Despite the adoption of the Strategy for Cultural Development for 2025–2030 and the government action plan, the draft state budget for 2026 hardly reflects the declared reforms in the field of culture.
The total budget of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP) is increasing to UAH 12.4 billion (compared with UAH 10.5 billion in 2025). At the same time, more than a third of this amount – UAH 4 billion – is proposed to be spent on “strategic communications, information security, national identity and patriotic content.” Last year, ten times less was allocated for this purpose.
Traditional budget items – support for theatres, museums, libraries, national ensembles and arts organisations – are growing only at the rate of inflation. The salaries of tens of thousands of cultural workers remain minimal.
Funding for the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation is increasing from UAH 250 million to UAH 410 million, but experts consider this amount insufficient to support the independent sector. The Ukrainian Book Institute retains an almost unchanged budget (UAH 284 million), while the Institute of National Memory has received a separate line in the budget for the first time.
No funds are allocated for the evacuation of museum collections from frontline territories or the construction of storage facilities, although the government’s plan sets the task of preserving and digitising cultural heritage.
Funding for the Ukrainian Institute is increasing (UAH 108.5 million compared with UAH 65.2 million last year), but the international projects of the Ministry of Culture and this institute are often not synchronised.
Despite the broad participation of experts and civil society organisations in the preparation of the strategy and government documents, their proposals have not been taken into account in the 2026 state budget. Olha Sahaydak, chair of the board of the Coalition of Cultural Activists, emphasises that the document does not provide for real reforms or security innovations.