Municipal Theatre: High drama with the Artistic Director
theatre
04 Jan 2018
/ 14:50
CORFU. It is over a year now since the beginning of the procedure to appoint an artistic director for the Municipal Theatre.
The position became vacant in 2015, when the tenure of the previous director, Petros Gallias, ended, and it was considered a priority for a new director to be found. To this end, at the end of 2016 internal regulations were altered to include the appointment procedure. In March, the Ministry of the Interior asked all the regional municipal theatres to submit their needs. There was a regulation suspending recruitment in the public sector and so Corfu Municipal Theatre had to wait until the time came for the position to be filled. The theatre president at that time, Stefanos Kipriotis, told Enimerosi that he was confident that the position would be filled by June 2017.
The job qualifications
However, the procedure involving the responsible ministries, local authorities etc. in fact took much longer. So here we are today, 4th January 2018, and on page 14 of Enimerosi newspaper we can see an advertisement for the position of artistic director. It is worth mentioning at this point that the lack of an artistic director was one of the reasons that led the Ministry of Culture to exclude Corfu from its funding programme for 2017.
Things are far from over, however. The qualifications which are legally required for the position are such that it will be difficult to find someone with an artistic background who can fulfil them, we are told by those in the know. Apart from having to have been professionally involved in the theatre, the candidate has to have proven administrative abilities as well as knowledge of English and computers.
The deadline for the submission of applications is 30th January. Following that, the next stages are the submission of any objections, verifying the candidates’ qualifications and then interviews. Sources at the theatre have told us they are confident that by March 2018 the municipal theatre will have an artistic director.
Just the beginning
However, this isn’t enough to solve all the problems it has been facing over the last few years. There are several issues that need to be dealt with before it can be considered a proper regional theatre – for example, exclusive ownership of the building (its use is shared with others), employment of professional actors, making productions in Corfu that can tour in other parts of Greece etc.
Whether or not there will be funding from the Ministry of Culture this year is not so important on a financial level – the amounts are considerably less than they were (30,000-40,000 Euros approx.). On a symbolic level, however, exclusion from funding from the state coffers would be a hard blow. Nevertheless, the theatre maintains that a large proportion of their artistic needs are covered by European funding and in the past there has been a good take up of these funds.
Following the successful ICE programme, thanks to which several artistic productions were put on, the municipal theatre is now participating in two cross-border programmes. One is Greece-Albania, where Corfu is collaborating with the Municipality of Phoinike and the other is Greece-Italy, in collaboration with Teatro Pubblico Pulieze and Opera Petruzzelli in Bari.
The job qualifications
However, the procedure involving the responsible ministries, local authorities etc. in fact took much longer. So here we are today, 4th January 2018, and on page 14 of Enimerosi newspaper we can see an advertisement for the position of artistic director. It is worth mentioning at this point that the lack of an artistic director was one of the reasons that led the Ministry of Culture to exclude Corfu from its funding programme for 2017.
Things are far from over, however. The qualifications which are legally required for the position are such that it will be difficult to find someone with an artistic background who can fulfil them, we are told by those in the know. Apart from having to have been professionally involved in the theatre, the candidate has to have proven administrative abilities as well as knowledge of English and computers.
The deadline for the submission of applications is 30th January. Following that, the next stages are the submission of any objections, verifying the candidates’ qualifications and then interviews. Sources at the theatre have told us they are confident that by March 2018 the municipal theatre will have an artistic director.
Just the beginning
However, this isn’t enough to solve all the problems it has been facing over the last few years. There are several issues that need to be dealt with before it can be considered a proper regional theatre – for example, exclusive ownership of the building (its use is shared with others), employment of professional actors, making productions in Corfu that can tour in other parts of Greece etc.
Whether or not there will be funding from the Ministry of Culture this year is not so important on a financial level – the amounts are considerably less than they were (30,000-40,000 Euros approx.). On a symbolic level, however, exclusion from funding from the state coffers would be a hard blow. Nevertheless, the theatre maintains that a large proportion of their artistic needs are covered by European funding and in the past there has been a good take up of these funds.
Following the successful ICE programme, thanks to which several artistic productions were put on, the municipal theatre is now participating in two cross-border programmes. One is Greece-Albania, where Corfu is collaborating with the Municipality of Phoinike and the other is Greece-Italy, in collaboration with Teatro Pubblico Pulieze and Opera Petruzzelli in Bari.
