Sponsors of the Ceramics Festival paid the performer, not the municipal institution. Questions about Roman’s people and the money

For years, the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival has been one of the city’s most important showcases and an event strongly associated with the image of city hall. Formally, the event is organized by BOK-MCC, but Mayor Piotr Roman is responsible for municipal institutions, their directors and the way public events are managed. Therefore, the issue of financing the clay spectacle is no longer merely a dispute over the artistic program. It is a question about the transparency of the municipal system.

Documents obtained by istotne.pl under access-to-public-information procedures show that the cost of actors, artistic groups and activities connected with “Bolesławiec Parade from a Love of Clay — Glina Da Ci Skrzydła Theatre” and the opening of the BŚC amounted to PLN 82,673.07. This amount was provided by the Bolesławiec Cultural Center – International Ceramics Center in its response of December 22, 2025.

Later, it turned out that the budget was several tens of thousands of zlotys higher.

Sponsors paid a private entrepreneur, but advertised alongside a municipal festival

In a subsequent response from BOK-MCC, dated January 16, 2026, further amounts appear.

The center reported that KRAS-DOM Sp. z o.o. Sp.k. financed the Bolesławiec Parade from a Love of Clay — Da Ci Skrzydła Theatre with an amount of PLN 18,450 gross, while M&J Sp. z o.o. contributed PLN 14,760 gross. Together, this amounts to PLN 33,210 gross.

Our conversations with the owners of the companies indicate that this money did not pass through BOK-MCC, but was allegedly transferred directly to Bogusław Nowak or an entity associated with him. This is a key thread in the case.

If the sponsors paid a private individual or his entity directly while being presented as sponsors of the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival in advertising materials for the municipal event, an obvious question arises: on what basis did BOK-MCC grant them the status of festival sponsors?

Were there sponsorship agreements with the cultural center? Was there a tripartite agreement? Did BOK-MCC simply treat a private payment to the performer as sponsorship of a public event? And did the other Ceramics Festival sponsors operate under the same display rules?

That is precisely what we asked BOK-MCC, and we are still waiting for a response.

PLN 15,000 for descending from the city hall tower

This is not the end of the expenses. BOK-MCC also reported that Beata Koncur — PLN 3,071.43 — and TEATR GLINA DA Bogusław Nowak — PLN 15,000 received payment for their performance during the Friday opening of the BŚC. However, this was not the only cost connected with this part of the opening. In its response of December 22, 2025, BOK-MCC also stated that the cost of the rope-access service and construction of the setup for the line descent amounted to PLN 7,380. This means that the descent by Bogusław Nowak from the city hall tower alone cost at least PLN 22,380: PLN 15,000 in payment for Bogusław Nowak’s Glina Da Theatre and PLN 7,380 for rope-access support and preparation of the setup.

As a reminder: this concerns the performance we previously described on istotne.pl — Bogusław Nowak, dressed in white and wearing wings, descended by rope from the city hall tower to deliver the key to the city gates. In practice, the spectacle looked less spectacular than presumably planned: Nowak descended slowly on the rope, the pantomime was difficult to understand from the market square, and toward the end the artist was left hanging above the ground and needed help safely getting down and disentangling himself from the harness.

At this stage, however, one matter needs to be clarified: whether the stated PLN 15,000 and PLN 7,380 are included in the previously reported PLN 82,673.07 as the cost of activities connected with the parade and opening, or whether they are additional items. BOK-MCC documents contain both the total amount of PLN 82,673.07 and separate entries for the rope-access service and Nowak’s payment for the opening.

Adding the parade financing by KRAS-DOM and M&J to the PLN 82,673.07 gives PLN 115,883.07. If the additional PLN 22,380 for the opening was not included in that amount, the total rises to PLN 138,263.07, or almost PLN 140,000.

A decision without clear criteria

The matter is all the more interesting because BOK-MCC received an offer to organize the event for PLN 45,000 gross. The proposal included clay body-painting workshops, a street parade, live music, a preparation zone and the event’s finale. BOK-MCC did not accept this offer.

Director Kornel Filipowicz subsequently did not want to explain whether the decision was based on price, budget or program considerations. He replied that the center receives many proposals and BOK-MCC does not explain to bidders the factors it uses when making its selection.

Choosing a different artistic concept would not in itself be a problem. The problem arises when significantly higher costs, direct sponsor payments to the performer and questions about the basis on which private financing was combined with promotion at the city’s official festival emerge around the selected event.

Will Bolesławiec councillors respond?

We sent information about the matter to councillors of the Bolesławiec City Council. They can now ask who decided, and on what basis, that sponsors paying the performer directly were simultaneously promoted as sponsors of the municipal festival. This is precisely the moment when the city council can show whether it is a supervisory body or merely an audience for decisions made by municipal institutions. Residents have the right to know how much the parade really cost, who paid for what and whether everyone involved in the matter was treated according to the same rules.

BOK-MCC is a municipal cultural institution. Its director does not operate in a vacuum, and the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival has for years been strongly associated with the image of the city and Mayor Piotr Roman. Therefore, responsibility for clarifying this matter should not end with the director of the cultural center. The questions also concern city hall: what rules apply to sponsors of municipal events, who approves the way they are promoted, and whether private payments to a performer can be treated as sponsorship of the city’s official festival.