CULTURAL LANDSCAPE AND THE FESTIVALS
Results of the International Conference at the
International Theatre Festival DIVADELNA NITRA
Tuesday, 27th September 2005, 11:00 – 14:30
Andrej Bagar Theatre, Nitra, Slovakia
::: SHORT CUTS OF THE DISCUSSION
PARTICIPANTS
:: moderator Rose Fenton
F.I.T. moderator, co-founder of the LIFT – London
International Festival of Theatre
:: festival director Tilmann Broszat
SPIELART Theater Festival, Munich, Germany, www.spielart.org
:: festival director Darina Kárová
International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra, Nitra, Slovakia, www.nitrafest.sk
:: art director Pavel Štorek
Festival 4+4 Days in Motion, Prague, Czech Rrepublic, www.ctyridny.cz
:: executive manager Nikolay Iordanov
International Theatre Festival Varna Summer, Varna , Bulgaria,
www.theatrefest-varna.or
:: theatre journalist editor Chantal Boiron
UBU: European Stages, Paris, France, http://membres.lycos.fr/ubumagazine
:: theatre expert Sylvia Huszár
The Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute , Budapest, Hungary,
www.oszmi.hu
:: theatre critic Tiago Bartolomeu Costa Portugal
MAIN CONTRIBUTORS
Darina Kárová, Divadelná Nitra Festival, Nitra, Slovakia:
Welcomes the guests and participants on the premises of the Divadelna Nitra Festival
Rose Fenton, FIT moderator, Great Britain:
F.I.T. is a project of eights festivals in Europe that deals with the impressions and experience from the festivals in a new, enlarged Europe.
1. Festivals play important role in the process of communication within culture but
also in the process of communication between culture and other areas.
2. The European Union does not have its own cultural policy. There is a lack of a
sufficient discussion on the existence of culture in Europe.
The initiative F.I.T has been founded to reinforce and foreground the culture dimension. The knowledge of the creation of the culture dimension in Europe has been continually published on the F.I.T. web page.
The meting in Nitra is the second continuation of discussions – the first took place recently in Riga during the festival Homo Novus. The meeting of F.I.T. participants in Nitra will deal with two sets of questions:
1. Festivals and the cultural landscape
2. The relationship of festivals with media.
Darina Kárová, Divadelná Nitra Festival, Slovakia:
Festivals are exceptionally dependent on their environment, they really depend on its support. Their activities are addressed to it and they are connected to it. Financially, organisationally, personally. They need to collaborate with the environment, they also need its impulses.
The Divadelna Nitra Festival has continually dealt with its environment on several levels:
1. in relation with authorities – i.e. the ministry of culture and political representation as such – it was mainly the period until 1998 and a deep discordance influenced not only the financial level but also the social one. The supportive attitude of foreign countries played an important role in that period. Concerning the city of Nitra the permanent point of all disputes has been the programme of the festival that has been disapproved by the conservatives.
2. in the field of theatre experts – a number of Slovak theatres that have not participated in the festival or participate only occasionally show their neglecting or offended attitude; the attitude of some theatre critics can be easily recognized, there are sometimes more articles about the festival abroad than in its homeland.
3. in the business field – the festival as such, as a cultural event, is not attractive for the businesses to support it; a provocative and for a wider public undecipherable programme of the Divadelna Nitra caused that some sponsors have cancelled their support;
4. spectators - those who have money in this region - or do not go to the theatre at all or those who are not interested in the festival programme. It is not only us – but all Slovak theatres have a lot of problems with ticket sale . The fight for a spectator who is deluged by the most primitive reality shows on all television channels including the one funded by the citizens’ taxes cannot be won. Therefore the Divadelna Nitra has considered the university students in Nitra to be a significant target group not only as theatre goers but also as for a cooperation and assistance.
Pavel Štorek, 4+4 Days in Motion, Czech Republic:
The festival 4+4 Days in Motion was founded as a festival of motion theatre created deliberately as an alternative to the touristically attractive events. It takes place in non-traditional mostly industrial premises. At present we think about a new understanding of the festival that would help us to find other interesting spaces, other spectators, new directions. The weakness of the festival is its dependence on the financial support of the state and the city, we have not succeeded in finding business sector sponsors. One of the strengths of the festival is that it tries to mediate the communication among artists – participants of the festival; the artists can stay also longer not only for the duration of the festival. The relation with media is not ideal, the media as if did not understand the festival, the next generation might be more approachable.
Tiago Bartolomeu Costa, theatre critic, Portugal:
In regards to media it is important to realize a difference between the promotion of the theatre and the ability to be a link between festivals and the audience. The work with the audience is very important because sometimes the spectator does not understand the meaning of the performance. Therefore the media are very necessary - not only to promote the events but also to communicate the intentions of the events with the public.
