Warsaw. The Museum of Modern Art and the Warsaw Uprising Museum will be co-run by the Ministry of Culture

From the beginning of next year, the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the Museum of Modern Art will be institutions run jointly by the city and the Ministry of Culture. Thanks to the change in status, both facilities can count on a large cash injection.

On Thursday, Warsaw councilors voted on resolutions regarding the joint operation of the Museum of Modern Art and the Warsaw Uprising Museum by the city of Warsaw and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In the case of the first institution, the contract will be concluded for five years, in the case of MSN, this form of cooperation is to last 10 years.

100 million for the expansion of the Warsaw Uprising Museum

Changing the status of the Warsaw Uprising Museum opens the way to transferring PLN 100 million for the expansion of the facility, which was promised by Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the beginning of August. As we reported on tvnwarszawa.pl less than two weeks ago, The condition for transferring the funds is an agreement concluded by the city with the Ministry of Culture.

– This was the only way to consume the PLN 100 million promised by the Prime Minister. There is no other way to transfer money to a local government cultural institution for investment than to co-run the museum by the state. The contract will be valid for five years, because we assume that this will be enough to complete the expansion, confirms Artur Jóźwik, director of the Culture Office at the town hall. – As part of the agreement with the ministry, we negotiated an additional PLN 2 million for the museum's current operations – he adds.

The main burden of financing the facility will still rest with the local government, which will allocate a minimum of PLN 17.5 million annually.

Undoing the decision regarding the Museum of Modern Art

A similar resolution was adopted regarding the Museum of Modern Art. This is a return to the situation from before 2022, when the MSN headquarters was still under construction. At that time, based on the agreement from 2006, the Ministry of Culture financed the museum's current activities, but the city was responsible for the seat.

In May 2022, Warsaw councilors adopted a resolution on the complete takeover of MSN by the local government. This was preceded by long negotiations with the Ministry of Culture. The authorities presented it as their success. But PiS was in power at that time, and there were fears in the city hall (although not expressed directly) that the right wing would want to bring its own agenda to MSN. – Diluting the responsibility for its operation between two entities – state and local government – would not be conducive to the good functioning of the MSN – argued Aldona Machnowska-Góra, vice-president of Warsaw, aware that this meant the obligation to bear all the costs of operating the museum.

Today, the ministry is run by Hanna Wróblewska, who comes from the world of contemporary art, so apparently the fears have subsided.

Artur Jóźwik emphasizes that this is not a 180-degree turn and indicates subtle differences. – The organizer of the Museum of Modern Art is the local government, and the Ministry of Culture will be the co-host – he explains. Why was the contract signed for 10 years in this case? – When it comes to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, it is closely related to the investment, in the case of the Museum of Modern Art, the cooperation is more long-term – replies the director of the Culture Office.

This translates into money. The Ministry is to subsidize MSN with at least PLN 15 million annually. The city will allocate PLN 25 million for the same purpose every year.

In both cases, the choice of management remains the competence of the mayor of Warsaw.