The management of the National Theatre is preparing a competition for the reconstruction of the New Stage

Prague - The main priority of the management of the National Theatre (ND) in Prague for the upcoming 2014/2015 season will be the salaries of the employees. These are expected to increase by 3.5% due to a budget increase of two billion crowns for the Ministry of Culture. This was revealed during today's meeting of the National Theatre management with ND employees, attended by Minister of Culture Daniel Herman, on the occasion of the opening of the new season in the historic ND building.
    Among other non-artistic tasks of the ND management, according to Burian, is the completion of the façade reconstruction of the historic building and the announcement of an architectural competition for the reconstruction of the New Scene of ND. Future topics include the start of the reconstruction of the State Opera building in 2016 and the project for a new service center for ND. "We want to create a modern theatre that will not operate in worse conditions than, for example, the scenes in Warsaw or Budapest," said Burian.
    Burian, along with the Guarantee Council, presented the Minister of Culture with the Concept for the Further Development of ND at the beginning of the month. The proposal includes the main principles of the law on public legal institutions in culture.
    For the 2014/2015 season, ND is preparing 19 premieres across its four buildings, along with seventy repertoire titles. The drama section will be strengthened by Daniel Špinar; the current resident director Ivan Rajmont has left ND. The management of ND is also planning changes in the positions of artistic heads, as the terms of ballet chief Petr Zuska and drama chief Michal Dočekal end in June 2015. In the first case, Director Burian has approached candidates from abroad, while he intends to invite several domestic personalities to lead the drama ensemble during a closed selection process this autumn.
    Further reorganization steps in line with the proposed concept will be implemented by Burian's management from September 1, 2014. The changes will primarily concern the decentralization of technical services. According to Burian, this will be a step towards the future form of independent theatres, allowing for more effective management with the responsibility of the directors of individual houses and emphasizing better work productivity. These structural changes will be another step towards a holding arrangement.
    The National Theatre operates with a budget of 966 million crowns, of which 615 million crowns is a contribution from the Ministry of Culture and 351 million CZK the theatre will earn from revenues. In the past season, ND offered 1,340 performances, attended by 636,000 people. They spent 262.5 million crowns on tickets, which was 13% more than in the previous season.