Hungary’s National Cultural Fund (NKA) will launch a new popular music support program under the name of former pop singer Tamás Cseh, Minister for Human Resources Zoltán Balog announced on Monday in Budapest. Balog said that the Tamás Cseh program will have a budget 400 million forints (EUR 1.31 million) this year and at least 100-100 million in the next two years. Hungary has annual copyright tax revenues of 4 billion forints on blank data storage devices such as DVDs or pen drives, and according to a law passed in 2013, 25% of this tax will be transferred from this year to NKA, allowing for additional initiatives as the Tamás Cseh program.

Tamás Cseh – born in 1942 – was an influential and very popular singer-songwriter beginning from the early 1970s. Mr Balog said that the program’s budget will be distributed via seven tenders, one each for new musical groups, beginner singers, small venues mainly outside the capital, training of music managers, copyright and intellectual property information, active remembrance and the collection of music-related mementos.

László L. Simon, departing vice-president of the NKA – recently elected a member of parliament for the governing Fidesz party – said that the NKA was the subject of heavy criticism when it discontinued a previous pop music program, the PANKK, but this new initiative showed its continued commitment to popular music. He also said the new program was finalized based on input from many experts in the field. The widow of Tamás Cseh and the Tamás Cseh Foundation gave their consent for the program to use the artist’s name.

(Ministry of Human Resources)