Culture in Serbia has become one of the key areas of repression against critically oriented individuals and collectives. Cancellations and suspensions of public tenders, non-transparent distribution of funds, dismissals, dismissals, blackmail, party-motivated appointments of managers of public institutions and members of management boards with the aim of disciplining employees... are daily occurrences.
The research "Chronicle of Repression in Culture" conducted in November and December 2025 by the informal platform Community of Arts and Culture (ZUK) among cultural workers, shows that there is a systematic stifling of freedom of creativity and critical thinking, but also a threat to existence and the basic human right to work. The research was conducted in nine cities (Belgrade including Stare Banovce and Lazarevac, Novi Sad, Pančevo, Zaječar, Užice, Leskovac, Kragujevac, Zrenjanin, Smederevo), was anonymous, and almost 40 testimonies were collected. Among them, those from the public sector dominate.
"By recording examples of political retaliation, we assume the role of collective witnesses and strive to ensure that such cases do not sink into oblivion and are not silenced," the report says.
Repression and abuses have been reported in a large number of cultural institutions throughout the country. Among them are the National Theater of Leskovac, the National Theater of Timočka Krajina "Zoran Radmilović" in Zaječar, the Youth Center Pančevo, the Film Center of Serbia, the Stari Banovci Cultural Center, the National Theater in Belgrade, the "Puž" Theater, the Princely-Serbian Theater in Kragujevac, the Lazarevac Cultural Center, the Užice National Theater, the "Studentski Grad" Cultural Center in Belgrade and the Association of Music Artists of Serbia.
The forms and methods of repression are diverse.
PUBLIC COMPETITIONS
The largest number of applications related to problems in the implementation of public tenders, from inadequate decision-making commissions ("competition commissions of the Film Center of Serbia systematically composed according to the principle of party suitability"), the absence of standardized criteria for decision-making, to the fact that "funds are redistributed through tenders to organizations that do not have transparent work", non-publication of tender results or non-payment of allocated funds ("FCS did not pay out allocated funds for co-financing of film productions") - a claim supported by the fact that During the year 2025, the Film Center of Serbia did not announce any public tenders for the support of film production, while funds were not paid to individual productions even for tenders from the previous year.
Several applications indicate that, as a rule, activities that include critical thinking, research and engagement are not co-financed, and that they are most often ignored without explanation in competitions. The same applies to the contests of the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade, which were not implemented precisely when the entire cultural sector should have been punished. Last year, the competition was suspended with the announcement that some committee members had resigned. It is not known what happened to the money earmarked for that competition for culture.
Some projects have reduced the budget so much that the event cannot be held in a quality way, BITEF and Fest for example, or it has been canceled altogether, as shown by the case of the Sterija Theater, which received no support at all from the budget of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, as well as the Festival of Professional Theaters of Vojvodina, the Festival of Ecological Theater for Children from Bačka Palanka, and the Week of Change organized by students of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. Research participants testified that the received funds were often only one-seventh of what was requested, so the organization had to decide whether to accept them and implement the project below the desired quality line.
Thus, the Cultural Center of Belgrade organized one exhibition, not nine as planned, in the form of a joint "independent" exhibition. All nine artists accepted this change and thus, for the umpteenth time, by their own volunteering and adapting to real possibilities, helped the institution that was brought to the brink of failure, thus unwillingly proving that culture can work even with reduced resources.
Some manifestations, such as the Pančevo Film Festival, did not receive support either at the republican or the city competition for culture, even though they did not visibly position themselves against the protests, but that is why their leaders do not support the system, which is reason enough to lose even the little support that manifestation received in the previous period. Obviously, it is no longer enough not to directly criticize the authorities, now it is required to actively give recognition to the authorities and publicly show loyalty, the analysis of the research says.
photo: Fonet / Aleksandar Barda...
ONLY SUITABLE
Some of the received applications refer to the conduct of competitions for the positions of directors/managers of cultural institutions. Specific cases of manipulations are also cited: if there are no suitable candidates among those who applied, a person who does not meet the competition requirements (for example, a hydrogeologist by profession) is elected to the position of acting official for the third time. The inspection of the Republic's Ministry of Culture was informed, but never came. At the same time, the ineligible are prevented from applying in various ways. In the analysis, it was pointed out that Ivana Nedeljković applied for the position of director of CZK Lazarevac. The documentation was rejected on the grounds that she did not submit it within the deadline. The person in charge of communication with the candidates gave the wrong information.
The fact is that a large number of appointed managers of cultural institutions, especially those who hold the title of acting officials, are unknown to the public and that is precisely why they are in a situation of complete subordination to political officials who can influence their status. Even those who were chosen by competition are aware that they are confirmed only by political will, and therefore, even when strong professional standards demand it, they do not oppose politically imposed decisions that are harmful to the artistic and cultural life of the country, as well as its reputation in the world. They can even accept an order that such a harmful decision be implemented by their cultural institution.
Party recruitment and the fear that reigns in institutions often result in the abuse of managerial official positions: mobbing that continues despite complaints, censorship, dismissal of unfit employees or a well-known example to the public - the "General Staff" case.
The functioning of the Film Center of Serbia and the Yugoslav Cinematheque is significant for the cinematography sector. These are the two mainstays of the entire cinematography, and that is why the changes of directors in those two institutions contribute to the collapse of the system. The shifts were non-transparent, there were no competitions for directors, but the situation is resolved with the acting status of managers who, as a rule, stay in that position longer than is foreseen by the legal norms.
