Péter Fekete

As state secretary for culture from 2018 to 2022, Péter Fekete oversaw Hungary's cultural institutional system, including the operation of the National Cultural Fund (NKA) and the appointment process for theatre and museum directors. As a ministerial commissioner he personally helped Attila Vidnyánszky take over the National Theatre in 2012, and later as state secretary worked alongside him for years while Vidnyánszky chaired the Theatre Arts Committee that rules on theatre director applications — a relationship press reporting flagged as a potential conflict of interest. In late 2019, after leaked government plans to centralize cultural-institution funding triggered public protests (a demonstration at Madách Square), Fekete denied that closing the NKA was under consideration, while stating that if the state provides significant funding to an institution it must also exercise control over it. Retrospective press coverage on his departure noted that, lacking independent ministry-level status, his tenure's legacy was largely protocol-level rather than substantive structural reform, and that the cultural-funding system (MMA, NKA, NFI) remained fragmented.