Kairis on the situation at the National Opera a tragedy out of the blue one person does not accept change

"If we think that we will elect the director of an institution in such a way that the commission makes a decision, and then take him to the theater, as if to a gladiatorial arena, so that the audience, in this case employees, put their thumbs up or down, then this is unfortunate," - says Minister of Culture Simonas Kairis about the possibility of involving workers in the process of electing the head of the LNTOB He says that he has not met disgruntled employees himself and does not plan to do so at the moment, waiting for emotions to subside.

Throughout February, state theaters were on edge A new head of the lithuanian national opera and Ballet Theater (LNOBT) has been chosen, but the competition is accompanied by dissatisfaction among the staff.

Some of them say they don't want Laima Vilimene to take over, organize speeches in support of the current leadership and raise questions about the transparency of the competition - In the program "Week of Culture", musicologist Jurate Katinaitė, analyzing the situation with the choice of the head of the LNOBT, said that this choice was influenced by "some reasons that are not spoken about aloud.

" Mr Minister, could you name these reasons? - I would say that it is absurd to look for clues when it comes to the work of the commission and the evaluation of candidates.

The commission, returning after the evaluation, was delighted that it had turned out a wonderful competition The jury felt that they were choosing the head of a national institution of culture and art.

In other words, the level of competition was good When all the votes of the jury members were summed up, Laima Vilimene's program was the strongest, scoring the most points, both according to the written program and according to the results of the interview.

The commission left no doubt, and one should not think that the numbers after the decimal point were the cause; everything was perfectly clear The current leader took second place.

- Can you say with certainty that Sakalauskas took second, not fifth or sixth place? - I don't know if I can tell But I can say that everyone wants to get information, especially people from the theater, and the theater, of course, knows a lot, because it sent its observers to the competition, one from the artistic council and one from the trade union.

What is happening now is a kind of spectacle The Commission's assessment is based on future plans.

There is always a chance that the current director will not win the competition It sounds strange when you are judged as if the rules of the game are unknown.

Strange, that critics of the competition do not know the conditions, the length of the term of office, the process after the end of the term It should be clarified that we are not talking about the dismissal of the current leader, but about the end of his term of office.

If we say that we must evaluate what has been done before, or evaluate a candidate differently when he is the current leader, because he was prevented by a pandemic, war, whatever, then we are violating legal principles, as well as a level playing field After all, we immediately give one candidate an additional advantage.

- It is worrying that there are no clearer answers to the question that the Vilimene program proposed for the next five years is better than, for example, the Sakalauskas program? With regard to programs, there is a lack of clarity, specificity, and transparency - Candidate programs can no longer be posted on social networks or anywhere else for everyone to judge, because it is about the right [to privacy] of each candidate.

As far as I heard from the members of the Commission, Ms Vilimene's program was distinguished by certainty, integrity, and versatility.

We can talk about the winning candidate's program The losing candidate has his own path, his own audience, his own versions, and his own program highlights.

I'm not sure I can go into detail about his program I really appreciate Sakalauskas and his work, but the competition was what it was.

If Mr Sakalauskas won the competition and someone filed a complaint, I would defend him and the program in the same way that I defend the Vilimene program.

- One of the criticisms about the organization is that there was not a single person on the jury, who would represent the theater workers; they were, as you said, just observers Could such noise and reaction be an incentive to take into account and involve the employees themselves in the decision-making process? - When we formed the commission, we made sure that its members did not have any relations with the LNOBT, so that there was maximum objectivity, and now they tell me that there should be an employee or some kind of representative.

If we think that we will elect the director of an institution in such a way that the commission makes a decision, and then take him to the theater, as to a gladiatorial arena, so that the audience, in this case employees, can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down, then this is unfortunate .

- But if it's just one person in the commission? - And you have guarantees? We know well from experience that, for example, a person interested in a good candidate, may intentionally give someone a low score We have had such situations.

It's just a matter of looking at the commission itself, to be free and objective, to make the best decision and find the best candidate As for what the staff expects.

Now it's about how well the director performed and how employees want him to continue to work as a director If we really want change and want to involve staff, then we can have discussions, internal staff surveys, research.

But in this case, we make a huge mistake - we become attached to the person and the expired term of office and think about what could have been - Mr.

Minister, have you met with the workers? - No I received a lot of messages from both camps, got a lot of information about how signatures were collected (petitions of LNOBT employees - LRT.

Lt) I Just Know More

This knowledge allows me to anticipate the situation and think about how we can calm down and start talking about a smooth change of leadership I would like to see more discussions in the public sphere.

We are now in a more reactive position, but we are an institution that cannot begin to speak out on every detail Let me remind you that Ms.

Vilimene must be tested in other institutions (the suitability of the person who won the competition for the position of the head of the institution is checked by law enforcement agencies - LRT lt) and complete work at her current place.

Of course, we will meet, but I think that the emphasis is not on that: if the meeting helps to relieve tension and start thinking in a common direction, that would be very encouraging, but emotions must be supplemented with facts, and information that is distorted must be corrected - But meeting with staff can help.

There is currently a conflict and it looks like a mediator will be needed Perhaps your intervention is required? - This does not mean that there is no communication.

The Deputy Minister is in charge of the professional performing arts, and she has met with the most actively disgruntled workers We will also meet with them.

- More recently, Audronis Luga's reflections on the head of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater and the reforms he is preparing have appeared Luga says that Martynas Budraitis is creating a precedent that, having come with one team, with one proposal, he is now in the middle of his term changing the program together with the artistic director.

What do you think of this situation? - Life itself sometimes corrects the program and expectations The pandemic, the war, the attitude towards Russian culture are issues that change the rules of the game.

I don't think the program can be definitively determined Of course, Lugi's question is a good one, but it needs more discussion.

If I felt that the director, in this case M Budraitis, made a decision that would cause everything to collapse and fall apart, [I would be worried], but now I feel the opposite - there is an alternative of three young directors, they will try to paint the future theater in its own way.

If I saw that the manager got rid of the employees who were against him, that would be one thing, but I see an alternative He takes on a lot of risk and responsibility.

If there was no alternative, I would have to have a serious talk with the manager, because just throwing people out is unacceptable These people are not just in positions, they are established artists, they are famous, they are important, and I would not want these decisions to mean that the stage is closed for them.

My principled position is that the theater should be open for their work Mr.

Lugi's idea is important, and I will turn to the responsible departments, which could formulate as one of the criteria for evaluating the leader how much the work performed corresponds to his original program I recognize that we need to strengthen this issue.

If the program has changed for objective reasons, this is fine, but if there are signs that are not good, this should also be reflected in the manager's assessment However, it will not be good if politicians start opening the door to every theater with their feet.

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