At the beginning of the meeting with the media, the new director presented her main works at the Klaipėda State Musical Drama Theater. Among them – the Klaipėda State Musical Theater built during the great perturbations (from the pandemic to Russia’s war in Ukraine), eight “Golden Stage Crosses”, etc.
Meeting with the community
Last year, after L. Vilimienei won the LNOBT manager’s competition, part of the theater community was dissatisfied with this decision and sent a petition to the highest institutions of the country, organized performances symbolizing mourning.
Then it was announced that the petition was sent with the approval of more than half of the employees, and it raised doubts about the return of L. Vilimienė to the theater, where she previously held the position of deputy director.
L.Vilimienė promised to start her work at LNOBT with meetings with the theater community.
“I am currently meeting with various theater departments, talking to people, asking two simple questions – what can you be happy about in your theater and what needs to be fixed,” said the new manager.
She also asked how the daily artistic quality support system should work.
L. Vilimienė said that her goal is to get a feel for what the people of the theater live in and to create an activity system that would allow for the most accurate implementation of the strategy.
“By the way, next week we will have a general meeting in the theater, during which I will present the directions of my strategy in detail to the wider community,” said L. Vilimienė.
15min asked what questions were raised by the community itself. L. Vilimienė replied that she was the one who raised the questions.
Will strive for high-quality repertoire and the well-being of the community
L. Vilimienė presented her plans in quite detail, however, she revealed only a few news that viewers and listeners will know in the future.
It is a joint opera by composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė and director Robert Wilson, and a ballet by choreographer Martynas Rimeikis, which will be performed at the end of 2025.
“Thanks to LNOBT’s concentrated talent and competencies, we will create an artistic program that fosters modern artistic taste and national identity,” L. Vilimienė began the presentation. – It is on these foundations that my vision is formed.”
L. Vilimienė will strive for LNOBT to become “an important cultural center of the capitals of the Baltic countries, such as Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Warsaw, Berlin”.
She divided her program into four strategic themes, which should work together, as L. Vilimienė named, on the principle of “ecological management”.
The first strategic theme is “National and international scene”: “This is a value-creating, strengths-based, talent-appreciating and diversity-respecting theater arts program.”
While forming the repertoire, L. Vilimienė will strive for a diverse and balanced content that meets world recognized standards, covering national and international works with a high-quality interpretation of them.
According to her, the frequency of premieres will remain the same – four to five premieres per year: “If we are successful and implement the next stage of infrastructure development in the future, the number of premieres may increase to six to seven premieres per year.”
Great attention will be paid to the creation of the National Platform for Young Talents. According to L. Vilimienė, a similar project was already done in the theater 12 years ago.
It promises to commission music by Lithuanian composers, hold composition competitions, stage more performances for children, create opportunities for the most famous Lithuanian singers and conductors to appear on the world’s opera stages, revive touring exchanges and stage co-productions, dedicate 2025 to the centenary of Lithuanian ballet, etc.
The second strategic theme is “Sustainable community”. According to L. Vilimienė, we are talking about online marketing and audience development: “We want to meet not only the needs of the existing audience, but also bring in new viewers and form a higher artistic taste of the audience.”
“I will strive to make audience development a philosophy that will cover the entire organization,” said the director of LNOBT. – we will create such a strategy to maximize the satisfaction of the artist, the audience and the administration.”
Attention will also be paid to audience development projects, education, mobility, and the intensity of consumption of performances.
“There is a good reason for this – during the research of various European opera and ballet theaters, it became clear that if a person does not have the opportunity to visit this type of theater before the age of 35, then the opportunity decreases drastically.”
“We will respond sensitively to problems arising in the community. We feel that there is a shortage of music and theater critics. Therefore, one of the projects that we will revive will be international conferences of critics”, said L. Vilimienė.
The third strategic topic – “Balanced budget”. According to the director of LNOBT, a transparent and balanced budget will be sought, and it will be divided according to priorities.
“Of course, I will try to increase the budget and, as much as possible, diversify, that is, look for financing from different sources,” said L. Vilimienė. – As you know, the main source of money is a grant provided by the Ministry of Culture, but equally important are the income contributions, which we will increase.”
The fourth strategic topic – “Modern management”. Here, the new manager has several ideas: a sustainability program will be implemented and an extension to LNOBT will be built.
“This is a very complicated project, I don’t know when it will be possible to start it,” commented L. Vilimienė.
“I will pay a lot of attention to various projects and processes that would allow the theater to create and nurture a harmonious, motivated community moving purposefully towards the intended goals. Many projects are related to this: creation of a motivational system, continuous job satisfaction surveys, improvement of internal communication. I’m also going to introduce a Community Wellbeing Working Group to make suggestions on how to improve life in the theatre,” she continued.
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