"We are doing everything in our power to make the festival come true," said Vladimir Rukavina, Manager of Narodni dom Maribor. Uroš Grilc, Minister of Culture, and Maribor Mayor Andrej Fištravec on April 25 did agree to find the missing 220,000 EUR needed for the realisation of the festival. Although the minister is presently performing only the regular duties, the agreement should not be endangered. The Ministry claims that the proposal is considered a part of the regular duties of the government, as its adoption is necessary for a successful completion of a cultural programme of wider importance.

The Ministry is still studying the material, and presumably this week the government material should be prepared, by which it will propose to the government a decision that Lent Festival this year exceeds the local importance. "If the government adopts the decision, we will dedicate a certain part of the funds for this year's festival and its projects. The amount will be known after the government discussion," wrote the Ministry. The Maribor municipality refrains from naming the actual numbers.

The Festival will be held between June 20 and July 5
Rukavina hopes that the government will make a decision concerning Lent Festival, which is scheduled for the period between June 20 and July 5, next week, while in the meantime the organizer is trying to find additional sponsor resources. These have lately become rather scarce, therefore the Festival is more and more heavily leaning on public funds.

"We still today can't say with any certainty whether the number we wrote in our programme can be reached or not," said the manager. "We still hesitate to sign contracts with some of the performers, at least until the participation of the city and the state is clarified."
The board of the Narodni dom Maribor institute finally gave a statement – and some claim that, considering the financial problems Lent Festival is facing each and every time, it is not doing its job. In the joint statement the members of the board said that every year they adopt the programme and the reports on the work of the institute, and that they have all the necessary information. "We don't interfere with the responsibility and competence of the institute management, but we do supervise the legality of work, and the operation of the institute, and are taking care of the realization of the public interest," they emphasize. They also say that the operation of the institute is annually inspected by the auditing organisation, and no irregularities have been found.

The sponsor resources decreasing
Andrej Verlič, president of the institute board, believes that all the involved will do everything in their power to assure that this year Lent Festival could be organized without disturbance, in spite of the problems. According to him the problems are mainly caused by the lack of sponsor resources, which is caused by the general economic crisis. He is convinced that streamlining has already been done by the management of the Narodni dom Maribor, "but there is a limit under which we simply can't go; a certain amount of funds is required in order to realize such a concept".

Verlič: It's the municipality move
Verliča says that now the move must be made by the founder, i.e. the city municipality of Maribor. "It is not any more the original role of the institute's board, or of the Narodni dom management. The founder must establish whether Lent Festival is needed, and if so, whether the founder is capable, and willing, to finance it in such extent. The problem can't be solved if the city council hides from the topic," said Verlič at today's press conference.

According to Janez Ujčič, member of the institute board, the main problem hides in the fact that the local programme for culture was not adopted, by which the priorities and consequently the role Lent Festival has in the city would be defined.

K. T.
Translated by G. K.