The unfolding saga of a pre-announced upheaval took a critical turn on Thursday with the belated release of the results of the \u201cThymeli Plan\u201d concerning the funding of professional theatrical productions.Theatrical groups have indefinitely suspended all activities, formally calling for immediate and drastic intervention from the President of the Republic. Simultaneously, they demand the resignation of the Deputy Minister and the Director-General of the Ministry of Culture \u201cto prevent the dissolution of professional theatre.\u201dThe Federation of Theatre Organizations in Cyprus emphasizes that, despite assurances received, the results lead both theatres and dozens of artists and other theatre professionals into unemployment.Reactions have been building for months and just a few days ago, two more theatres blamed the Deputy Ministry for their professional \u201csuffocation.\u201dThe Federation published an open letter to President Nikos Christodoulides, stating that after the announcement of the \u201cThymeli Plan 2024\u201d and consultations with the Ministry, they expressed strong disagreement with the plan\u2019s underlying philosophy.Despite pre-election assurances of support, there was no response to their letter dated September 28, 2023.To prevent the dissolution of professional theatre, six theatres, namely Satiriko, Ena, ETHAL, Scala, Dionysos, and Anemona, have collectively decided to indefinitely suspend all their activities.\u201cIn an attempt to overcome the Ministry\u2019s intransigence and after your pre-election assurances of support for our Federation, addressing you in our letter dated September 28, 2023, unfortunately, received no response,\u201d the letter states.Furthermore, the six theatres request the assumption of responsibilities: the resignation of the Deputy Minister of Culture and the Director-General of the Ministry of Culture. They look forward to the President\u2019s intervention to resolve all the financial problems arising from the plan\u2019s results and ensure the uninterrupted operation of the historic theatres.The letter outlines the historical background of the case from the perspective of the affected theatre groups. Despite the Ministry of Finance approving a 30% increase in the available budget for theatrical creation and warnings that the plan would be disastrous for the entire theatrical community, the Ministry of Culture\u2019s persistence led to the matter being taken to the Parliament\u2019s Education Committee.The Federation informed the Committee of its decision not to participate in the application process, citing all the reasons. Eventually, after the General Director of the Ministry of Culture\u2019s plea and assurances that there was no real danger to the sustainability of the theatres, they reluctantly submitted their applications.However, the results have now led both theatres and numerous artists and other theatre workers into unemployment. Theatrical organizations whose productions have been approved must inform the Ministry in writing whether they accept or reject the sponsorship by January 22, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Theatrical groups in Cyprus have suspended all activities and are calling for immediate intervention from the President of the Republic. They are also demanding the resignation of the Deputy Minister and the Director-General of the Ministry of Culture to prevent the dissolution of professional theatre. The Federation of Theatre Organizations in Cyprus believes that the results of the “Thymeli Plan” will lead to unemployment for theatres and theatre professionals. The theatres have published an open letter to the President expressing their disagreement with the plan and stating that their previous letter received no response. They are requesting the President’s intervention to resolve the financial problems and ensure the uninterrupted operation of the theatres. The Ministry of Culture’s persistence in implementing the plan has led to the matter being taken to the Parliament’s Education Committee. The theatres reluctantly submitted their applications, but the results have now caused unemployment for theatres and theatre workers. Theatrical organizations must inform the Ministry whether they accept or reject sponsorship by January 22, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[302,303,3,225,304,148,193,226,114,31],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-art","tag-culture","tag-cyprus","tag-deputy-minister-of-culture","tag-funding","tag-local","tag-nikos-christodoulides","tag-theatre","tag-top-news","tag-unemployment"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n