The information according to which the Government is preparing the merger of the Bucharest National Opera with the Romanian Youth National Art Center has raised spirits within the institutions.
Bucharest National Opera changes its name to Romanian National Opera PHOTO Archive
Through a draft Government Decision submitted to public debate these days, the Government is preparing the merger of the Bucharest National Opera with the Romanian Youth National Art Center.
“The discussions generated by the name of the new institution were very heated. If at the beginning, in the GD text, the name Opera Romanian was chosen as it was called at the time of its establishment, along the way, during the public debate, the title Romanian National Opera was reachedaccording to Bogdan Bucur, representative of the Opera.
What changes will take place
According to Bucur, the new institution will have a special direction dedicated to the promotion of young people, but will keep the specificity of traditional artistic activities.
Proponents of the project listed the following benefits of merging:
1. Supplement the post scheme with a number of temporary posts per project, bringing ONB closer to the EU average of employees in an opera house (1,000-1,200).
2. A strong department dedicated to young musicians is formed. It will include Opera Studio, National Youth Orchestra, Chamber Choir, Youth Ballet Studio. The young musicians will have a denser and richer experience being involved both in the opera performance and in symphonic concerts, becoming more competitive on the labor market in the country or abroad.
3. Since ONB’s Economic Indicators for 2027 have already been met since 2023, the HG supports the progress of the Opera so that the growth is sustainable.
4. The administrative act is made more efficient by making substantial savings in terms of management positions. The budgets must go primarily to the artistic act and not to thick administrative apparatuses.
Different views of the trade unions
Starting from the text of the Government Decision, which enumerates the common objectives of the new institution, fears have appeared in the public space that the Opera will be abolished or lose its specificity. Also, some employees fear that the merger and reorganization will be a pretext for layoffs and the termination of indefinite contracts.
For example, the FAIR-MediaSind Federation announced that it is starting to collect signatures for the strike.
“It is an unfortunate premiere for the National Opera, which is subject to dissolution. The Bucharest National Opera has a completely and completely different profile within the cultural act of artistic interpretation, opera performances and not concerts or popular dances, for example as proposed in the HG. At the same time, an extremely dangerous precedent is being created for all cultural institutions from Romania, in the sense of the consecration of unilateral actions of the credit authorities who, without discernment, will be able to dissolve and merge, combine cultural institutions, without taking into account their purpose and repertoire, etc.“, transmits the union.
On the other hand, the ONB Orchestra Union believes that “radical positions on this subject are due to personal interests or the fear that the Fair union will lose its status as a representative union following the merger”.
In a communique, they declare:
“Dear colleagues, dear public,
The union of the Bucharest National Opera Orchestra has recently become the largest union of the ONB, doubling its number of members. This phenomenon takes place against the background of fake news promoted in the public space by some colleagues of other unions within the institution. They alarmed the entire artistic environment, including aggressive propaganda among the artistic unions throughout the country, promoting the information that ONB is being dissolved, and the employees will lose their jobs, inducing them to believe that this PRECEDENT will be used at the national level for the passage to certain contracts, for the abolition of institutions, for the destruction of culture. Obviously, this apocalyptic scenario is not possible in Romania in 2024.
The ONB Orchestra Union delimits itself from any incitement to xenophobic manifestations, manipulations, fake news, politicization, or uncivilized forms of manifestation, both as language and as protest actions. We believe that artists must promote the social dialogue of ideas, elegance, common sense, truth, creativity and diversity.
The possibility of uniting ONB with the Romanian National Youth Center, and creating a stronger institution, does not seem like a bad idea in itself, as long as ONB keeps its object of activity, and young people get a stronger center for promotion and professional training. We do not consider it appropriate to oppose an idea of developing the work and supporting young people. Our representatives will go to the Ministry of Culture today to ensure that the entire staff will be taken over by additional documents, faithfully preserving the current contractual forms, and their salary rights won in court will not be lost as a result of the merger.
We conclude by emphasizing that the role of unions is to defend the rights of employees, and not personal or group rights.”
