Chile-s independent theaters struggle to survive
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/culture/arts/26367-chiles-independent-theaters-struggle-to-survive
Two theaters in the Metropolitan Region may go under later
this year, and the owners point to flaws in the government’s system of art
subsidies.
Six eccentric albinos — each with a unique fetish — enter a
forest in southern Chile
to search for a mythical monster. Along the way, they meet the rap artist
Eminem, who quickly turns from foe to ally. Then, in a tangle of romances and
surprise pregnancies, the group implodes under the weight of mutual suspicion,
only to reconcile in a cathartic final scene.
So goes the plot of “En Busca del Huemel Blanco, (In Search
of the White Huemel” a zany, absurdist play that opened last week at Teatro del
Puente.
As could be gleaned from the storyline, “En Busca” is not a
crowd-pleaser — it’s not meant for a “commercial” audience, says Teatro del
Puente owner Jorge Arraya. The “commercial” acts, imported from New York and London and Buenos Aires are suitable
for the big theaters, like Teatro Municipal, but not for his venue.
Rather, Arraya’s theater, which inhabits an
abandoned-then-refurbished bridge just north of downtown Santiago, is for “new writers, new
playwrights, experimental scripts.” It’s the host of independent companies, and
its goal is the promotion of an organic Chilean art.
In its seven years of operation, Teatro del Puente has done
much to achieve this end. Almost every week since 2006, this slender arc of
glass, wood, and metal above the Mapocho River has held plays from independent
companies — some established, some unknown.
But unfortunately for Santiago’s
avant-garde, “En Busca” may be one of the theater’s last.
This April, Arraya posted on Facebook that Teatro del Puente
would close in the middle of August due to a lack of funds. The municipality of Santiago, a major sponsor of the
theater, quickly dismissed Arraya’s words, saying his statement resulted from
“confusion.”
The current administration was leaving, claimed municipal
cultural director Morgana González to Radio ADN, but the borough would ensure that
the theater remained open.
More than two months after the initial announcements by
González and Arraya, it’s unclear who to believe.
As of June 25, the theater’s administration remains
unchanged, and Arraya, though no longer certain that the theater will close, is
still uncertain about Teatro del Puente’s future. In an interview with The
Santiago Times, he said he was negotiating with the borough for the funds
needed to keep operating. However, he could make no guarantees and was
unwilling to commit to hosting any companies past August.
One of the complications Arraya and local officials face
stems from the nuances of municipal law: Santiago’s
cultural budget was set months ago and, legally, the borough can offer no more
funds to Teatro del Puente this calendar year.
As a solution, said a spokesman for Santiago’s Ministry of Culture to The
Santiago Times, Mayor Carolina Tohá of the left-leaning Party for Democracy
(PPD) is negotiating with Cultural Minister Roberto Ampuero to fund the theater
through December.
For Arraya, however, this solution is just a stopgap.
He believes the struggles of Teatro del Puente represent
systematic flaws in Chile’s
theatrical subsidy scheme — flaws that make day-to-day operation difficult, and
innovation nearly impossible for all theaters receiving grants.
In the world of Chilean independent theater, Arraya
explained, venues compete for funding from public cultural offices annually.
However, this year-to-year competition for money deters any long-term projects,
stifles experimentation and keeps theater-owners — and independent troupes — on
their toes.
Alfredo Castro, director of Teatro de la Memoria, a theater
in the borough of Providencia which will close in December, concurred with
Arraya’s assessment of Chile’s
theater scene in an interview with The Santiago Times.
“Theaters should not compete for funds in the manner they
do,” said Castro. “This is a crisis that is happening throughout the country.”
He also claimed that the government had not changed its
evaluation scheme for two decades, meaning that theaters must accommodate the
“regressive” preferences of political officials, or risk receiving no funding
at all.
Teatro de la Memoria has chosen the second path, and as a
result, the Ministry of Culture hasn’t subsidized the theater in two years.
“This makes continuity unviable,” Castro said in an
interview with La Cooperativa in April. “[The state’s] evaluation parameters…
are no longer consistent with the artistic standards of our time.”
In the last few months, Teatro de la Memoria and Teatro del
Puente have had reason to malign Chile’s system of art subsidies.
But even theater-owners fortunate enough to have secured
public funding, admit that they owe their existence to sympathetic cultural
officials.
A spokeswoman for the Tessier Center for Experimental Art
(CEAT) told The Santiago Times that it would be “totally impossible” to exist
without public aid.
For Castro, this aid necessitates the tacit approval of the
Culture Ministry, and this relationship of dependence represents a paradox.
Whereas independent theaters depend on the government for their survival, this
government support also threatens to narrow the bounds of experimentalism.
One solution, he proposed to The Santiago Times, would be to
make subsidies “permanent,” so as to avoid the need for experimental theaters
to shape their playbills around the political climate.
But in the eyes of Castro and Arraya, as long as theatrical
subsidies retain their current form, independent theater in Chile will
never be truly independent.
By Gram Slattery (gram@santiagotimes.cl)