There are many diverse festivals in Portugal, however, almost all of them are focused on the single effect during the festival and their all year round activities are not visible - it is also the reason why they do not have the reputation in front of the public.
We should ask not only what benefits can a festival produce in a city or in a country but what sort of ‘disadvantages’ can it bring to the public, to the artists and to the context. Especially because reception also depends from that division since the market niches tend towards a more productive dialogue, and hypothetically, towards the evolution of the festival-object-spectator relation.
Portugal has, according to data supplied by the Arts Institute/Ministry for Culture, 39 festivals during the year including, among some others, children, adults, puppetry, experimental, live art, comedia dell’arte, and dance festivals. But the perceptible plurality that this figure indicates, a reality filled with cultural offer, does not correspond to a regular programming. Many of the festivals depend entirely of governmental funding that in years of financial crisis, such has the last ones, forces a profound revision of selection criteria that obviously makes the proposals reception difficult.
Festivals can give a false impression of artistic riches. Is urgent need to reflect theway in which festivals include themselves in a reality that is already fragile.
Tiago Bartolomeu Costa participated in Divadelná Nitra 05 with the financial support of the Instituto Camões ( Portugal).
Nikolay Iordanov, International Theatre Festival Varna Summer, Bulgary
Bulgaria is on the periphery of Europe, it has been isolated from cultural activities in Europe for a long time and it is characterized by a low economic standard. The change took place 15 years ago and Varna Summer Festival tries to break through the seclusion. The festival has several priorities:
- to provide a survey of Bulgarian culture
- to present regional cultural activities
- to offer the Bulgarian public new, non-traditional works of art from abroad
- in addition to artistic activities it accentuates the social dimension – for example when it presents activities of minorities, educates the audience and so on.
In regards to media it is necessary to say that the public in Bulgaria understands new artistic tendencies more than the media, it is more open than the media though the media should be a link between theatre production and the audience.
Sylvia Huszár, The Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute, Hungary
What are the objectives to organise international festivals?
a) to create a forum to analyse, evaluate and confront the home events and
general theatre status,
b) to create the space for the exploration of the knowledge and experience from
the side of experts as well as the audience. Because foreign participants visit
festivals they become a mirror to a national theatre production.
c) to become a space for the international theatre market, they measure a degree
of national production, its values, its sale value on the real international market
d) to become a media event;
e) to create a space for the dialogue, among theatre experts and broadly among
spectators, politicians, and sponsors.
f) to educate its audience so that it would be able to accept a new thinking, new
tendencies.
There is no such theatre festival with the focus on international performances in Hungary like the Divadelna Nitra. There are national festivals of smaller forms according to genre division and so-called “elite” festivals of the city of Budapest. Festivals in Hungary are financed mainly by local public administration, local sponsors and of course the budgets is completed by state funds, international sources and grants (IVF, Culture 2000) and also by other grant schemes. It is, however, paradoxical that the national grant system called National Culture Fund (NKA) does not support such purposes, the only thing it does is that the established state theatres that come up with the initiative to organise a festival have the funds raised, of course only if they ask for the money in advance. It means that the bigger amounts of money are crumbled into smaller ones.
Chantal Boiron, UBU: European Stages, France
The culture landscape that is created after some time around each festival is very different and conditions the festival itself and its programme structure. The audience in any city whether it is Avignon, Nitra or Montreal is prepared to accept the performance differently and does not demand always the same.
In case of the Avignon festival the influence of its founder and a long-term director Jean Vilar is very apparent. It influences mainly the selection of the programme. After some time under his influence a specific audience has been formed. The festival affects strongly the city where it takes place and other services that assist during the organisation of the festival. The public power is not always an example of positive influence, it affects the festival programme and festival directors have a difficult role - , on the one ha nd they have to be very resistant or on the other hand they have to compromise a lot. Is it important to respond to the expectations of an audience or to create a new set of expectations.
Tilmann Broszat, Spielart Theatre Festival, Germany
The communication in theatre is more important than education. What is unique to the theatre is the one to one relationship between the actor and the public. The artist is truly in the centre of the programme, a programme where the artistic action starts not with a text but from a “white sheet of paper”.
The beginning of he festival Spielart were marked by the doubts critics had whether what the festival presents was a real theatre. It is because the festival presents mostly non-dramatic projects – in the content and the form. It is especially necessary to find a common language for this type ofproductions but also between theatre and the media that are lacks of communication. Journalists describing dramatic work use a language that is different from the language used in non-dramatic theatre and it is a very delicate thing how to find a common language. In spite of that the festival does not have a problem with publicity before the festival and also after it.
