Interview with Jan Burian, General Director of The Divadlo Festival

Steve Capra's Interview with Jan Burian, General Director, Divadlo Theater Festival

= Pilsen, Czech Republic

= September 14, 2019

= SC: As I understand it, you have 50 productions. How many submissions did you have? How many producers wanted their shows to be in the festival?

= JB: I will explain the system. We work, of course, all year, but our permanent employees are only two. One is the producer of the shows and one is the General Director handling all other things. But we have something that we call the Artistic Board or Dramaturgy Board. It’s made up of five people. But of course we have a lot of collaborators in foreign countries, mostly in the Middle Europe but of also in Germany, Russia and so on.

We cover Central Europe, visiting festivals, crucial new productions. The principle is that each production must be seen by a minimum of two people. Of course, it’s impossible to see everything, say, in Poland - it’s quite a big country - so we have friends who are working with us, like critics or people in the Artistic Institute or Theater Institute. We get very good information from them because we have been collaborating for many years with them. And there is the same situation in the other countries. 

During the festival, for two or three weeks, we have many more people here. And step by step they start to work in, say, May. So for example, the lady who is responsible for guest service starts to work in - I don’t know - March. Some of them start to work when we publish materials, in June and so on. 

What is extremely nice - and what I love about this festival - is that most of our collaborators started here as students. Now all of them are very successful people - doctors, producers, lawyers - but they love each other so much that they take holidays for the festival and work here doing stupid, idiotic things -

= SC: I would too!

= JB: They love the festival and they love the people because they are all friends now. So for me, it’s better and better - because everybody knows what to do. When we started with this system - I don’t know - 15 years ago - it was, of course, much more complicated. And of course we use a lot of people from the Pilsen theaters - technicians, writers and sound masters -

= SC: Well, it takes a lot of people. Just the ushers - there are so many!

= JB: Yes. And the result is, I think, more than 150 people who work on the festival. Because, you know, to organize 50 shows in five days involves transport, building sets… We are work practically 24 hours a day. For example, yesterday we finished a show from Prague at 11:00 - and at 11:15 we started constructing the stage for another show. In the morning they rehearse, and then they have a performance in the afternoon. Then we are get out a set design and start again! It’s quite complicated!

But the biggest advantage of this festival when we compare it to the other good Czech festivals is that we are really organizing a showcase of the best of Czech theater and mostly - but not only - Central European theaters in a very short time.

So if you are not a lazy visitor you can see in very short period the best of Czech and central European theater. It’s extremely useful for critics, for students, for professionals.

= SC: For writers like me it’s terrific!

= JB: Normally you would need - I don’t know - half a year to travel all over the Czech Republic to see the shows. In this festival we are focused on high quality, innovative performances inspired by new trends.

= SC: Yes, that’s my next question. You’re looking for innovative work, the avant-garde?

= JB: Yes, that’s a priority. And after 27 years it’s practically a reward for Czech theaters to be here.

= SC: It’s an honor! Absolutely!

= JB: If they are invited here, it’s something like a theater Oscar. It means that they’ve reached some high level. And for theaters who are starting out it’s very good to have a show here because it’s a sign of quality. And of course it’s an argument for getting public support, for having better people and so on.

= SC: You said the Artistic Board makes the decisions. Are you the head of the Artistic Board?

= JB: No, I am the General Director handling other things. They are independent. Of course, I have meetings with them, I hear what they are talking about, but I’m not involved with their decisions. In some extraordinary instances I might say that it’s not wise to invite someone to the festival - but mostly the reasons are on the production side - money, time or if we’ve had a director three times and it’s not useful to show him again.

= SC: There are Artistic Directors who only produce what they like personally. Does your board do that - or is your board looking for material they might not like themselves but they want to present?

= JB: You know, everybody in theater has his or her priorities, but the Board must agree on the decision together. If everybody is in favor we put the show on the list and then we have only production problems. If there are not two voices in favor, I send the next people to see it again or I ask critics from, say, Poland or Germany what their opinion is or what the show means in the foreign context. If the discussion doesn’t result in agreement, we decide not to invite them.

= SC: Jan, if we could talk finances for a minute. You’re funded in part by the government. How much of your expenses does contribution cover?

= JB: Quite a lot. Our budget is something around 13 million Czech crowns. There’s a special grant program for the international festivals in the priorities of Ministry of Culture. Of these 13 million crowns, a little bit more than eight million come from the government, three million and some from the city, and the rest are from the region, box office, and international support from - I don’t know - say, The Hungarian Cultural Institute and so on.

= SC: But very little is from ticket sales. Maybe 10 percent?

= JB: Not more. This is a special festival because we’re not orientated for business. It’s a professional festival. Maybe it would be useful to explain the history. It was the first free international festival after the Velvet Revolution. This festival was established, by the way, with the support of Vaclev Havel. After the revolution we thought in a very short time to have a meeting of some people who were involved in the Velvet Revolution - because, you know, the history of theater has a very important role in all these political changes. 

= And we decided to organize the Festival which would be really open, looking for inspiration, starting to collaborate with the foreign theaters. And the decision was made not to do it in Prague. The disadvantage of Prague is that if the people from foreign countries come to Prague, they are sight-seeing - Prague is wonderful - and not talking together. And then Pilsen is also very close to airport and it’s very close to the west border of Germany. 

= And for us it also has a symbolic role. Pilsen at the end of the Second World War was liberated by the US army, not by the Russia army - the rest of the Republic was freed by Soviet army. So here’s there’s a specific atmosphere, because everybody knows about the role of the US and British army in this country since the Second World War.

= SC: I saw the monument that says “Thank you, America”!

= JB: Yes, “Thank you, America,” and the monument to General Patton. But the reason I’m talking about it is that the main task was to educate Czech theater people to what is new and what are the trends in foreign theater - because before that the borders had been closed. 

In the first five or six years years we got a lot of money from foreign governments - The British Council or some cultural organizations in France or Germany and so on - because they wanted to help us to move as quickly as possible to the normal standards of the rest Europe. Of course now we are normal democratic country, quite rich, so we have no support from them. Now we have most support from the public budget. But it changing.

= SC: Do you have support from private foundations as well?

= JB: No, the system in Central Europe is that we have quite high taxes, and the result is that the support of culture comes mostly from the public budget. And after 27 years this festival years has quite a good reputation.

= SC: Are you satisfied with the government funding you get?

= JB: You know, for these four, five days, it’s enough. Of course if we should get more money we could expand it, but in practice it’s enough.

= SC: No American could say that!

= JB: I know the situation. It’s absolutely different. But the system in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, the Scandinavian countries, is that culture is subsidized 90% from the public budget.