The Secretariat for Culture of the Provincial Government, chaired by Maja Gojković, who is always exceptionally interested in this area, decided this year to punish those who in any way supported the student and citizen rebellion in public competitions. In short, those who directly or indirectly supported the protests, or whose management did not effectively prevent their employees from doing so, were casually torpedoed from the budget.
Thus, Sterijino Pozorje, our most important festival of national drama and theater, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, was for the first time in its history left without money in the provincial competition for stage creation.
Miroslav Radonjić, director of Sterijino Pozorje, was brief in response to our question to comment on the results of this year’s competition.
– That doesn’t deserve any comment – said Radonjić, noting that these few words were quite enough.
The explanation of the commission that decided on the allocation of funds, and which consisted of Miloš Nikolić, Uroš Pavlov, and Jelena Đukić, states that this festival represents “the highest quality theater productions” and that it is “in line with the general interest in culture,” but that nevertheless, “the requested funds for the realization of this type of project exceed the possibilities of financing in this competition.”
Throughout all these years, Pozorje has “requested funds that exceeded possibilities,” because in fact they would never receive the amount they asked for, but even that reduced amount was almost always among the largest in the entire competition. Last year they received 2.5 million, in 2023, 3 million, in 2022, 2 million, and so on.
This year, the most money in the provincial competition, 5 million dinars, was received by a festival from Belgrade, coincidentally or not, it is the Belgrade Dance Festival, a favorite of the regime, Aja Jung.
Pozorje, on the other hand, coincidentally or not, was left without money after it opened with the play “Saint George Kills the Dragon” when the actors of the Yugoslav Drama Theater appeared before the audience with their hands painted red, and closed with a moving speech by director Goran Marković.
– A great tragedy happened in this city that terribly wounded it and initiated great changes. This Sterijino Pozorje is very, very special, this city is the most important city in this revolution – said Marković after his play “Belgrade Trio” was declared the best.
The Academy of Arts was also punished, which in previous years was regularly supported in this, as well as all other provincial competitions, and which this year has a Silver Lion winner at the Venice Biennale, Professor Vladan Joler.
In total, all nine of their projects were rejected, and as many as five in this competition for stage creation.
“New Actors for New Theater” and “Student Theater Festival” were left without a dinar for the same reason, because as the commission explains: “The financial plan is not economical,” and due to “limited funds allocated for this competition, preference was given to other projects.”
Three projects from the Drama Department of the Academy also did not receive funds, and the festival “Week of Change,” of one of Novi Sad’s favorite ensembles – “Theater of Change,” was assessed as a festival that “does not have a greater degree of influence on the quality of the cultural life of the community itself.”
Zoran Krajišnik, Dean of the Academy, notes that people actually have no idea about the situation faculties are currently in, and they are literally on the verge of collapse.
They previously received funds for all nine projects, and this, as he points out, is the message being sent. Let’s remember, professors from the Academy were the first of all Novi Sad faculties to stand by their students.
– The Serbian National Theater, Novi Sad Theater, Youth Theater, and Academy are the foundation of culture in this city and province. This is just another form of pressure to “come to our senses” in some way. The decision is catastrophic and it is completely politically motivated. The commission’s explanations are pro-forma, and they are not even accurate. For example, for the “Guitar Student Meeting,” the explanation is that “we did not fully realize the previous project,” which is not true at all, everything was realized and the documentation was duly submitted. But there is no point in reacting, they decided to cut us off and abolish us. Our production is huge and has an incredible impact on the wider community, and that is now being questioned – said Krajišnik.
Other well-known festivals, which had been supported until this summer, also did not receive funds, such as the Shakespeare Festival and Novi Tvrđava Teatar, as well as those like the Ecological Theater Festival for Children from Bačka Palanka, whose director Sonja Petrović has been going through a public lynching by the regime’s media for months because she dared to criticize the government. Projects of the Novi Sad Theater were not even considered due to “non-submission of reports from the previous year.”
The Exit festival also did not receive money in the provincial competition for musical creation. The Provincial Secretariat for Culture, as stated in the explanation, recognizes the importance of the festival, but due to insufficient funds, it “is unable to provide support.”
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Source: Danas, Photo: Danas / A. L.