Private financing of culture and the arts in Poland has received its first comprehensive study outlining what a modern legal framework for patronage should look like. On October 29, 2026, the opening report, "Social Financing of Culture – Formal and Legal Solutions,"Prepared under the auspices of the National Centre for Culture in collaboration with UN Global Compact Network Poland, the report was prepared. Among the lawyers and advisors whose expert work contributed to this document were Alicja Gilarska and Rafał Knap from the Graś i Wspólnicy law firm.
Opening Report – Where Did It Come From and What Makes It Special?
Work on the report was initiated in the Senate of the Republic of Poland. The document was created under the honorary patronage of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Marshal of the Senate, and its publication was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage – the ministry headed by Marta Cienkowska provided substantive support. The main author of the report is Dr. hab. Waldemar Karpa, professor at the Leon Kozminski University, while individual chapters were developed by a broader team of experts in cultural law and economics, recommended by three major employer organizations, including Employers of Poland, the Lewiatan Confederation, and the Polish Business Roundtable.
The report was officially presented during the 2nd Cultural Patronage Forum in Wrocław. As Marshal Kidawa-Błońska emphasizes in her introduction, it marks the conclusion of a certain stage of work and, at the same time, a starting point for further legislative action.
The report's authors point out that the Polish model of cultural financing—based almost exclusively on public funds—no longer reflects the scale of the economy and the wealth of society. The benchmark for the proposed solutions is the proven fiscal incentive systems that have been in place for years in France, Italy, and Germany, where private patronage plays a significant role in cultural financing.
Seven areas of detailed solutions
The core of the report is a chapter devoted to detailed studies of the proposed changes, covering seven areas:
- Private patronage and artistic education – solutions supporting the financing of education and scholarships for artists from private funds.
- Public-private partnership in culture – recommendations regarding joint guidelines of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for the cultural sector and a proposal for a final, separate act on special partnership for cultural heritage, modelled on Italian solutions.
- Allocating part of the funds from contractual penalties from public procurement for cultural purposes.
- Liberalization of the rules for exporting works of art abroad – simplification and clarification of the procedure for issuing export licenses.
- Amendments to the regulations on local taxes and fees in the field of the art market – a new exemption from property tax for facilities made available to the public for cultural purposes, regardless of the legal form of their owner.
- Preferential VAT rates for trade in works of art, collectors' items and antiques, and for cultural services.
- Cultural tax relief (PIT and CIT) for donors and patrons.
The report also contains a proposal for the text of the act itself – the draft “on social financing of culture” – as a concrete starting point for further legislative work.
Participation of the Graś i Wspólnicy Law Firm in the work on the report
Attorney Alicja Gilarska and attorney Rafał Knap were part of a group of lawyers and tax advisors from more than a dozen law firms and consulting firms who – alongside Dr. Aleksandra Auleytner of the Domański Zakrzewski Palinka law firm, among others – consulted on the proposed solutions as part of a working group coordinated by the National Centre for Culture. Attorney Knap focused on tax issues, including proposals for real estate tax and personal income tax (PIT)/corporate income tax relief, while attorney Gilarska focused on issues related to real estate and property instruments used for cultural patronage.
"We are pleased to have been able to participate in the development of Poland's first comprehensive study on the legal framework for private cultural patronage. We wanted the proposed solutions to be not only tax-effective, but also transparent and accessible to various groups of patrons – from large companies to individual collectors," say Ms. Gilarska and Ms. Knap.
What's next
The published opening report marks – as its authors emphasize – the conclusion of the first stage of work and the beginning of the next: the proposed legislative text will now be subject to further consultations, including with the Ministry of Finance, before formally submitting it to the Senate as a draft under the Senate initiative procedure, and then to the Sejm. Graś i Wspólnicy will provide ongoing updates on the progress of this work and the practical implications of the proposed solutions for individuals and institutions involved in cultural financing.
Link to the report: CLICK
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
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