State of Culture in Albania 2025 · Municipal profiles · Artivista Center (Qendra Artivista)
This profile is based on information provided by the Municipality of Dimal in reply to Artivista's request for information on culture (2026) and INSTAT's 2023 Population and Housing Census. Amounts are in Albanian lek.
At a glance
| Region (qark) | Berat |
| Administrative units | 4: Dimal (Ura Vajgurore), Poshnjë, Kutalli, Cukalat (1 town and 34 villages) |
| Area | 156.65 km² |
| Population, 2023 Census | 28,135 (about 179.6 residents per km²); 3.1% more than in 2011 |
| Residents aged 65 and over | 18.7% (national average 19.7%) |
| Culture budget | Planned 15,000,000 lek and spent 10,099,500 lek in 2025 |
| Share of the budget spent | From 67.3% to 94.9% a year during the period 2020 - 2025 |
| Cultural institutions | None; a former cinema in Poshnjë now serves as a multifunctional centre |
| Public consultations | 6 during the period 2020 - 2025, also covering culture |
Summary
Dimal, the former Ura Vajgurore in Berat region, is one of the few municipalities in this series whose population has grown, by 3.1% between 2011 and 2023. It has no cultural institution of its own: culture is managed by the Sector of Education, Culture and Sport and delivered through a calendar of local celebrations held in public squares, in the town's pedestrian area and in all four administrative units.
The municipality has invested in culture in visible ways. Its street art murals, including “The Flirt”, “The Champion” and “Vajza e Dimalit”, have gained international attention, a sculpture, “Djaloshi i Dimalit”, was placed in the town centre, and the former cinema in Poshnjë was turned into a centre for clubs in painting, chess, drama and folk music. During the period 2020 - 2025 the annual culture budget ranged between 8 and 19.4 million lek, and the municipality spent between 67.3% and 94.9% of it each year.
Dimal also held six public consultations during the period, covering culture together with community development and public investment, which is more than most municipalities report. What is missing is a written plan for culture and information on the staff who deliver it. No medium term budget plan of the municipality was found published online, so the budget figures in this profile rest on the municipality's reply alone.
1. Governance and institutions
Culture in Dimal is the responsibility of the Sector of Education, Culture and Sport, a combined unit rather than a dedicated culture directorate. The municipality has no cultural institution under its administration and therefore no income from culture. Its main cultural facility is the former cinema in Poshnjë, adapted into a multifunctional centre where a painting club, a chess club, a drama club and a folk group involve children and young people in cultural and artistic activities.
2. Funding
The municipality reported both the planned and the actual culture budget for each year. The planned budget rose from 8,000,000 lek in 2020 to between 15 and 19.4 million lek a year in the period 2021 - 2025. Actual spending followed the same pattern, from 6,300,000 lek in 2020 to 17,640,894 lek in 2024, its highest level, before falling to 10,099,500 lek in 2025.
The share of the budget actually spent varied considerably from year to year: 78.8% in 2020, 73.7% in 2021, 83.4% in 2022, 68.0% in 2023, 94.9% in 2024 and 67.3% in 2025. In the years with lower execution, a third of the planned funds for culture was not used. The reply does not break the budget down by programme or activity, and no medium term budget plan was found published online to explain these differences.
3. Cultural programme
Cultural life in Dimal follows the Calendar of Local Celebrations, with activities held in public squares, in the pedestrian area of the town and in all four administrative units, which the municipality describes as an even distribution across the territory. Public art is a distinctive part of the programme. The murals “The Flirt” and “The Champion” have received international attention and made Dimal known as a destination for urban art, while the later mural “Vajza e Dimalit” has become a symbol of the town and a point of interest for visitors. The sculpture “Djaloshi i Dimalit” adds to this identity in the town centre.
4. Heritage
The municipality's reply does not report spending on the restoration of heritage sites. It describes a related investment in tourism: the rehabilitation, in two phases, of the thermal springs (llixhat) in the Guri i Bardhë neighbourhood, which improved conditions for visitors and helped promote the area as a destination for local and foreign guests.
5. Staff
The reply does not give the number of staff who work on culture, in the Sector of Education, Culture and Sport or in the centre in Poshnjë. Without this information it is not possible to assess whether the municipality has the capacity to manage its programme and its new facilities.
6. Planning and public participation
Dimal has no strategy or policy document for culture; the Calendar of Local Celebrations works as the basis for organising activities, but it is a schedule rather than a plan. On the other hand, the municipality held six public consultations during the period 2020 - 2025 that also addressed culture, together with community development and public investment. This practice provides a good basis for preparing a culture plan with residents.
7. Culture across the municipality
According to the municipality, activities take place in all four administrative units, Dimal, Poshnjë, Kutalli and Cukalat, and are evenly spread across the territory. The centre in Poshnjë shows that cultural facilities are not limited to the town. The reply does not give the number of activities by unit, so this distribution cannot be confirmed in figures.
8. National and European context
Under the National Tourism Strategy 2024 - 2030, Berat region, including Dimal, belongs to the Southern Inland cluster, where culture is a main tourism product, anchored by the UNESCO cities of Berat and Gjirokastër. Dimal is not among the attractions named for the cluster, but its street art and its proximity to Berat could make it a complement to the region's heritage tourism.
As an EU candidate country, Albania has access to EU support for culture through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and the EU4Culture programme. No evidence was found that Dimal has used these instruments for culture.
9. Key findings
- Dimal has no cultural institution of its own; culture is managed by the Sector of Education, Culture and Sport.
- The culture budget ranged between 8 and 19.4 million lek a year, and the share spent varied from 67.3% to 94.9%.
- Street art murals and a public sculpture have given the town a recognisable identity; the former cinema in Poshnjë is now a centre for children's and young people's clubs.
- Six public consultations held during the period 2020 - 2025 also covered culture.
- There is no culture strategy and no information on the staff who work on culture.
- No medium term budget plan of the municipality was found published online.
10. Recommendations
Publish the budget plans and the culture budget in detail
The municipality's reply gives a clear series of planned and actual spending, but no breakdown and no published budget plan. Dimal could publish its medium term budget plans on its website and show the culture budget by programme and activity, together with the reasons when a large part of the funds is not spent, as in 2023 and 2025.
Turn the consultations into a culture plan
Dimal already consults residents on culture alongside other topics. The Sector of Education, Culture and Sport could use this practice to prepare a short culture plan for the next three years, covering the calendar of celebrations, public art, the centre in Poshnjë and activities in each administrative unit, and present it to the Municipal Council.
Build on the town's public art
The murals and the sculpture are Dimal's best known cultural assets. The municipality could map them in a simple route for visitors, link it to visits to Berat and plan a new work every year or two, chosen with the participation of residents and young artists.
Strengthen the centre in Poshnjë
The clubs in painting, chess, drama and folk music show what a local centre can offer. The municipality could report the number of participants each year, extend the programme to older residents and consider similar spaces in Kutalli and Cukalat.
Report the staff working on culture
Publishing the number of staff who work on culture each year, in the Sector and in the centre in Poshnjë, would make it possible to follow the municipality's capacity and to plan the resources needed for new activities.
About the data
Population figures come from the INSTAT 2023 Census. Budget figures are as reported by the municipality; no medium term budget plan (PBA) of the municipality was found published online, so they could not be checked against it.
Every effort has been made to base this analysis on the data provided by the municipality, complemented with data from its Medium Term Budget Programmes (PBA) published online. For comments or questions, please contact artivista@arti-vista.org.
This article was prepared within the CulturAL project, with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the National Centre for Community Services and Artivista Center and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
