Blending Public-Private Partnerships with Innovative Financing Options in the Implementation of Cultural Heritage Sector Projects

Domagoj Dodig

Blending Public-Private Partnerships with Innovative Financing Options in the Implementation of Cultural Heritage Sector Projects (Dopolnjevanje javno-zasebnih partnerstev z inovativnimi možnostmi financiranja pri izvajanju projektov na področju kulturne dediščine)

Key words: cultural heritage, public procurement, financial instruments, cultural revitalization, public-private partnership

Abstract:
Over the past few decades, many countries are facing with lack of funding sources for revitalization of cultural heritage projects. Due to the raising public sector debt and deficit, decision makers have been looking for alternative solutions with involvement of the private sector in revitalization of cultural heritage sites. These projects have traditionally been procured, financed and provided by the public sector. While the majority of EU funding resources will be realized in a more traditional way through purely grant-funded procurement models, a New EU Agenda for Culture for the programming period 2021–2027 has focused on supporting higher private sector involvement in cultural heritage investments for achieving the EU strategy goals. Seeing that the fundamental purpose of investing in cultural heritage is “investing in protecting and valorising common history and values,” the involvement of the private sector is only possible through public-private partnerships (PPP) models. The main objective of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of blending public-private partnership models with available EU innovative financing options in cultural heritage sector by applying case study simulation on a selected PPP project in the operational phase. The findings will show the effectiveness of PPP’s and the use of blending solutions in cultural investments.

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