Ars longa, pecunia brevis

The following article deals with the idea of culture policy in Poland and the crucial role of the public financing of the culture. The author draws attention to the fact that public money often stimulates different types of pathologies in cultural institutions which results in linking culture with bureaucratic system. There is a key question which the author asks: why should we fund the culture? A major problem in Poland is the lack of universal access to the culture and therefore a priority for the state should be the program of digitization of cultural goods. Furthermore, the author considers the impact of public funding on the quality of the culture and alternative methods of financing such as subsidies for specific projects or crowdfunding.