Policies on Theatre and Dance
The Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism responsible for Theatre and Dance is engaged in two main activities, which contribute to the promotion of cultural diversity. It supports financially 8 theatrical groups, whose activities include theatrical festivals, which aim at promoting young artists and groups lacking space to conduct their performances; theatrical plays with artists from various cultural backgrounds, or plays presenting the problematic of social integration of immigrants in the Greek
society. A second activity is a pilot project under the heading “Space for Art”, in progress since June 2010, which aims at providing space to conduct rehearsals in public facilities free of charge to theatrical groups as well as groups of classic and modern dance.
The National Theatre of Greece establishes collaborations with foreign artists both in plays and workshops and has repeatedly produced plays about the social problem of immigration and “the other”. Its collaborations are mainly oriented towards Europe and the Middle East but there are also projects with USA and Japan. As its main challenge it identified the need to establish a permanent network of cooperation with artists and structures. The impact of its plays varies from 1.000 to 8.000 people. Its workshops reach 100 to 150 people. Its main results are awareness raising on social issues, promotion of international collaborations and exchanges, promotion of young artists and dialogue with other institutions.
The Athens Concert Hall is funded and supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Its program includes a huge variety of concerts and international collaborations promoting various aspects of various eras of the Greek society and foreign cultures, particularly by means of its project “Bridges”.
The National Opera of Greece apart from its regular repertoire revives not sovery well known plays by Greek creators. The research on forgotten plays brings about the opportunity for the public to familiarize with them. Furthermore, researchers may access material that was inaccessible to them before. The National Opera also promotes cultural expressions by commissioning artists to produce modern opera plays.
A significant structure, funded and sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Dance, is the International Dance Festival of the city Kalamata. It is supervised by the Department and subsidized by the Department and the municipality of Kalamata. As far as the Greek society is concerned, it is a showcase of a successful initiative of decentralized government in the field of contemporary art. The objectives of the International Dance Center of Kalamata are to promote the art of dance through education, research and artistic production in a framework of international cooperation.