“On Monday, the Government and the Municipality of Budapest concluded an agreement in the interests of assuring the operation of Budapest theatres. The agreement is valid until 31 December 2024”, it was announced in a joint statement by Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás and Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony.
According to the agreement, from 2020 the Municipality of Budapest will be financing the operations of the Katona József, Radnóti, Örkény and Trafó theatres without government funding, and the Municipal Council will decide independently on the appointment of their directors. The József Attila, Madách, Új Színház and Vígszínház theatres will continue to be maintained by the Municipality of Budapest, but their operations will be exclusively assured by the Government, the statement reads.
The Government agrees to only appoint a director to head the Vígszínház with the agreement of the Mayor of Budapest until the end of 2024, while the Municipality agrees that the Thália Theatre will be owned and maintained by the state in a similar manner to the Operetta Theatre, in such a manner that the Government will be purchasing the building and the business that operates the theatre from the Municipality of Budapest in a separate contract. With regard to open-air theatres, the agreement reinforces the fact that the Margaret Island Open-Air Theatre will be an independent theatre, the operations of which will be provided for by the Government, while its director will be appointed by the Minister of Human Capacities, the statement continues.
The state funding for independent Budapest theatres will be distributed by a separate board of trustees, the members of which will be appointed by the Minister, in agreement with the Mayor of Budapest, and the Minister agrees not to diverge from the recommendations of the board during the awarding of funding.
The statement points out that today, during the current epidemiological state of emergency that has forced theatres, orchestras, theatre companies and the whole performing arts profession to come to a halt and is difficult for theatres, performers, theatre employees and the public alike, the Municipality of Budapest and the Government both regard it as particularly important to jointly assure the secure and calculable operations of theatrical artistic communities, based on artistic freedom.
According to the statement’s summary, during the negotiations the parties were driven by three mutually professed basic principles. Both the Government and the Municipality of Budapest regards Budapest’s diverse theatrical life that provides viewers with a high level of artistic quality as a particularly valuable part of the nation’s culture, and preserving this diversity and the high level of artistic quality is a common goal.
The full enforcement of artistic freedom is also one of the great treasures of Budapest theatre life. Both the Municipality and the Government are committed to fully respecting artistic freedom, the statement reads.
Lastly, the parties were driven by the fundamental goal of maintaining theatrical peace. In the interests of maintaining a peaceful creative environment, the Government and the Municipality of Budapest are making a particular effort to avoid cultural conflict and to preserve the peace among Budapest’s theatres, the statement explains.
The statement also explains that the management of theatres in Budapest is also monitored by supervisory committees. The parties have agreed that the operation of theatres that are exclusively financed by the Municipality of Budapest will be exclusively monitored by supervisor committees with members appointed by the Municipality. Budapest theatres that are exclusively financed by the Government will be monitored by supervisory committees with three members: two appointed by the Metropolitan Assembly, and one appointed by the Minister. The Municipality of Budapest has agreed that if the mandate of one of the supervisory committee members it appointed is terminated, then it will appoint a new member based on the recommendation of the group of councillors that appointed the member whose position has been terminated.
According to the agreement, the Government will also undertake to provide significant financing for theatres companies that do not operate under state maintenance. The Government has no mandate to interfere in the operation of such theatre companies and institutions. Accordingly, the state funding provided to the Budapest Festival Orchestra will be increasingly significantly: the state will be providing 1,65 billion forints (EUR 4.52 million) in funding to the orchestra this year and 2 billion forints-a-year (EUR 5.48 million) between 2021 to 2024, while the Municipality of Budpaest will be providing an annual 240 million forints (EUR 658 thousand) to István Fisher’s company.
Budapest’s Centrál Theatre will be receiving 250 million forints (EUR 685 thousand) in funding from the Government this year, and the Minister will be striving to assure that the level of funding provided to the theatre will remain at a similar level in the upcoming years.
“The five-year agreement may be terminated by either party in case of a serious breach of contract”, is states in the document.
“The Government and the Municipality of Budapest regard it as important to, notwithstanding its existing and future disputes, always strive to achieve cooperation and find a solution to their mutual issues requiring resolving that bears in mind the interests of the people of Budapest”, the statement reads.