This probably means that all four scenes do not survive. Oslo Nye Teater currently has four stages in three locations: The main stage in Rosenkrantz’ gate Centralteateret and Teaterkjeller’n in Akersgata Trikkestallen at Torshov Now it is doubtful whether all of them will remain. Gets 30 million The City Council came up with its assessment of the future of the crisis-hit theater on Thursday. The municipal theater has been in major financial trouble since the pandemic. Oslo Nye needs 30 million in crisis aid by the end of June. Otherwise, they will be bankrupted. The city council decided on Thursday to pay out the 30 million needed for the theater to survive the rest of the year. The money has previously been set aside in the revised Oslo budget. – The most important thing to say now is that we have been saved, says theater manager Runar Hodne. – We will run the program in the autumn as planned. We have fantastic productions coming up, he says. – Not sustainable What happens after that is still unclear. The city council makes it clear that the theater will have to manage with less money in the future. This year they will receive NOK 90 million in grants from Oslo municipality. – The city council’s assessment is that bankruptcy should be avoided for Oslo Nye Teater, but that it is not sustainable with as extensive an operation as today. This is what culture councilor Anita Leirvik North (H) writes in the case which was presented to the city council on Thursday. – This is a way of saving the theater from bankruptcy, but it is not a free pass to run as before, she says to news. ASK FOR CUTTING: Culture councilor Anita Leirvik North (H) makes it clear on Thursday that the municipality’s theater will have to manage with less money in the future. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB In the course of the year, management has drawn up several measures to cut costs. On behalf of the owner, they have also created three plans with fewer stages: Only operation on the main stage Operation on the main stage and the Central Theater Operation on the main stage and the tram station – Will cease to exist In May, they were challenged by the city council to do it even longer. Now a scenario in which only Trikkestallen survived was also to be considered. The same would apply to the possibility of getting by with half the grant. The response from the management to the latest assignment was clear: “In both models, our conclusion is that Oslo Nye Teater as a supporting institutional theater as we know it today will cease to exist.” Want to keep everyone The fight to preserve Oslo Nye has created great interest. Employees and friends of the theater have made a ring around the Main Theatre. The theater itself does not recommend any of the options with fewer stages. They believe that the cost cuts that are already underway make it possible to play theater on four stages in the future as well with today’s subsidy. So NOK 90 million a year, adjusted for inflation. The city council does not think so. Anita Leirvik North writes the following in the case: – For continued operations in the coming years, it is the city council’s assessment that the company must adapt its operations to a lower level of subsidy. What this means in practice and which scenes may disappear is not clear. – This means that the company must develop an operating model that makes this possible, writes the cultural council. SAVED: The theater can be happy to avoid bankruptcy, but the future is still uncertain. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Must be artistically responsible The theater manager says that they have had time to find out what this actually means together with Oslo municipality. – It gives us the opportunity to do it in an artistically sound way, says Runar Hodne. He still hopes it is possible to preserve all the scenes. – But we are very tight financially, so there is not much less subsidy we have to live with before we have to cut back on activity. HOPE: Theater manager Runar Hodne believes that it is still possible to operate on all stages. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news – If it has to happen, have you thought about which stages will have to be shut down? – We have no scenes to let go of. All scenes work together in a kind of system. We can’t just take away a stage and carry on as we do today, says Hodne. – Funny conclusion The future of the theater will be discussed in the culture and education committee and in the city council in the autumn. SV’s Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll heads the committee. She believes that the city council is preparing for a controlled liquidation of Oslo Nye Teater as a cultural institution. – Anita Leirvik North now says outright that the city council wants Oslo Nye Teater to manage with less funding. At the same time, they force the theater to cut the offer that gives them income, says Holmås Eidsvoll. CONTROLLED DEVELOPMENT: SV’s Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll fears for the future of the theater and for Oslo culture. Photo: Bård Nafstad / n14859 She says that the case shows how low the city council’s ambitions are for culture and that the Conservatives and Liberals have abdicated as cultural parties. AP’s culture politician Eivor Evenrud also finds it strange that the answer to economic challenges is less money in the long term. – It is a funny conclusion that I look forward to discussing further in the culture committee in the autumn, says Evenrud. She is nevertheless happy that no conditions have been set for the grant that is being paid out now. Published 20.06.2024, at 12.50 Updated 20.06.2024, at 15.03
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Oslo Nye Teater saved from bankruptcy – the city council asks them to cut costs – Greater Oslo
