Vidnyánszky offers compromise on Theatre and Film University

In an interview with the left-wing nationwide daily, the chairman of the government-appointed board in charge of the Theatre and Film University strikes an appeasing note.

Speaking to Népszava’s Gyula Balogh, National Theatre director Attila Vidnyánszky says he is ready to consider amendments to the statute of his Board, but cannot compromise on the substance of the reform, namely that the University will be run by a private foundation rather than directly supervised by the Human Resources Ministry. Leading theatre directors who left their teaching posts at the university in protest were wrong, he suggests, as the Board had absolutely no intention of getting rid of them. His problem was that they all represent one and the same team, that of Budapest’s Katona József Theatre, while a national institution run with public money should be home to more than that, he explains. Reacting to the students’ demand to modify the statutes of the Foundation, he says he is ready to negotiate but ‘a common denominator’ must be found.

Tags: culture war, Vidnyánszky