DISSCUSSION:
Hana Beranová, Slovak Radio, Slovakia
Are the theatre professionals aware of what the position of the media is and what the publishers require? The publishers give the readers what they want – tabloids and not the professional reflections.
Chantal Boiron, UBU journal, France
I think that there are good printed media in France, good professionals and though there is not enough space for the professional reflections in the press if it is a quality production the press certainly writes about it.
Tiago Bartolomeu, Costa, Portugal
After 1974 when the revolution finished a 40-year- dictatorship all printed media had their culture page. It lasted until the beginning of the nineties. The critiques played an important role in the communication between new theatre production and the public. At present the situation is, however, rather worse in the media, the television and radio do not pay almost any attention to theatre occasionally the dailies and weeklies write about it, there is only one professional theatre journal.
Tilmann Broszat, Spielart Theatre Festival, Germany
There are a lot of independent newspapers in Germany, but there have been more and more political topics in the cultural pages and less and less space for theatre critiques.
Rose Fenton, FIT moderator
It is similar in the British press, in addition to it there is a celebrity cult. A number of younger increasingly frustrated by a situation where there is less and less space for serious debate and discussion, have and set up on the web Theatre voice, where in depth discussions and interviews with artists, directors, festival and venue directors are posted, and listened to
Darina Kárová, Divadelná Nitra Festival, Slovakia
The media in Slovakia are more interested in the awards ceremony that takes place in the first day of the festival than in the festival itself. Similarly there isa certain celebrity cult – of the Slovak ones.
Pavel Štorek, Festival 4+4 Days in Motion, Czech Republic
If there is something that functions well, it is the Czech Radio. The professional journals have been gradually liquidated by the decreasing support from the public sources.
Sergey Tereshin, Russia
There are several newspapers with the enormous print issues for the whole Russia including the regular information on the theatre life. There are also some professional journals but with a small number of print issues and impact. It works similarly for the media in regions. Television has the biggest impact on the public, it provides the public with the sufficient number of information about theatre. Unfortunately, the newspapers write not only about the quality production but also about the production whose promotion was paid for in the print media regardless its quality. The reader though does not a possibility to differentiate whether the information has been paid for or its the real reflection motivated by the production quality.
Rose Fenton, FIT moderator, Great Britain
Journalists and critics have a great responsibility for the mediation of contacts between the festivals, productions, and the public.
What is the role of festivals? Is it to be focused on artists or on the public? Is a spectator willing to take a risk and visit a nontraditional performance?
A response from the public
A festival is an excellent opportunity to acquire in a short span of time a good survey of trends in culture and theatre.
Ladislav Čavojský, theatre theoretician and critic, Slovakia
The essential weakness of the Divadelna Nitra Festival is that there is no mutual confrontation among artists, the theatre world is closed. In connection with the audience of the festival – there are many experts, students but few people of the Nitra public.
Sergey Tereshin, Russia
There are tens of festivals in Russia but those most important take place in Moscow and Sankt Petersburg. The theatre groups only come to these festivals, they perform, however, they do not communicate. In regions the situation is completely different, the artist there have the opportunity to see also their colleagues from other companies.
Darina Kárová, Divadelná Nitra Festival, Slovakia
The companies that come to the Divadelna Nitra Festival are here for two or four days. Slovak theatre groups however even do not use the possibility to see performances of their colleagues.
There are about 115 events going on during the festival, 20 of them in the main programme. The festival does not want give up its vision of the performed production just because the public taste is different. It wants to bring new tools, new expressions, new ideas, it wants to provoke.
Tiago Bartolomeu Costa, Portugal
It is a question if the festivals are a message of personal ambitions of the artists or the communication between the convention and innovation. Not all stage productions have to be necessarily understood immediately. Therefore the communication among festivals and the public is very important. Should not be the programming of the festivals also considered an art?
Rose Fenton, FIT moderator, Great Britain
Each festival should makes its intentions and artistic agenda clear. The programming and curation of the Festival programme is in itself an artistic act.
Chantal Boiron, UBU journal, France
Festivals are really an artistic production and their organisers are in danger and they often take a risk, however, inevitably, because the responses of the public cannot always be anticipated in advance. But it is good to take a risk because the festival should be a moving engine of the artistic creation.
Zuzana Hlavenková – Bakošová, theatre critic and theoretician, Slovakia
Darina Karova has been exceptionally courageous every year and it is visible how this city has become more and more cultivated every year. It is important to understand that theatre is a marginal art. The preparation of the festival is a gentle work, but its result is, in case of the Divadelna Nitra, that today none speaks about Nitra as about the city of regional theatre.
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