There is no specific budgetary allocation for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the biennial festival of contemporary arts, in the State Budget for 2024-25.
The sixth edition of the event is expected to be held in December this year, and there were expectations that the Finance Minister would include assistance for it in the Budget.
A key organiser of the fest pointed out that there was no specific allocation as such for the Biennale in the Budget. The financial assistance would be included under the head of total funds earmarked for holding cultural events, he said.
However, the Budget for 2023-24 had announced assistance to the tune of ₹2 crore for the event. In the 2021-22 Budget, there was an allocation of ₹7 crore for the Biennale. The organisers pointed out earlier that there was a growing gap between expenses and earnings or funding.
The previous edition of the event, which began in December 2022 and concluded in April 2023, cost around ₹23 crore. The government allocation was around ₹7 crore, and the organisers had voiced concerns over the delay in getting funds as per requirements.
Around 50 artists who participated in the fifth edition had flagged organisational failures, including opaque financial planning and last-minute fund-raising, in a letter to the Kochi Biennale Foundation. They had suggested that the scale and ambition of the event be attuned to its financial situation.
