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1. Acquiring cultural and creative competences through education and training

2. Specialised training for professionals in the education, culture and youth fields

3. Providing quality access to creative environments

Acquiring cultural and creative competences through education and training

Formal education

Creativity appears in the National Core Curriculum's (Nemzeti Alaptanterv, NAT) key competencies as a cross-curricular development goal. Furthermore, the following key competencies explicitly relate to the concept: communication competencies (mother tongue and foreign language); digital competencies; personal and social competencies; employee, innovation and entrepreneur competencies.

Art is taught through specific classes related to music, drama and dance, visual culture, and video culture and media literacy. In addition, in the learning area of technology, design, and digital culture appears in the topics addressed.

There is a required number of lessons per education fields and per grades. (Compendium, 2025)

*Either one of the three. A minimum of two weekly 'Music and singing' lessons and one 'Drawing' lesson are included in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools.

Non-formal education

The system of basic cultural provision related to community culture emphasises learning outside the school context, and the NCC also highlights the role of acquiring experiences in the field of arts and creativity in cultural institutions. Many museums offer museum educational activities for children, such as the Hungarian Natural History Museum, which has interactive learning programmes for all age groups, or the Petőfi Literary Museum, which has an online lesson possibility for school-aged children. In addition to the programmes already mentioned, there are many smaller-scale initiatives led by NGOs or cultural institutions. Innovative practices and scholarly discourses regularly take place in the yearly conference series of the Art Education Conference.

Specialised training for professionals in the education, culture and youth fields

The Community Coordination programme has been introduced as a BA-level education in the field of cultural management (offered since 2016). The Cultural Community Coordination specialisation (Közösségszervezés BA, Kulturális közösségszervezés szakirány) enables its graduates to create community development processes for self-organising activities of local communities. The main fields of the specialisation include community culture, culture mediation and community development. Starting in 2023 autumn, an MA-level education in cultural mediation is also available (Kulturális mediáció MA).

Training in art education and art therapy

The most relevant training programmes related to the use of art in education are those focusing on art education and/or art therapy. These are mostly postgraduate or continuing education programmes, such as the postgraduate specialised training in theatre pedagogy offered by several Hungarian universities.

The University of Pécs Faculty of Music and Visual Arts offers MA training on art therapy (Művészetterápia MA), whereas the John Wesley Theological College has postgraduate training on complex art therapy. The ELTE University offers a continuing education programme on Museum Education.

Several higher education institutions provide education to become a professional in the cultural sector. The most important ones regarding the visual arts include the

• Hungarian University of Fine Arts (Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem);
• Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem Kodály Intézet);
• Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem);
• University of Theatre and Film Arts (Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem).

These institutions offer MA-level education of visual educators; graduate degree education in music pedagogy; MA programmes in design and art management; visual art education and a drama instructor BA programme (which was last launched in 2022).

The Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Radnóti Theatre launched a further education programme in 2024 titled Introduction to action methods 1 - challenges in the classroom, at school, targeting primary and secondary education teachers. The programme aims to educate and practice different socio-dramatic action methods that could help teachers solve communication problems between teachers, parents and students.

Providing quality access to creative environments

'AGORA' places

The most relevant programmes are connected to the system of community culture and have been mentioned before. (For more information see 8.4.) The role of AGORA is unquestionable when approaching access to creative environments. AGORAs were designed as

'multifunctional community centres and community culture institutions which are suitable to operate in a way that integrates community culture; education and adult education, and experience features in a specifically created built environment.' (Németh, 2013)

The Youth Cultural Festival of the Carpathian Basin

An important event specifically targeted for showcasing young people's projects in arts is 'Kultivál' (The Youth Cultural Festival of the Carpathian Basin). During the festival young artists – painters, photographers, actors, and musicians – from Hungary and from the neighbouring countries where ethnic Hungarians live have the opportunity to learn, network and present. In 2024, 'Kultivál' was organised by the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Slovakia.

Pannon Unifest

Another youth culture festival is the Pannon Unifest (Pannon UniFest), where talented young Hungarian artists can meet, perform, learn and compete. The festival was last organised in 2024.

Other events

In addition, many events are organised by municipal governments and educational, cultural and other institutions that offer young artists the opportunity to present themselves, but these (with the exception of educational institutions) rarely focus explicitly on young artists. An excellent example of a market initiative where many young design artists can present is WAMP, a design and fashion fair, that showcases emerging Hungarian designers.