Having
just returned from a 4 day research trip to Budapest, Hungary, which included
the KaraokeEurope symposium I was inspired and shocked in equal measure; inspired by the
commitment and range of extraordinary theatre being made in Hungary and shocked
by the devastation being wrought on the culture sector by the present government.
I am sure the situation in Hungary is not a lone one but it makes for a
genuinely alarming case in modern-day Europe. http://www.KaraokeEurope.eu/aktualne.html
Of
course acknowledging the depth of the global recession goes some way toward
explaining some of the present situation, but it appears the government is bent
on taking action to censor diverse and dissenting voices from the cultural
sector as an unspoken matter of policy, with recession as the smokescreen of justification.
A
country rich in cultural heritage which can rightly boast of poets, composers, novelists,
theatre and film makers: Liszt and Madach and Lehar and Miklos Jancso and on and on; whose work transcends generations and national
borders. But with the current devastation of the cultural and theatre sector there
what next for this wonderful place?
It is
clear the culture provision and theatre sector risks being seriously damaged.
Why? Firstly I need to establish 2 keys issues which condition the way the
entire theatre sector operates in Hungary: i) there is only 1 fund that
supports the arts in Hungary, The National Cultural Fund (NCF),
this fund resides with central government decision making; ii) many of the
senior Directorships of the major arts institutions in Hungary are ratified by
the national or City government.
Under
the extreme right wing leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orban the government is playing a major role in the constructive destruction of a
vibrant independent theatre movement and allows major cultural institutions to
operate without effective artistic leadership as a method of minimising a
plurality views. This seems particularly true if the theatre organisation, as
most do, seek a libertarian imaginative dialogue between artists and audiences.
So to
establish the current position, as I see it, Hungary and Budapest in particular
has had a vibrant committed and adventurous independent theatre movement which
works alongside a mainstream National Theatre, Opera House and other
classically based producing and receiving venues. In 2011 the government cut
the NCF budget by 1/3. In 2012 the NCF invited applications for this year’s
funding in May and announced decisions in September. The financial year in
Hungary works from January to December. To date not 1 single forint has been
paid to any of the successful applicants, with 1 month to go before the end of
their financial year. So budgets slashed in 2011 and in 2012 with 1 month remaining
theatres are closing month by month or struggling to survive at best. This is a
government scandal.
Set
this against the background of a resurgent extreme political right wing, whose
support has enabled the first Budapest theatre to appoint an openly Fascist anti-Semite, Gyorgy Dorner to the Uj Szinhaz, this very year, and the picture looks even
bleaker.
A move
by the Orbán led government in 2011 withdrew the entire public sector pension
scheme to put the funds to other use. Wholesale, 100%, in one go. Directors,
writers, and actors, who had been fortunate enough to secure sufficient work to
hold a pension, now face short-term crisis and long-term penury.
The NationalTheatre in Budapest is currently tendering a new Artistic Director. The recruitment process goes
something like this. An ‘independent’
panel of 4 external arts experts sit on a recruitment panel of 7. The 4
external experts are appointed by the governments Cultural Advisor, who has
publicly declared his interest in applying for the post, to which he appoints
the majority of the recruitment panel. Vested interest anyone? So let’s see who
wins the job.
Meanwhile
the independent theatre sector faces annihilation through cuts and is
destabilised by political bungling. The research visit introduced me to some
remarkable theatres, companies and artists.
Trafo Hungary’s only dedicated
centre for contemporary arts waiting for the City government appointment of a Director, and effectively operating
without a leader for the past 12 months.
The
highly regarded PanoDrama whose work tells the story of Hungary’s most
marginalised community in their own words verbatim, the Roma gypsy. Facing an
uncertain future with an annual award cut to 6000Euros in 2011, the average
income in Hungary is 4800Euros. How will they survive? http://www.trafo.hu/en-US/search?list_index=10&q=panodrama
Or KrÉTAKÖR whose work with theatre and
new media excites and actively engages with young audiences, Roma, refugee
communities and schools under fire from a right-wing backlash.
Or
independent artists and small creative collectives such as Balázs Simon and his
group UtcaSzak who
take Commedia and street performance to rural settings to entertain Roma and homeless children
and families.
Committed, important work which seeks to address
current stories, engage diverse communities, participants and audiences in
creative dialogue about urgent themes, which would otherwise go unspoken – at
risk of being silenced by the reactionary right-wing.
Tales of companies reaching opening night having developed, rehearsed and promoted the performance, only to have to cancel because they
can’t afford to turn the lights on onstage abound.
This scandalous situation is urgent. In modern
Europe which speaks of a need "to invest more in its cultural and creative sectors because they significantly contribute to economic growth, employment, innovation and social cohesion. Creative Europe will safegaurd and promote cultural and linguistic diversity and strengthen the competitiveness of the cultural and creative sectors." Hungary's government is aiming headlong toward a cultural wasteland of its own making, completely counter to the civil liberties and values of wider Europe. http://ec.europa.eu/culture/creative-europe/index_en.htm
With thanks Grundtvig for supporting the 'preparatory visit' and the many
artists and companies who so warmly and openly shared their practice, plight
and stories and in particular the wonderful Alexandra Gräff
(The Fixer and
friend).
FOOTNOTE
What can be done?
Some public show of common solidarity of support from the wider arts community would be a start;
Expose the scandal;
and for me. for what it's worth, a determination to find ways of collaborating with these astonishing artists and companies in the slim hope that from the slum of this desperate situation theatre will prevail.
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