State of Culture in Albania 2025 · Municipal profiles · Artivista Center (Qendra Artivista)
This profile is based on information provided by the Municipality of Durrës 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) | Durrës |
| Administrative units | 6: Durrës, Sukth, Ishëm, Katund i Ri, Rrashbull, Manëz |
| Area | 338.30 km² |
| Population, 2023 Census | 153,614 (about 454 residents per km²); 12.3% fewer than in 2011 |
| Residents aged 65 and over | 18.9% (national average 19.7%) |
| Culture budget | Planned 325,492,768 lek and spent 144,535,501 lek in 2025 |
| Cultural institutions | Aleksandër Moisiu Cultural Center, Children's Cultural Center, Library, Visual Arts Gallery “Nikolet Vasia” |
| Staff | 117 in the four institutions, plus 2 in the coordinating structure |
| Culture strategy | Strategy for Culture 2020 - 2025; Cultural Calendar 2026 in preparation |
Summary
Durrës, Albania's second largest municipality, has the most developed cultural infrastructure among the municipalities in this batch: a large cultural centre with two orchestras, a children's cultural centre, a library and a gallery, with 117 staff in total. It is also one of the few municipalities in this series with an adopted strategy for culture, covering the period 2020 - 2025.
During the period 2020 - 2025 the culture budget changed in scale. Until 2023 the municipality planned between 74.8 and 87.8 million lek a year and spent more than 90% of it. From 2024 the budget grew with the reconstruction of the Aleksandër Moisiu Palace of Culture, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, and in 2025 the revised plan reached 325.5 million lek. Only 44.4% of it was spent that year, as most of the construction costs moved into 2026.
Information is less complete on how culture reaches residents. The municipality's reply reports between 7 and 16 activities a year, does not address public consultations on culture and lists all activities under “Bashkia Durrës”, without a breakdown by administrative unit. Some figures in the reply also differ from those in the medium term budget plans, notably the cost of the Palace of Culture reconstruction and the number of staff.
1. Governance and institutions
Culture is coordinated by a structure of two staff, a director and an inspector, unchanged during the period 2020 - 2025. Four institutions deliver the programme. The Aleksandër Moisiu Cultural Center is the largest, with 88 staff in nine units, including a string orchestra of 21 members, a wind orchestra of 26 members, an artistic troupe and a museum network sector. The Children's Cultural Center has 11 staff and offers courses in ballet, guitar and painting, the Library has 17 staff and the Visual Arts Gallery “Nikolet Vasia” has one curator.
2. Funding
The municipality reported the planned and actual budget for culture each year. During the period 2020 - 2023 the planned budget stayed between 74.8 and 87.8 million lek and actual spending between 68.8 and 80.3 million lek, with execution between 90.7% and 95.1%. In 2024 the plan rose to 134.3 million lek and spending to 116.2 million lek, of which 18.5 million lek was investment. In 2025 the revised plan reached 325.5 million lek, while actual spending was 144.5 million lek, including 49.7 million lek of investment.
The increase is driven by capital works. The medium term budget plan for 2027 - 2029 lists the reconstruction of the Palace of Culture at a total cost of 308.5 million lek, of which the Ministry of Culture finances 278 million lek, with completion planned for the end of 2026, and a new reconstruction of the Martyrs' Mausoleum at 57.6 million lek. The same plan foresees 363.1 million lek for culture in 2026 and about 125.6 million lek a year for the period 2027 - 2029, once the works are complete. The cultural institutions also earn their own income, 1,750,000 lek in 2024 and 2,026,000 lek in 2025.
3. Cultural programme
The reply reports 16 activities, festivals and projects in 2020 and 2021, 13 in 2022 and 7 in 2024 and 2025, with no figure for 2023. The budget plans count the projects of the cultural calendar differently, 13 in 2022 and 15 a year in the period 2023 - 2025, so the two sources do not use the same definition. The performance indicators of the budget plan show steady activity: library users rose from 1,303 in 2022 to 1,392 in 2025, literary, theatre and cultural events from 97 to 103, and audiences from 16,150 to 16,787. Artistic projects supported by the municipality fell from 13 in 2022 to none in 2023, before recovering to 7 in 2024 and 6 in 2025.
