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Press Releases

The Minister of Culture and Sports at the National Theatre of Northern Greece (16/01/2016)

The minister of culture and sports, Mr. Aristides Baltas, visited the National Theatre of Northern Greece on Friday 15/12/16, to watch the official premiere of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. During his visit at the NTNG, he had a meeting at Vassiliko Theatre with the Management, the Artistic Director and representatives of the NTNG’s Union of Working Personnel of All Kinds and the Representative Committee of Actors. It is noted that the NTNG had not been visited by a Minister of Culture since April 2013.
 
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The meeting of the Minister with Aris Stylianou, President of the NTNG Board of Directors, Dimosthenis Dodos, Vice President of the Board of Directors, Yannis Anastasakis, Artistic Director, Maria Tsima, Deputy Artistic Director and the employees’ representatives was focused on solving the chronic financial problems of the state theatre, and smoothly continuing and upgrading the versatile artistic, social and educational work offered by the NTNG.
 
“The NTNG is extremely important, not just for Thessaloniki, not just for Northern Greece, but also for the entire country and beyond Greece’s borders” said the Minister, stressing the exceptionally strong effort of all the people working at the NTNG, who are trying to cope in difficult conditions.
“I wanted my visit in Thessaloniki, which was long overdue, to be connected with a NTNG premiere because it is precisely what we wanted at the Ministry, to give this theatre the importance it deserves. Our discussion with the Theatre’s Management, Directors and employees’ representatives was particularly productive, tuned into the same principles, the same values, the same strategy, and we believe that a new era is starting for everyone’s benefit.
The accumulated debts were created by previous managements and governments. This Management and Directors, as well as the government, are not to blame for the debts,”
Mr. Baltas pointed out, and talking about the subsidy issue he noted: “This moment, without being the three wise men bearing gifts, we are coming with a portion of the subsidy, which is around 1.5 million Euros. It helps dealing with some problems, but obviously this money is not enough. As a Ministry, we need to systematise the subsidy in relation to our –tight– budget, so that things can start flowing more methodically. On the other hand, we believe that, from a more general perspective, once we pass through this two-month barrier and the evaluation is over, the country will enter a more normal course, financial issues will be dealt with more systematically, difficulties will be diminished and theatre specifically will be able to find its pace more properly.”
 
Mr. Aris Stylianou, President of the NTNG Board of Directors, thanked the Minister for his visit to the National Theatre of Northern Greece and stated: “I think that there was an important and constructive discussion. We brought Mr. Baltas’ attention to all the problems of the theatre and I believe that with the Ministry’s help and with our work and all the employees’ work, the theatre will be able to move forward and do really well. We are guardedly optimistic.”
 
The Management and the Directors of the NTNG offered Mr. Baltas old collectable programmes and programmes from NTNG’s current productions.
 
Later, Mr. Baltas with his wife and Mr. Panagiotis Douros, Director of the Minister’s Office, attended the official premiere of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, directed by Anastasia Revi, a successful performance at the Theatre of the Society for Macedonian Studies. The Minister then congratulated the director and all the actors and contributors of the performance.
 
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