Last October, three of the five members of the Board Bitefa they submitted their resignations, so at the session on December 22, the City Assembly appointed new Board.
Their members are: playwright and recent director of the National Theater in Niš, Spasoje Ž. Milovanović, who was elected president of the Bitef Board instead of Svetozar Cvetković, who resigned, Uroš Mijatović and Bitef theater director Miloš Latinović, who replaced Borka Golubović and Đorđe Kosić, who also resigned as members of the previous Board, while Ana Veljković and Srđan Obrenović remained from the previous convocation.
Associate Artistic Director
Since their appointment, they have already had five sessions, trying to create the program of this year's Bitef in accordance with the change in the Decision on Permanent Manifestations and the latest Bitef Rules.
Namely, according to the Decision on Amendments and Supplements to the Decision on permanent manifestations in the field of culture of importance for the city of Belgrade, which was passed in May last year, those manifestations no longer have artistic directors. The program of the manifestation is determined by the Board, with the fact that, if necessary, it can propose collaborators who will propose the program to the Board. The event, therefore, cannot have an artistic director, but it can have collaborators who will do the same things as the artistic director would do.
The voted Decision was initially interpreted positively by the public, as giving autonomy to the Board.
Medaković advocates for the return of the art director
Respecting all that, the new Bitef Board started working on the most demanding part of organizing an international festival - creating the program.
Photo: Private archiveJelena Medakovic
A note is needed at this point: Jelena Medakovic, secretary for culture of the City of Belgrade, has been advocating for the return of the artistic director since the beginning of her mandate.
"I will try to bring back that necessary institution. All world festivals, exhibitions and events have artistic directors, curators, selectors, editors-in-chief," she told the "Vremena" portal on January 6, and she probably talks about this in every media appearance.
Considering that it is impossible to know when and if this proposal of the Secretary of Culture will be implemented, the Board continued to prepare the program according to the currently valid laws.
Who cares about Andras Urban?
After some time, it was decided to choose an associate who would do the work, and at the suggestion of Spasoj Milovanović, it was unanimously decided that it would be Andraš Urban.
Andraš Urban is one of the best local directors, he is the manager of the theater "Újvidéki Szinház" in Novi Sad and the founder of the international theater festival "Desile Central station", which is considered the second Bitef. The decision to invite Andraš Urban was a good decision by the new Bitef Board.
They forwarded the decision to the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade, and were rejected. It has not yet been announced why, it is just known that it is. As well as whoever decided that Andraš Urban should not cooperate with Bitef.
What are the Boards for?
This latest scandal regarding Bitef is an indication that the Boards do not actually have any autonomy in practice, although the Decision on Permanent Cultural Manifestations allows them to do so. Let us remind you that this is a Decision formed and voted by the Assembly of Belgrade, which is now being violated.
That's why the Bitef Board is at the beginning again - the program selection hasn't even started, and time is running out. Unofficially, we hear that resignations among the members of the Board are also being considered. People will not one day blame themselves for not making Bitef when they are prevented from making it.
