DUSHANBE, April 3, Asia-Plus – Managers of Tajik theatres hold that although Tajikistan has increased financing of the cultural sector as a whole and theatres in particular, the funds earmarked for development of theatres are not enough.
Jumakhon Nazriyev the head of the department of forecasts and analysis of the Ministry of Culture (MoC), said in an interview with Asia-Plus that the country’s budget has projects expenditure of 4.1043 million somonis on maintaining six theatres in the country this year, which is 450,000 somonis more than last year.
According to him, the funds provided from the republican budget are earmarked only for five theatres in Dushanbe and theatre of the Danghara district, while other theatres of Tajikistan are funded from the regional budgets. “These funds, mainly, go to maintaining theatres and paying wages of their employees,” the MoC official said.
“Thus, the country’s budget has earmarked 867,239 somonis for the Dushanbe Russian Drama Theatre named after Vladimir Mayakovsky for this year, which is 2.2 times more compared to last year,” Nazriyev said, noting that it is connected with major repairs to the theatre set for this year.
He noted that this year, the budget has projected the highest expenditures on the Opera and Ballet Theatre – 1.7766 million somonis. “These funds will be spent primarily on continuation of major repairs to the theatre’s building,” Nazriyev noted.
The Dushanbe Russian Theatre director Suhrob Mirzoyev noted that although funds earmarked for theatres had increased “but these funds are sufficient only for covering economic needs and we are experiencing shortage of funds to stage performances.”
He added that sometimes, international organizations active in the country are providing assistance to them. “Thus, we recently won a contest conducted by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Tajikistan and received a $5,000 grant for staging the performance “Carmen” based on a novel of the same name by known French dramatist and short story writer Prosper Merimee,” Suhrob Mirzoyev said, noting that the first night is scheduled for late July.
Problems facing Tajik theatres are supposed to be discussed at roundtable meetings that will be held on sidelines of an international theatre festival Novrouz-2007 that will be held in Dushanbe from April 5-10.
According to the MoC, 16 professional theatres currently function in Tajikistan: six in Dushanbe; six in the Sughd province; three in Khatlon and one in Gorno Badakhshan.