4. Heritage
The reply lists three reconstructions: the Children's Cultural Center, at 106,262,235 lek in 2023; the Visual Arts Gallery “Nikolet Vasia”, at 8,832,099.78 lek in 2024; and the Aleksandër Moisiu Cultural Center, at 488,709,669 lek, without a year. The last figure is about 173 million lek higher than the cost of the same project in the budget plan, 315.7 million lek including supervision and certification, and the documents do not explain the difference. The city's best known monument, the Ancient Amphitheatre, appears among its cultural spaces, but no restoration funding for it is reported.
5. Staff
The four institutions employ 117 people, three quarters of them in the Aleksandër Moisiu Cultural Center, and the coordinating structure has two more. The budget plan counts 59 posts for the culture programme, 16 for heritage, museum and library services and 43 for art and culture services. The difference may come from different definitions, but a single figure would make it easier to follow the capacity of the sector.
6. Planning and public participation
Durrës has adopted a Strategy for Culture for the period 2020 - 2025 and is preparing a Cultural Calendar for 2026. The reply does not answer the question on public consultations on culture, cultural heritage or cultural activities, so it is not known whether residents were consulted on the strategy or on the calendar.
7. Culture across the municipality
For every year from 2020 to 2025 the reply lists “Bashkia Durrës” as the place of activity, without distinguishing between the city and the units of Sukth, Ishëm, Katund i Ri, Rrashbull and Manëz. The cultural spaces it lists, from Liria Square, the promenade and the Amphitheatre to the institutions, the Ethnographic Museum and the Black Box hall, are all in the city of Durrës.
Conclusions
- Durrës has four cultural institutions with 117 staff and an adopted strategy for culture for the period 2020 - 2025.
- Until 2023 the municipality spent more than 90% of a culture budget of 75 to 88 million lek a year.
- The reconstruction of the Palace of Culture raised the 2025 plan to 325.5 million lek, of which 44.4% was spent.
- The reply and the budget plans differ on the cost of the Palace of Culture reconstruction and on the number of staff.
- Public consultations on culture and the distribution of activities across the six administrative units are not documented.
Recommendations
Report the Palace of Culture project in one place
The reconstruction is the largest cultural investment in this series. The municipality could publish a single sheet for the project, with the total cost from all sources, the Ministry's share, the amounts spent each year and the completion date, so that the 488.7 million lek in the reply and the 315.7 million lek in the budget plan can be reconciled.
Plan the use of the Palace before it opens
Once the works end, the building will need a programme, staff and running costs. The cultural centre could prepare a programme for the first two years, including the two orchestras, the artistic troupe and space for independent artists, and budget it in the plan for 2027 - 2029.
Consult residents on the next strategy
The current strategy ends in 2025. Its successor could be prepared with public hearings in the city and in the administrative units, reviewing what the first strategy achieved and setting targets for activities, audiences and heritage.
Take culture to the administrative units
All cultural spaces and activities are in the city. The municipality could report activities by unit and plan a regular programme in Sukth, Ishëm, Katund i Ri, Rrashbull and Manëz, for example through touring performances of the orchestras and the children's centre.
Use one count of staff and activities
The reply and the budget plan count staff (117 and 59) and activities differently. Agreeing one definition for each and reporting it every year would make the sector easier to follow and to compare with other municipalities.
Plan the care of the Amphitheatre
The Ancient Amphitheatre is the city's best known monument, but no restoration spending is reported for it. Working with the national heritage institutions, the municipality could include its maintenance and use for events in the next culture strategy.
About the data
Population figures come from the INSTAT 2023 Census. Planned and actual budget figures, staff, revenue, restorations and activities are as reported by the municipality. Capital projects, programme forecasts and performance indicators come from the municipality's medium term budget plans (PBA) for 2023 - 2025, 2026 - 2028 and 2027 - 2029.
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.
