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The federation of theatre institutions on Friday called for the deputy minister of culture Vasiliki Kassianidou, and her permanent secretary to resign from their posts, urging the president to interfere so as to save the arts.<\/p>\n
In a letter to President Nikos Christodoulides, the federation warned theaters were at risk of shutting down and dozens of artists would be homeless.<\/p>\n
It said the cause were the results of the Thymeli 2024 funding scheme for the first half of the year, calling it destructive to the arts, and consequently led to \u201cthe oldest theatre groups in Cyprus deciding to suspend all their activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the uproar, the deputy ministry said issues surrounding the funding would be put to public consultation in February so as to find a solution.<\/p>\n
In a statement, it highlighted it \u201cfully understands the need for more support for all sectors related to culture \u2013 and of course the theatre sector \u2013 and is working systematically in this direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the existing means and resources at its disposal, the ministry tries support as many theatrical productions as possible from as many institutions as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n
The federation said it had written to the president on September 28, without receiving a response. Itdetailed that although the finance ministry had agreed to a 30 per cent increase in the funds available for theatre, the federation repeatedly warned the plan would be \u201cdestructive for the entire theatre community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter adds that the deputy culture ministry however \u201cwas obsessed in implementing it\u201d and during a House education committee, the permanent secretary assured there was no risk for the viability of theatre.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe results, however, lead both theatres to immediate closure and dozens of artists and other theatre workers to unemployment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ministry specified that the Themeli scheme for the first six months of next year designated around \u20ac654,000 to fund professional theatrical productions, compared to \u20ac570,000 allocated in the corresponding period of 2023.<\/p>\n
This corresponds to a 15 per cent increase, it added.<\/p>\n
\u201cA corresponding amount will be allocated through an evaluation process in the second half of 2024, allocation a total amount of \u20ac1.3 million to the Cypriot theatre in 2024 for some sponsorship of performances\u201d.<\/p>\n
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The federation of theatre institutions is calling for the resignation of the deputy minister of culture and her permanent secretary. They claim that the Thymeli 2024 funding scheme has been destructive to the arts and has led to the suspension of activities by the oldest theatre groups in Cyprus. The federation has written to the president but has not received a response. The deputy ministry has stated that they understand the need for more support for the theatre sector and are working towards it. The ministry has allocated an increased amount of funding for professional theatrical productions in the first half of next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,224,225,193,120,226,31,227],"class_list":["post-849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-cyprus","tag-deputy-culture-minister","tag-deputy-minister-of-culture","tag-nikos-christodoulides","tag-picks4","tag-theatre","tag-unemployment","tag-vasiliki-kassianidou"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n