CultureBonus

The pilot programme is linked to the “Our museum” component of the Museum and library development for everyone project, identification no EFOP-3.3.3-VEKOP-16-2016-00001. The aim of the pilot programme is to increase access for all the groups of public education, especially disadvantaged children, to culture and museum knowledge and to support the basic provision of culture regarding schools.

CultureBonus

Research- and focus group studies preceded the launch of the CultureBonus programme. Based on these results, it can be stated that the primary hampering factors of cultural consumption are of economic-, geographic- and cultural nature.

The aim of the initiation was to work out a programme that generates competition in the cultural services of museums. Such cultural services that foster increased use of public education-oriented, experience-based educational programmes of museums and wider cultural inclusion of disadvantaged children, as well as the extension of primary cultural provision.

Key objective of the programme is that public education institutions do not only use museums as a possible destination of class trips, but also in a way linked to the curriculum; and children can also regard the museum as recreational venues.

The long-term goal of the CultureBonus programme is that after processing the results at the end of the pilot phase, the MOKK can make a proposal for a nationwide system in the framework of which every student studying in public education can take part in museum programmes free of charge, under certain conditions.

From November 2018 to December 2019, 40 public education- and 35 museum institutions collaborate within the programme, and 6000 students participate in the museum education sessions offered by the museums. The Ministry of Human Capacities also took part in the selecting the museums; the museum education programmes of the registered museums were assessed in respect of their suitability for being part of the CultureBonus programme.

The primary school and secondary school students taking part in the model project can participate in museum education sessions related to school lessons and to the National Core Curriculum free of charge. These museum education sessions are also available for first to fourth grade primary school students in the form of the so called museum-in-a-suitcase delivered to the school. The participating groups can register for a complex package of services; cold food package can be chosen, as well as return bus transport to the museum programme. The HUF 3000 allocation per student can be used for museum education sessions of lower (HUF 1000 per student) and higher (HUF 2000 per student) price, providing for two or three museum visits.

The service can be used with the aid of an IT system especially developed for this purpose, through the search platform of the Museums a’la carte database. The teacher registers his/her class, indicates the catering and travelling demands, and museums upload the programmes which may be selected by the schools.
The CultureBonus website in Hungarian: http://programok.kulturbonusz.mokk.skanzen.hu/

As the application and selection process of museum- and public education institutions is already closed, joining of other institutions is currently not possible. However, it is worth browsing in the wealth of programmes the museums have on offer, since against payment any other schools can benefit from the museum sessions participating in the pilot programme. These museum sessions can be viewed on this link.

MOKK organised a roadshow of eight stations in November to promote the CultureBonus programme and to facilitate the meeting of the participating institutions. At the press conference held in the Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc, the priority station of the round of events, Hajnal Kassai the head of Museum Division of the Ministry of Human Capacities welcomed the meeting.

At the meetings organised for ensuring the collaboration to be as successful as possible, the parties taking part in the pilot programme – representatives of museum-and public education institutions, school district- and vocational training centres, and project implementers of MOKK, SZNM and GRAFCOM Media Kft. (carrying out complex services of programme organising, IT, travelling and catering) – could meet personally, make contacts, get to know the operation of the system and the details of implementation.