Astronomical Cost of the Heritage Media Festival
130 billion tomans were spent on the heritage media festival, a budget that should be used for the restoration and protection of historical artifacts. How is it being squandered?
According to reports from multiple provincial and central sources, the third national cultural heritage multimedia festival, whose secretariat is within the heart of the country’s cultural heritage department, began this morning in Shiraz. It has placed a financial burden of over 50 to 130 billion tomans on the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, its subsidiaries, the Cultural Heritage Department of Fars Province, and the provincial government.
Based on investigations by the Voice of Heritage from five sources within the Fars Province Cultural Heritage Department, cultural heritage activists in the province, and individuals present at the five-day artistic festival in Shiraz, which is set to honor cinematic, television, Instagram, and media content productions with a cultural heritage theme and hosts 400 guests, only about 8 billion tomans have been spent on transportation and accommodation.
The allocated amount for organizing this event, even at the heart of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, is being spent despite Minister Seyyed Reza Salehi Amiri’s directive to prevent expenditures on various events within this ministry, aiming for precise budget planning and spending where needed.
Shiraz has been hosting a festival since this morning, and despite the significant cost of organizing it, it remains unclear what practical achievements it will have for the rescue of Iran’s historical artifacts, which are being destroyed across the country. But the question is why the budget for organizing a festival, which could have been a side event of the Fajr International Film Festival under the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, is being squandered in the Cultural Heritage Department when it could have been used for archaeological excavations, restoration, and protection of Iran’s looted historical sites.
