SELF-GOVERNMENT BUDGETS AS A SOURCE OF FUNDING OF CULTURE AND CULTURAL HERITAGE IN POLAND: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Territorial self-governments as structures operating on a regional and local basis are the main source for financing cultural expenditures in Poland. A total of around 70% of all cultural heritage expenses came from commune, county (powiat) and voivodship budgets. Consequently, a research question was asked whether and to what extent the financing of culture from the budgets of territorial self-governments is spatially diverse. The main purpose of this study is to determine the regional differentiation of spending on culture and cultural heritage from local government budgets. An attempt was also made to indicate the reasons for these differences. For statistical analyses the data of the Local Data Bank of the Statistics Poland (Główny Urząd Statystyczny) were used. Regional differentiation was demonstrated regarding the share of culture in the expenditure from local government budgets. The spatial distribution of the phenomenon is the result of the interaction of three factors: the level of socio-economic development, cultural potential, and cultural policy of the voivodship self-governments.