The panorama of the Uruguayan independent theater remains uncertain since, on March 13, 2020, the closing of the rooms was decreed, which would only open several months later, with reduced capacity, and which from December to January of this year were again be closed by decree.
In conversation with the dailyHéctor Guido, director of the El Galpón theater, assured that the lack of protection in the sector came from long before and was exacerbated by political measures taken prior to the pandemic. For him, a generation that built “one of the most important theater movements in America” struggled to be recognized “at the legislative level and within public policy.”
“When we finally achieved an independent theater law, which was approved in 2019 with the support of all the parties, it was left for this government to regulate and apply it,” he recalled. “The first painful news was that they told us that the government did not agree. It was not regulated ”.
It was also painful for the sector to understand that state aid would not be included within a systemic format, “but operating in isolation, as funds on the one hand and on the other, which, although they are very minor, are a palliative that helps in certain stages of the theater production ”.
“Our situation was so fragile that we went to Parliament and we were included in the subsidies and subsidies section.” The Uruguayan Federation of Independent Theaters (FUTI) accounted for 14 million pesos. “When this government took office, in addition to not applying the law, it reduced that subsidy by 20%. And when they went to the budget, 50% ”.
Guido pointed out that “in all parts of the world” theaters are deficient, so they “require policies and public support to fulfill their artistic, social and teaching mission. Anyone who considers that art should be left to the market is not talking about art, but about a merchandise that has nothing to do with art ”.
“The signs of not supporting the collectives, to which we are organized, such as the FUTI or the Uruguayan Society of Actors are very clear. [SUA]. And there is a clear intention to use policies that apply to the individual above all else. We understand that it is a way of weakening our greatest strength, which is unity, and our organization, both the federative and the union, “he added.
Coronavirus and after
“Then came the pandemic, and the first decree taken at the Presidential level is to ban public shows. Of course, when someone takes a political measure that prohibits people from working, the least they expect is a policy on the side that tells the worker how they are going to survive. But not only was he not accompanied by anything, but he had a very painful process ”.
The independent theater took the initiative to develop protocols to reopen as soon as possible. “And we are talking about a Montevideo that did not reach 30 cases.” That period included disagreements with the Minister of Education and Culture, Pablo da Silveira. “He explained very badly the funds the theaters receive. To put it with all the letters: he did not tell the truth ”. A meeting between the parties was called because “it was understood that we were going to make a riot. All this is almost romantic ”.
During the reopening period, El Galpón offered its room free to all independent theater groups. “There was a whole lot going on,” Guido recalled. But the cases increased, and they continued in contact with experts. “Just as we had the advice that we were in sanitary conditions to open when we demanded it, we had the alert from science itself of an exponential advance in infections in Montevideo”.
Here the worrisome thing was the opposite, “that it was authorized, as of January 10, that the public spectacles work. We did our analysis, with friends from science, and we confirmed that we were at a time when we had to take action, even if it hurt, and take care of ourselves. We resolved without putting economics on the table over health matters. We are not of that conception of handling two knobs, the economic one or the life. For us, life always comes first ”.
“El Galpón, in December, decides not to open in January.” The measure is explained, among other reasons, by the planned replacement of The father, starring Julio Calcagno, 83 years old. “There were also people with risk factors, and we were not going to expose any of our colleagues to these situations. We took the measure of stopping January, and so far we do not have the conditions to return to normal activity ”.
“What we want is a consistent response of when we open and when we close. When we are at risk and when not. But each one has to be guessing. Luckily, El Galpón has a large number of colleagues in science who keep us updated on alerts and progress ”.
They do not claim to be the only sector affected. “What we do say is that we were a sector that was slaughtered before the pandemic. They went to the jugular of the independent theater as soon as they assumed the government. Everything else fell into place for them, but the political will not to apply a law voted for by themselves is speaking far beyond the pandemic ”.
“Without the law and with the subsidy cuts, we are facing a bleak outlook. Talking with the FUTI and SUA we try to find solutions and not only be in an attitude of permanent complaint, but I am not going to ask this government for what I know it will not comply with. This is not a government that has social justice as a priority. What has existed are some sparklers that have been thrown away, as a small help in isolation to the artists ”. It also manifested itself in the expectation of municipal public policies, beyond a first measure “which was well titled as palliative.”
In the sector there are those who are “having a very bad time, because they depended specifically on the activity they were developing, even if they had very little income. Not to mention those who have their income through teaching. It is a very complex issue, because there are many small groups that do not have rooms and have stopped producing. There are small places that cannot sustain costs. At El Galpón we have taken care of the health of our members, because no one lives from the box office. We all have other jobs. ” Added to this are some 35 technical, maintenance, cleaning and ticket office workers, who are on unemployment insurance.
“Today we have no idea how the theater can reopen. Beyond the fact that we closed it voluntarily, due to a health issue, we do not know how to open or how to recover without public policies and a State that responds. And in the whole world it is difficult to find the absence of a State like in Uruguay ”.
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