The mayor of Liepaja does not oppose the return of the theater to the state

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He himself believes that all theaters in Latvia should operate under the auspices of the state. However, first of all, the issues of rescuing the Liepaja Theater from the crisis should be resolved through negotiations.

“If it [pašvaldības kapitālsabiedrības statuss] is the reason why the view of Liepaja Theater is different, then definitely the council should make a decision. I can express my opinion: in my opinion, all theaters should be state theaters, “said Vilnitis.

At the same time, the mayor of Liepaja acknowledged that the municipality had taken proper care of the theater for more than a decade, increasing its financial support, but this year the restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic put the entire cultural sector in a very difficult situation. receive equal support because “there is no war between equals”.

As reported, in the upcoming talks with the representatives of the Ministry of Culture (MoC) today, the director of the Liepāja Theater, which is in financial difficulties, Herbert Laukšteins will try to encourage the return of the theater to the state. In an interview with TV3’s “900 Seconds” on Tuesday, Laukšteins admitted that for several years he had tried to discuss with several ministers of culture the possibilities of the theater owned by the municipality to return to the Ministry of Culture, but the issue was always postponed.

Asked why the Ministry of Culture has not taken back the theater once returned to Liepāja municipality, Laukšteins mentioned that these are most likely financial considerations. Asked if this was the only reason, he replied, “I’d like to believe so.”

The management of Liepāja City Council and Liepāja Theater will meet with the Minister of Culture Nauri Puntulis (VL-TB / LNNK) today at 1 pm to discuss specific possible support for Liepāja Theater to overcome the consequences of Covid-19, Daiga Kļaviņa, Adviser to the Chairman of Liepāja City Council.

At 15 o’clock, the council management will discuss this issue with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

Klavina said that Liepaja Theater has prepared all the requested information so that the conversation is concrete and there is no unnecessary discussion about the lack of information in decision-making.

However, realizing that the Ministry of Finance is not the only ministry responsible for allocating funding to the Liepaja Theater and that the Minister of Finance will not be able to join the meeting of the Ministry of Finance, the Liepaja City Council requested a meeting with the Ministry of Finance. Kļaviņa said to the equal support of all Latvian professional theaters, including Liepāja.

She explained that currently the management of the City Council sees the cooperation of three involved parties as an alternative to cover the missing funds – Liepāja Municipality, MoF and MoC. It is important to understand how much and what kind of support both ministries are ready to provide in order to understand in the local government what is the remaining part of the missing funding, Kļaviņa pointed out.

Vilnītis has previously pointed out that several capital companies, such as Liepāja Olympic Center (LOC) and Liepāja Airport and several sectors, such as tourism and culture, have suffered as a result of the emergency in Liepāja, and everything needs financial support to survive and continue working.

“As the head of the municipality, I have to look at the whole family budget and its useful use – it would be completely wrong to direct budget funds to one sector, a corporation, leaving the other without support at all, because it is clear that any support position for corporations, in monetary terms, are not planned in advance, “said Vilnitis, emphasizing that the position of the municipality is strong – the support of Liepaja Theater must be found by all parties in cooperation.

In case Liepāja Theater does not receive financial support to eliminate the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, it may have to suspend its operation already in October. Liepāja Theater is a municipal capital company, therefore it did not receive financial support from the government to eliminate the consequences of the crisis caused by Covid-19.

Although the Ministry of Culture does not directly have the opportunity to support a municipal capital company such as Liepāja Theater and provide equivalent support to state-owned theaters from the state borrowed funds to reduce the negative effects of Covid-19 in the cultural sector, the Ministry of Culture has sent the same financial table , which were filled in by all state theaters, in order to understand exactly what difficulties the influence of Covid-19 caused to Liepāja Theater.

“After receiving and evaluating the financial data, in the first half of August we will sit at the same table with the owner of the theater – Liepāja municipality – and look for a solution,” previously informed the representative of the Ministry of Culture Lita Kokale.

The Ministries of Culture and Finance have also called on the Liepāja City Council to consider and, if necessary, use the support options for municipal capital companies provided for in the Law “On Measures to Prevent and Overcome State Threats and Consequences Due to the Spread of Covid-19”. -19 Kokale previously presented the share capital of the capital companies affected by the crisis, thus providing financial resources for their maintenance expenses.

There are two professional groups in Liepāja – Liepāja Theater, whose legal status is a municipal capital company, and VSIA “Liepāja Symphony Orchestra”, which has the status of a state capital company. In the economic crisis that affected Latvia in 2009, the State KM assumed responsibility for the future activities of the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, while the Liepāja Municipality – for the Liepāja Theater, reminded the KM representative.

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