Bitef Board: We have created the conditions for this year's Bitef to take place

BITEF Board would be willing to hire Nikita Milivojević and a team of associates of his choice - this is the conclusion of today's (April 5) meeting of the new Bitef Board.

And, it is a sign that the 59th edition of Bitef will still be held.

Another good sign is the constitution of the Board, which was also done at today's meeting. The members are Ana Veljković, Borka Trebješanin, Srđan Obrenović, Đorđe Kosić and Svetozar Cvetković, as president.

As written in the minutes of the meeting signed by Svetozar Cvetković, and which the "Vremena" portal had access to, "the members of the Board stated that there are no legal frameworks in which we could act according to the recommendation made in the letter sent by the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade to the Bitef Theater No. 130/5 dated March 31.3, 2025, according to which 'the Board should make a decision on the person who will be engaged in the preparation and propose to the Bitef Board the program and the conception of Bitef, the conception and supporting program of Bitef, as well as the final program of Bitef".

Therefore, the Board asks the founder, which is the City Assembly, to "as soon as possible provide legal frameworks for the further functioning of the most important theater festival in this part of Europe, including the possibility for the Board to appoint a selector or artistic director of the festival."

This would create the conditions for the smooth realization of the Bitef festival, it is written in the conclusion of the minutes.

It is true that once again everything is up to the City Assembly and its Secretariat for Culture, because of which this year's Bitef was called into question. But, given that the Board has fulfilled its part of the work and proposed to extend the mandate of the current artistic director Nikita Milivojević, it should be expected that the Secretariat for Culture will also do its part. For the benefit of Bitef.