This morning the new General Director of the Royal Theater of Madrid was presented at a press conference. Ignacio Gracía-Belenguer, law graduate and member of the Superior Corps of Civil Administrators of the State, forty-five years old, has been unanimously chosen by the Board of Trustees of the Theater to replace Miguel Muñiz for the next five years and maintaining, also the functions of general administrator that he had been performing since last February 6.
He arrives at this position “with satisfaction, commitment and desire to tackle this project” after an experience of eight years managing the world of culture at the head of National Heritage.
He has not come to assess the management of his predecessors in the Theater, especially in relation to the conflict with its workers regarding the application of the Royal Decree of 2010 which stipulated the lowering of the 5% salary to public employees. “You have to turn the page, I've done it, it's done and I come with this inherited theme. Now it is necessary to work for the future”, has just said.
However, García-Belenguer praised the professionalism of the workers at the Real, “something that has nothing to do with the conflict”, trusts in “a rapprochement of the positions through negotiation and that the affection that the workers feel for the Theater, along with your responsibility, avoid reaching a strike that would harm everyone ". It has been flexible when it comes to negotiating and extending the term, among other possibilities according, so that workers face these returns with the least damage to their economies.
As for the cuts, (a 15% by the Ministry of Culture, 38% of the Madrid City Council, Y 15% of the Community of Madrid), It is planned to apply «expenditure containment policies, reducing superficial expenses» and promote, above all, the efficiency of available resources. The objective: achieve a balanced budget by the end of the current year. In no case will the programming of the season be altered 2012-13 which has been praised for its quality.
Regarding the possibility of an ERE in the Theater, he has not ruled it out but he has been prudent when it comes to his approach, “We have to see how the budget is, resources and project. Based on all this, measures will be taken ". That is a decision that must be weighed.".
He has shown his optimism for the next season regarding the sale of season tickets. For the next season only 191 subscribers have expressed their desire not to renew, while at the beginning of this season that number rose to 2028. It seems that the bleeding of fertilizers announced has not been such and they will continue to be almost 16.000 theater subscribers. Subscribers that you plan to take into account since they are "one of our greatest assets".
If an agreement is not reached imminently, the workers of the Real are prepared to officially present the permits to hold strikes during the five performances of «Cyrano de Bergerac» which opens next 10 of May. Something that would be a great loss for the theater, which plans to broadcast the premiere to more than 200 movie theaters across Europe. If this point is confirmed, the Madrid Coliseum has prepared a plan B that would consist of presenting the opera in a concert version.