CANCELLATIONS AND OTHER INTIMIDATIONS
One specific form of repression is also mentioned in the testimonies: the actions of the commissioner of the Serbian Progressive Party for a certain municipality, who intimidates unsuitable personnel in the public sector: "The commissioner for OOSNS Lazarevac, a fan from Borča, a person who has a restraining order against his wife, called me derogatory names, insisted on my dismissal before the mandate. I am the director of the cultural institution of the City of Belgrade and the Municipal Board has nothing to do with my appointment", wrote one of the research participants.
There are testimonies that because of disagreements with local decision-makers, threats were sent to ineligible workers from fake profiles: "I was underestimated and humiliated", wrote one of them. She reported the case to the police, but suspects that the fake profile was created at the behest of local authorities, and that it will not be investigated further. It is necessary to intimidate a person who does not accept the political dictates of his superiors and put pressure on him to give up his views and criticism.
Six dismissals or threats of dismissal and five blackmails as a form of repression were reported. "After publicly providing support to my colleagues from the National Theater in Belgrade, in October 2025 I received threats of dismissal", writes one of the research participants. It was also stated that "my colleague Momir Pejatović was fired on February 18, 2025, after twenty-two years of work as the technical director of the National Theater in Leskovac. The colleague considers this act to be political persecution, considering that he gave unreserved support to students from the beginning. Until the day of filing the application on November 15, 2025, no court case was initiated regarding his lawsuit due to his illegal dismissal."
In the analysis of the research, it is stated that although autocratic management and mobbing are easily visible, it is difficult to prove that, for example, the Kragujevac actor Dušan Stanikić does not get roles as punishment. "After more than 20 years of service in the Knjaževo Serbian Theater, and since I appeared at the 'Serbia against violence' protests and spoke at those gatherings, I did not get a role again. In the last four years (fourteen-fifteen divisions) I did not get a role. Now the second director in the theater has continued where the previous one left off and of course, according to the work plan, I am not in the division in the next three projects," reads his testimony. In one application, it is written that "quality directors - 'blockers', who were scheduled years ago, are being canceled, and people who are of lower quality, who agree to censor the performances or are not directors at all, are being brought in. The management interferes in the selection of roles, comments are censored". Similarly, it can be seen from the report of an actress that "the manager of the theater in whose house I play notable, award-winning roles in five titles, does not answer me in the hallway and wherever she sees me, she makes me know that I do not exist for her. The manager of the theater where I play the title role loudly in front of all my other colleagues, and behind my back, says that I am a 'non-worker', makes fun of me and says that I am pretending to be a 'star'. Two plays in which I play major roles were taken down without explanation roles. It was made clear to me several times that I will not work in any theater in Belgrade".
The ballet ensemble of the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad was loud and clear in its support for the students, both on the street and on stage. "The management tried to obstruct that support, and then it started to shine. Twelve colleagues were sent to early retirement. Under normal circumstances, young colleagues who have been playing with fixed-term contracts, agency contracts or work contracts for years would have been hired. However, most of those young colleagues (about thirty of them) supported the students. Therefore, the director organized auditions for new jobs and, as expected, only two got work contracts local players, and ten places were filled by dancers from abroad".
arbitrarily changes to the statutes
A particularly important form of repression is the change in internal normative documents: changes in statutes, systematization of workplaces, etc. to enable political employment in the theater and the employment of eligible candidates without a degree. Thus, the organizer Jelena Ivetić lost her job at the Šabac Theater overnight, and based on the changed systematization, which no longer provided for her place.
At the National Theater in Belgrade on September 25, 2025, a new Rulebook on Labor Discipline was adopted, which challenged many of the human and artistic rights of the ensemble and employees. New rules and similar acts have been adopted in some museums, demanding that all meetings, protocol visits, free guided tours through the exhibition, statements for the media, etc. prior written consent of the director.
Public discrediting of past work is the subject of eight reports. In the media, it is already common to present the entire culture sector as non-working, while artists are presented as those who only think about their own career. Strict control of work and behavior is imposed by the management of public institutions as a necessary measure. In the analysis of the research, it is written that at his first meeting with the directors of museum institutions, the Minister of Culture, Nikola Selaković, gave himself the right to discredit the work of one of them and to say: "Forget your plans, if what was said can even be called a plan, and I now give you one task - you will work on the realization of this and that exhibition with all your capacities."
Public discrediting also happens within institutions, and it is often carried out by newly appointed directors towards employees. In the report of the already mentioned case in the ballet ensemble of the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad, the analysis says, texts were obtained in which the director of the Ballet and her friend discredit local dancers, while praising foreign ones, which can be considered a media campaign against young colleagues.
In addition to the above, in the analysis of the "Chronicle of Repression in Culture" research, the most common forms of repression include censorship and banning the implementation of artistic and cultural programs, informal "black lists", and denying the right to work to politically unfit persons.
Individual employees in cultural institutions systematically record violations and criminal acts, pointing to the collapse of the legal system. Thus, according to the employees of the National Theater of Užice, as many as 278 violations of the Constitution, laws (on work, culture, prohibition of discrimination, public services, budget system) and internal normative acts were identified.
The Arts and Culture Community continues to gather evidence of cultural repression and will periodically publish new reports.
