Why in the end there was no lock in theaters, cinemas, concerts – All the background, the key faces, a thriller for 24 hours | CIVILIZATION

Since Monday afternoon and especially Tuesday morning, the information that reached the press offices on the emergency measures to be imposed in Attica was clear and repeated: Pause for theaters, cinemas and concerts. What finally happened and on Tuesday afternoon the Prime Minister decided otherwise?

Those around Maximos who read the Infectious Diseases Committee text on Monday night about the emergency measures proposed by the government in Attica, were left with the fact that while in other cases the suggestion was for a vertical reduction of the meeting, in the case of Culture, the proposed solution. he was referring to the “padlock.” That is, for two weeks to silence theaters, cinemas and concert halls. A decision that, if taken at the same time that restaurants and cafes would continue to operate with a limit of 6 people per table, would undoubtedly provoke a storm of reactions.

Mitsotakis’s personal decision

Finally, Nikos Hardalias at six o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, announced something different: fullness in theaters and cinemas at 60%, in concerts at 50%, without standing (it was already like that) and of course with a mask.

But what mediated and did the Prime Minister not follow the Commission’s suggestion that it would be a significant blow not only to the Arts, but also to the state’s attitude towards them? Because the information from iefimerida states that it is a decision made personally by the Prime Minister Today, studying a list of arguments from the Ministry of Culture, together with the intervention of people outside politics, close to the Arts, who have the privilege of being interlocutors with the Prime Minister and assessing his point of view. It was an eager effort that is described by all sides as a “battle.”

The key role of Konstantinos Markoulakis: the phone call to Mitsotakis

It is no coincidence that shortly before noon Konstantinos Markoulakis made the post on social networks, who directs for the next season Kostas Tachtsis’s play “The Third Crown” at the Pallas Theater. A man of modern civilization who meet Kyriakos Mitsotakis as a student, who has openly supported his election, to later withdraw from the relevant political statements and energetically reject the proposals for positions of power. Information from iefimerida states that there was Long personal conversation of Konstantinos Markoulakis with the Prime Minister arguing against the closure of theaters and other cultural spaces. Respectively, there were a few more people who became ambassadors for the movement. don’t silence the culture and that they moved in a strategic and coordinated way in the last 24 hours, that is, while the thriller lasted for strong nerves and that those involved qualify as battle.

The suggestion with the burning arguments

The axis of intervention and argumentation was the proposal presented by the Minister of Culture Lina mendoni to the Prime Minister and that was prepared together with the Secretary General of Modern Culture Nikolas Giatromanolakis. The point of the argument is that no case related to cultural activity has been recorded in our country, that both the Athens and Epidaurus Festivals and the Kalamata Dance Festival functioned in an exemplary manner and without artistic discounts. There were only cases of excessive gatherings of citizens at parties and concerts organized on beaches like Halkidiki, which completely deviates from the way Culture structures operate.

Decisive is the reference to the enormous financial hit that has accepted the branch of Culture with the rigor of the experts exhausting in his case. And the interest of the public that rushes with all the security measures to cover each place offered in the cultural actions also shows the need, the citizen demand for an Art that cannot be ignored by the government. Culture is not a luxury, a hobby, it is a vital need for the citizen. And artists are not amateurs, they are professionals, contributors.

Somehow, after the meeting at Maximou this morning, what was taken for granted, was canceled shortly after noon: theaters, cinemas and concert halls will not stop working for the next two weeks.

The agony of the producers and … of Bellucci

It should be noted that this 24-hour period was continuous and the communication of the producers of ambitious shows and concerts that will take place in the coming days and that would lead to financial disaster in the event of their cancellation, typical is the case of their sold-out performances. Monica bellucci in the Herodion with the ode to the work of Maria Callas.

The objective is not to need battles to overthrow measures that will bring absolute silence in the arts, but to make a methodical, structured and in-depth study of the stages of theaters, cinemas, concert halls, with the same logic that prevails for coffee and restaurants. The six months of the pandemic have given time, material and scenarios to become a relevant strategy. The need for art is not less than the need to relax in the restaurant. Just as the contribution of Culture to the economy is not negligible, everything else. The emotional burden on the public debate on the arts should not overshadow the important economic dimension.

At a time when the international media praises Greek culture during the summer, from the Persians presented by the National Theater of Epidaurus to the financial explosion of Athens in the Financial Times recently, it is clear that the state must invest in a dynamic narrative , to the extroversion and the explosion of creation that Culture brought. Especially now that so much data is falling into our lives. In the coming days, the Ministry of Culture is expected to announce the measures for the operation of theaters, cinemas and concert halls in winter.