State of Culture in Albania 2025 · Municipal profiles · Artivista Center (Qendra Artivista)
This profile is based on information provided by the Municipality of Devoll in reply to Artivista's request for information on culture (2026), the municipality's medium term budget plans (PBA), and INSTAT's 2023 Population and Housing Census. Amounts are in Albanian lek.
At a glance
| Region (qark) | Korçë |
| Administrative units | 5: Bilisht, Qendër Bilisht, Hoçisht, Progër, Miras (1 town and 44 villages) |
| Area | 453.27 km² |
| Population, 2023 Census | 25,897 (about 57.1 residents per km²); 3.1% fewer than in 2011 |
| Residents aged 65 and over | 25.5% (national average 19.7%) |
| Cultural institutions | Children's Cultural Centre “Andrea Balli”, Bilisht (3 staff) |
| Cultural activities | 2 in 2020; 13 in 2025 |
| Funding for activities | 1,050,000 lek in 2020; 5,812,823 lek in 2025 |
| Culture programme in the budget plan | 16,338,000 lek planned for 2023 and 2024; 16,988,000 lek for 2025 |
| New facilities | Bilisht Youth Centre and the Dritëro Agolli House-Museum, built for 2026 |
Summary
Devoll, on Albania's border with Greece in Korçë region, has expanded its cultural programme considerably in recent years. During the period 2020 - 2024 the municipality supported between two and four cultural activities a year, while in 2025 it supported 13. The funds for these activities rose from 1,050,000 lek in 2020 to 5,812,823 lek in 2025, part of which came from UNDP for a reading programme for young people.
Behind these activities there is a larger budget programme. The municipality's medium term budget plans (PBA) include a culture programme run by the Directorate of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, with 19 staff and a planned budget of more than 16 million lek a year in the period 2023 - 2025. The municipality's reply, however, states that no specific annual budget was approved for culture, and it gives contradictory answers on whether the municipality has a cultural institution of its own. As a result, it is difficult for residents to see how much is spent on culture each year and through which structures.
Devoll has no culture strategy and held no public consultation on culture during the period 2020 - 2025, and no funds were spent on heritage restoration. Two new facilities, a youth centre in Bilisht and a house-museum dedicated to the writer Dritëro Agolli, have been built for 2026. They give the municipality an opportunity to plan its cultural life on a clearer basis, for a population in which one in four residents is aged 65 or over.
1. Governance and institutions
Culture in Devoll is managed through the municipal administration, with a small team whose size grew from one person in 2020 to four in 2024 and 2025. The only cultural institution named in the municipality's reply is the Children's Cultural Centre “Andrea Balli” in Bilisht, with 3 staff, which organises cultural activities for children and young people in the town. In two other answers, however, the reply states that the municipality has no cultural institution of its own that receives or generates funds. Clarifying the status of the Centre would make it easier to follow how culture is organised and financed.
2. Funding
The municipality reports its culture spending activity by activity, rather than as an annual budget. During the period 2020 - 2022 the funds for activities stayed between 1,050,000 and 1,170,000 lek a year, fell to 240,000 lek in 2023, and then rose to 2,534,177 lek in 2024 and 5,812,823 lek in 2025. In both 2024 and 2025 part of this amount came from UNDP for the reading programme “Rinisim nga Leximi”: 2,134,177 lek in 2024 and 597,823 lek in 2025. In 2025, therefore, almost all of the funding came from the municipal budget.
The medium term budget plans give a much larger figure, because they cover the whole culture programme, including its 19 staff. The final plan for 2022 - 2024 foresaw 16,490,652 lek for 2022 and 8,299,000 lek for each of 2023 and 2024. The later plan for 2023 - 2025, revised in July 2022, raised these amounts to 18,385,000 lek for 2022, 16,338,000 lek for each of 2023 and 2024 and 16,988,000 lek for 2025, and records actual spending of 2,280,000 lek in 2020 and 5,944,000 lek in 2021. The difference between these programme figures and the funds reported for activities shows that most of the culture budget goes to staff and running costs rather than to the activities themselves.
3. Cultural programme
For most of the period the programme was small and changed from year to year. It included a cultural activity with school pupils, a youth sports and culture festival (Spartakiada), an annual activity presenting new books and, in 2022, the Honey Festival, the Balkan Festival and a documentary report on Devoll. In 2024 the municipality supported a Lahuta activity and, with UNDP, the reading programme “Rinisim nga Leximi”.
The year 2025 brought a much broader calendar of 13 activities, including the graduation celebration, the 1 June children's festival, the 7 August festival, a day dedicated to Dritëro Agolli, an art colony, the guitar event “Tingull Kitare në Devoll”, the summer festival “Verë dhe Portokalle” and a New Year celebration. Activities take place mainly at the Children's Cultural Centre, in the pedestrian area of Bilisht and in the squares of the administrative units.
