Matej Drlička (August 1, 2020) (source: TASR)
Matej Drlička, the manager and director of the festival Viva Musica!, will be the new director of the Slovak National Theatre (SND)
The committee chose him out of five candidates who applied and underwent three rounds of the selection procedure. The committee recommended him to the Culture Minister Natália Milanová, who will decide about the appointment in the upcoming days.
Drlička and his team should start work on January 1.
Economic situation of SND
The first and most important step for Drlička is to stabilise the financial situation, the Sme daily wrote.
SND has huge problems with basic financial control and financial management. It also needs crisis management, he said.SND has huge problems with basic financial control and financial management. It also needs crisis management, he said.
Drlička’s new financial manager is Matej Bošňák, a leading partner at the EY company, while the new internal auditor is Paul Johannes Maria van Dongen.
Drlička claims that they both have extensive knowledge of the problems of SND and they are ready to leave their business lives. He expects they will stabilise the economic, financial and organisational structure of SND.
Unrealistic budget
Drlička emphasised several times during the public hearing that he does not consider a budget of 16.8 million for SND in 2021 to be realistic and does not plan to accept it. He added the salaries and levies of the SND alone equate to about €21 million.
“At this moment, the new director enters the institutions knowing that he has a €4.4 million deficit in the budget and he has not even turned on the light in his office,” Drlička said, as quoted by TASR.
He plans to do an audit in SND, which should result in a realistic budget for 2021, and he wants to sign the contract with a ministry.
He also plans to check on human resources, finances, contracts, the state of technical equipment and do an inventory check of the property.
Drlička would also like to connect the artistic and technical units of the individual ensembles with artistic workshops. He proposes to create an online streaming platform similar to Netflix and HBO GO that would offer all plays and concerts of all ensembles.
Matej Drlička (44)
He studied the clarinet at the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMÚ).
As an orchestra clarinet player, he performed in Opera de Paris, Orchestra National de France and Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
He works as a manager in the creative industry, dramaturge, producer and organiser of big cultural and social events.
In 2005, he founded and became a director of the festival Viva Musica!
Since 2017, he has co-operated with the worldwide digital streaming platform IDAGIO.
In 2019, he founded IXPO – the festival of science and technology.
He is a bearer of the Award of Bratislava Mayor and Personality of Bratislava.
