2024-07-18 18:25:12
The Moravian Theater Olomouc and the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc are due to merge from next year due to financial savings. While the theater workers are said to disagree on the change, the philharmonic unions are against it. “It doesn’t matter what the legal form of the institution will be, the important thing is that people will come,” said theater director and merger process manager David Gerneš this Wednesday at the Colors of Ostrava festival.
The local council finally approved the merger of the two contributory organizations of the regional capital in June of this year, mainly due to economic savings. The recommendation to merge the institution resulted from an analysis the city commissioned. However, not all representatives agree with the upcoming change. For a long time, Markéta Záleská from the opposition Spolu, for example, has objected to it, calling it ill-prepared and unsupported by data.
According to the Moravian Theater Olomouc, to which the property and rights of the original institutions will be transferred, it is de facto only a merger at the operational level. It is said that he will not touch artistic bodies as such. “In the form in which it is proposed, it more or less means the merging of administrative and technical departments, i.e. accounting offices, artistic operations, marketing and building management, while the autonomy of the artistic components will be preserved,” says theater spokesperson Pavlína Dočkalová. “The Moravian Theater Olomouc understands the planned merger as the result of long-term financial instability of both important cultural institutions in the city,” he adds.
The Philharmonic sees it differently. “We welcome all kinds of synergies between organizations that can be used to operate more economically, and we will help to implement them without the philharmonic having to lose its autonomy and leadership. But the managing deputy does not really want that, his only goal is to complete the process of abolishing the autonomous philharmonic at any cost ,” worries Vojtěch Pospíšil, chairman of the Trade Union Club of the Autonomous Philharmonic. He adds that nothing will be saved on the contribution of the founder – i.e. the city – and that the council is currently arguing only about an “imaginary” increase in internal efficiency.
The Moravian Philharmonic has been operating in buildings managed by the Moravian Theater for years. According to Pospíšil, this is not an argument for their merger. “The management of the building and the costs of its maintenance have been set this way for decades, and there has never been any problem either in the budgeting process between the city and the two institutions, or in the management and maintenance of the property itself. Also in other cities, there are art organizations in buildings that are managed by another city organizations and they work,” he thinks, and considers the whole thing “arrogance of power”.
Philharmonic players also argue with historical tradition. It is the second oldest symphony orchestra in the country, founded in 1945. Its members also fear a decline in quality, as some Czech and foreign artists have already left the ensemble due to the uncertain situation. The symphony orchestra thus organizes protest events – for example, it initiated a concert in a popular summer cinema or placed red pianos in the city center, which are also petition stands against the merger. He also founded the initiative Save the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc.
Gerneš: We only see the worst case scenario
According to the current director of the Moravian Theater in Olomouc and the manager of the merger process, David Gerneš, there is a need for flexible and long-term financed cultural institutions. He said this at the debate hosted by the Meltingpot debate forum this Wednesday at the Colors of Ostrava festival. According to him, funding must also be predictable, which eliminates the arguments of regions and cities about why they cannot give money to large cultural institutions.
Gerneš adds with exaggeration that the performance of part of the theater’s opera ensemble is proof of the need for flexible institutions. His intervention unexpectedly disrupts the Ostrava debate. In addition to Gerneš, the director of the National Theater Jan Burian, the head of the Prague Municipal Library Tomáš Řehák and the Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvořák from the STAN movement are participating.
During the panel, Gerneš also mentions that he welcomes the law on public cultural institutions approved this year. These are to replace the existing contributory organizations with institutions that can be founded, for example, by two municipalities and financed from multiple sources. In addition, the director should be appointed by the board of directors, not directly established, which should contribute to the depoliticization of institutions. “When they are financed from several sources, it will be beneficial, because they will not depend on how the mayor or the deputy for culture sleeps, but the region will also have a say in it,” believes Gerneš. According to him, the change will also contribute to greater stability.
The debate at Colors of Ostrava was unexpectedly interrupted by the ensemble of the Moravian Theater Olomouc. According to David Gerneš, a demonstration of why we need flexible cultural institutions. | Photo: Jiří Zerzoň
As a representative of the younger generation of theater management, the thirty-three-year-old Gerneš sees his role in the fact that he wants to build on his predecessors and in a few years hand over the institution in a better state than in which he took it over. According to him, the path to this leads precisely through the courage to make changes – including amending the institution’s legal status. “As a society, we are incredibly afraid of them, which can be seen in every sector from education and health to administration. We don’t want to see opportunities, instead we always see only the worst possible scenario. Then we say that this scenario is why it can’t be done, so we prefer we won’t do anything,” he says.
