MAMT CEO Explains Why Theatres Can't Be Fully Profitable
Borisov noted that theaters cannot pay off at the expense of their own income, since they must perform social functions. “The theatre is part of the state. We are not a private company, says the director of MAMT
Theatres cannot work exclusively as commercial enterprises, because in addition to generating income, they perform social and educational functions, he said. As a result, the director of the Moscow Academic Musical Theatre (MAMT) Andrei Borisov on Radio RBC.
He noted that theaters need state support for this: Theatre is part of the state. We're not a private office.”.
According to the director of MAMT, the state needs to determine what model of work it expects from theaters: commercial or involving the implementation of public tasks. In the first case, the audience must pay for the services themselves, and in the second part of the costs must be covered by subsidies.
If we want the functions we talked about, such as enlightenment, education and other functions to promote values, then the state must subsidize these issues. Here is the balance, we need to look for a balance, Borisov explained.
He added that the optimal model for financing theaters involves a ratio of 30% of own revenues and 70% of public funds. However, in MAMT, according to the head, the proportion is already 40% of earned funds and 60% of public funding.
Borisov noted that the theater must also fulfill social obligations, for example, to ensure payments to employees and artists. “I have to have a social function. Am I, like, a business or something else? How should I perform these social functions? he said.
The head of the IAMT stressed that musical theaters are among the most expensive cultural institutions and receive significant state support around the world. The presence of opera and ballet theaters can be considered as an indicator of the economic potential of the state.
At the same time, Borisov said that theater leaders should look for ways to adapt to economic difficulties and help the state cope with them. According to him, the management task is to effectively support the institution even in conditions where the state cannot provide the necessary share of funding.
Russia is preparing strategies for the development of the archival, theater and museum spheres, President Vladimir Putin said in September during a speech at the XII St. Petersburg International Forum of United Cultures. “Today we need directors, curators, museum teachers, playwrights, managers who understand art, feel the modern audience and know a lot about technology,” he said.
Within the framework of the forum, the head of the Union of Theatre Workers, People's Artist of Russia Vladimir Mashkov presented the concept of the development of the theater in Russia until 2035. The concept consists of ten points and proposes, in particular, to consolidate the role of the theater as a social and educational institution, to form registers of private, street and amateur theaters, as well as to develop support for theaters through grants, subsidies and patronage.
