Director of BOK – MCC Kornel Filipowicz officially disclosed some of the costs incurred in Bolesławiec to organize the festival on social media, apparently for the first time in the 30-year history of the event. The stars of the three evenings, the cost of the ceramics festival anthem, Bogusław Nowak’s parade, the istotne.pl picnic, and the artists involved in both events cost more than half a million zlotys.
- PLN 363,834 – cost of the stars on the main stage
- PLN 50,000 – cost of renting Bogusław Nowak’s Teatr Glina Da
- PLN 47,861.27 – cost of the artists involved in Bogusław Nowak’s Teatr Glina Da (we do not know which artists)
- PLN 30,750 – cost of organizing the “Come Paint Your World” Istotne Informacje picnic (including art workshops, a games and play area for children, a bubble show, an acrobatic performance, a performance by a 30-person zumba group, the work of makeup artists and painters involved in body painting, and the cost of the photographer and models)
- PLN 26,745 – cost of the 25-person group of drummers and dancers Bloco Pomerania for a concert at the “Come Paint Your World” picnic and participation in the ceramic parade organized by BOK – MCC
- PLN 9,418.30 – cost of the anthem “Bolesławiec’s Heart Is Made of Clay”, including PLN 5,000 for the performers
We wrote to BOK – MCC asking that other costs also be made public, including the rental of the stage, stalls, security and toilets. We do not have this information yet. Instead, we received the total expenditure figure: PLN 1,594,164.94.
We do not know whether the costs include activities by the Museum of Ceramics (workshops, openings and exhibitions), workshops organized by the Knowledge Center, events organized by MOSiR, or the cost of additional city cleaning by MZGK.
Revenue from the Ceramics Festival (from the amusement park, food services and sponsors) amounted to... PLN 650,849.59. This means a deficit of more than PLN 940,000.
No One Measures the Results of the Public Money Spent
What is important, if not most important, is that over 30 years no one has reliably counted how many people visit Bolesławiec during the Ceramics Festival. We do not know where the estimates of hundreds of thousands of visitors sometimes cited in the press by Agnieszka Gergont, spokesperson for the City Office, come from. Recently, Mayor Piotr Roman referred to ceramic artists, but it is not known which ones.
No data is provided on the festival’s reach either. Put simply: what measurable benefits do Bolesławiec residents receive from spending one and a half million zlotys on five days of entertainment for tourists and visitors.
We do not deny the festival’s importance in building the brand of the ceramics city and its recognition on the map of Poland, Europe and the world, or the need to organize it. We only want to show publicly what costs are associated with this event.
Maybe it is time to truly change the festival’s format: keep the largest ceramics fair, clay workshops for children and adults, and the activities of the new Museum of Ceramics, while getting rid of expensive stars and concerts that contribute nothing, as well as smaller concerts that no one is interested in?