According to him, the task of the upcoming generation is to stop being afraid of changes, to think about them and actually do them. “We can show that changing the legal form of a cultural institution or adapting its activities to demand, which changes with time, does not mean that we have lost the given institution. It is important that even in 50 years, drama, opera, ballet will still be attended in Olomouc and a symphony orchestra. It doesn’t matter what legal form it takes, whether it will be one, two or ten institutions. The important thing is that it will uplift and communicate with the audience,” he believes.
He wants to be a “super-director”, criticize the trade unions
Philharmonic unions accuse Gerneš of profiteering. “The current director of the theater aspires to the position of super-director of the united organizations and manages to sway some key trade union representatives skilfully. Therefore, unlike the Philharmonic, the theater people are not readable and united,” believes Vojtěch Pospíšil. According to him, this is the reason why, unlike the philharmonic, the theater artists do not oppose the upcoming change. Gerneš wants to keep his position at all costs, and “so in the role of manager of the connection, he leads the whole process as unconceptually and chaotically as the political representation he is trying to please”, argues Pospíšil.
The Philharmonic as such was not approached by the city to participate in the selection process for the director of the successor organization. The council offered this option to trade unions, but they rejected it. In a press release, the unions stated that this would legitimize a process with which they do not agree. According to them, this is not a selection process for the director of a new organization, but “a renamed theater, which will also include the employees of the abolished Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc”.
David Gerneš (left) and Jan Burian discuss the role of cultural institutions at Colors of Ostrava. The debate was organized by the Association of Professional Theaters of the Czech Republic. | Photo: Jiří Zerzoň
The current director of the Moravian Philharmonic in Olomouc, Jonáš Harman, does not comment on the situation as harshly as the employee representatives, but he also has certain reservations. He mentions that the actual demise of the Philharmonic is not a scenario he would have voluntarily chosen, but that he understands the founder’s original intent regarding long-term and conceptual funding. However, he personally perceives the risks related especially to the set deadlines – the merger is to take place at the beginning of next year – and now, according to him, the benefits outweigh the benefits.
In addition, according to Harman, the current model does not address the original goals. He mentions that the city has not specifically quantified the internal savings on shared services. According to him, the whole plan also lacks any positive goal. “Something along the lines of: ‘We have to do this in order to subsequently be able to have a new concert hall of European parameters in Olomouc in 10 years, and the first step after this institutional merger will be to start work on it.’ Or: ‘We need to do this reform so that the new institution is able to offer employees such a salary evaluation that will be competitive with other areas and we will stop being at the bottom of the salary table’,” he gives examples. According to him, in the current form of the planned change, all streamlining could also take place on the floor plan of two separate institutions.
He is said to communicate regularly with employees and both trade unions. “I am quite keenly aware of their concerns, which relate in particular to the uncertainty regarding the preservation of jobs or changes in job classification, job description and in the administration of applied work processes and standards. In the medium term, the fear of the “salami method” probably resonates the most. For orchestras, the threat of their de facto merging into one smaller, creeping backstage of the activities and specifics of the philharmonic and its activities by the administration. To be honest, I completely understand all these concerns and feel many of them as well,” continues Harman.
Even the spokesperson of the Moravian Theater admits that some employees have doubts about the merger of the institutions, even if they are not as pronounced as with the Philharmonic. “There are long debates about the merger in the theater, there are also concerns and dissenting opinions, but in general the employees take it as a fact and the decision of the founder. They mostly agree that the best needs to be done to make the new institution work as best as possible she just can, and she ideally improved working conditions for everyone,” he says.
The Philharmonic, meanwhile, is still hoping to reverse the fall merger. “Given how the whole process is built on unpreparedness, chaos, factual emptiness and ill will, our only chance is to remain consistent in our positions and continue to try to stop the whole process in the fall. And if that doesn’t work, then fight in the same way continue with the goal of saving the Philharmonic immediately after the elections,” Vojtěch Pospíšil from the trade union club of the Philharmonic bets on a change in the council.
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