of art, since in the past we were deprived of it. This will make me really happy even if we will do something else at the time.