4. Heritage
According to the municipality, no funds were spent on the restoration, rehabilitation or repair of cultural heritage sites during the period 2020 - 2025. The most important development is the Dritëro Agolli House-Museum, built for 2026. It is dedicated to one of Albania's best known writers, who was born in Devoll, and it could become the municipality's main cultural attraction for residents and visitors alike.
5. Staff
The number of staff in the municipal structures responsible for culture grew gradually, from 1 in 2020 and 2021 to 2 in 2022, 3 in 2023 and 4 in 2024 and 2025. In addition, the Children's Cultural Centre has 3 staff, while the budget plans assign 19 staff to the culture programme as a whole, a figure that also covers people working in related services.
6. Planning and public participation
Devoll had no strategy, local plan or policy document for culture during the period 2020 - 2025, and held no public consultation on culture or cultural heritage. The municipality states that new projects are being planned and that the Bilisht Youth Centre and the Dritëro Agolli House-Museum have been built for 2026. These new facilities make a written plan especially useful, so that their programmes, staffing and running costs are set out in advance.
7. Culture across the municipality
Most activities take place in Bilisht. In 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2025 one activity a year was also held in the centres of the other administrative units, and in 2025 two activities were held in the villages of Poloskë and Menkulas. With 44 villages and an older population, bringing more of the programme closer to the villages would allow more residents to take part.
8. National and European context
Under the National Tourism Strategy 2024 - 2030, Korçë region, including Devoll, belongs to the Southern Inland cluster, where culture is a main tourism product, anchored by Berat and Gjirokastër. Devoll is not yet among the attractions named for the cluster. The Dritëro Agolli House-Museum could help it find a place within this offer, especially if it is promoted together with the literary and cultural heritage of the wider Korçë region.
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. Devoll already has experience with external funding through the UNDP reading programme, but no evidence was found that it has used EU instruments for culture.
9. Key findings
- Cultural activities rose from between two and four a year in the period 2020 - 2024 to 13 in 2025, and their funding from 1,050,000 lek to 5,812,823 lek.
- The municipality's reply states that no specific culture budget was approved, while its budget plans include a culture programme with 19 staff and more than 16 million lek planned a year for 2023 - 2025.
- The reply gives contradictory answers on whether the municipality has a cultural institution of its own.
- No heritage restoration, no culture strategy and no public consultation on culture were reported for the period 2020 - 2025.
- A youth centre and the Dritëro Agolli House-Museum have been built for 2026.
- Most activities take place in Bilisht, while one in four residents is aged 65 or over.
10. Recommendations
Report one clear culture budget
The reply describes culture spending activity by activity, while the budget plans show a much larger programme. The finance directorate could publish each year the planned and actual budget of the culture programme, showing separately the costs of staff, of running the facilities and of the activities themselves. This would allow residents and councillors to see the full cost of culture in Devoll and how it changes from year to year.
Clarify the role of the Children's Cultural Centre
The reply both names the Children's Cultural Centre “Andrea Balli” as a municipal institution and states that the municipality has no cultural institution of its own. The municipality could confirm the Centre's legal status, mandate and budget, and report its activities and staff separately. This is also the right moment to decide how the Centre will work with the new youth centre in Bilisht.
Prepare a plan for the new facilities
The Bilisht Youth Centre and the Dritëro Agolli House-Museum will need programmes, staff and running funds. The Directorate of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport could prepare a short culture plan for the next three years that sets out how both facilities will be used, which activities they will host and how they will be financed. Discussing the draft with residents, in Bilisht and in the administrative units, would hold the municipality's first public consultation on culture.
Make the House-Museum a regional attraction
The Dritëro Agolli House-Museum gives Devoll a cultural attraction of national interest. The municipality could develop guided visits for schools, an annual programme linked to the Dritëro Day and joint promotion with Korçë and other municipalities of the region. A modest entrance fee for visitors from outside the municipality could provide the first income from culture.
Bring more of the programme to the villages
Most activities take place in Bilisht. The culture team could plan at least one activity a year in each administrative unit and report the location of every activity, as the reply already does. For an older population, events close to home are often the only way to take part.
Build on external funding
The UNDP reading programme shows that Devoll can attract external support for culture. With a written plan, the municipality would be well placed to apply to EU programmes such as IPA and EU4Culture, for example for the programme of the House-Museum.
About the data
Population figures come from the INSTAT 2023 Census. Activity funding is as reported by the municipality; the culture programme figures come from its medium term budget plans (PBA) for 2022 - 2024 and 2023 - 2025.
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.
