Nashville Jazz Theater festival part of it Nišville Jazz Festival. And so, here it has been for ten years. This jubilee lasts from August 8 to 10 with the message that "we live in a troubled world".
For the artistic director and selector Maja Mitić, the duration of the festival itself becomes an act of resistance: even when there is not enough money and when there is no systemic support, the festival has to happen. "We won't get anything if we don't play, if we're not there, if we withdraw," Mitićeva says.
"WEATHER" At the time of the festival's closure, working conditions that are, to put it mildly, uncertain, what does it mean to hold one festival for ten years?
MAJA MITIC: Festivals today, in our country, practically do not exist, they survive only thanks to the high awareness of artists and cultural workers who, despite the big problems in their implementation, still do them. I'm talking about the awareness of maintaining the "flame", more precisely the importance of duration. In this sense, they have to happen, even if the festival only consists of two plays, two films or two concerts. This is how the festival's tradition, duration, and history are preserved. And so they will wait for better times to be realized in full capacity. It is simply futile to talk about the support of the Ministry of Culture, because all this is happening is a big show played by the state, where the appearance of functioning is created, such as the announcement of the competition and the announcement of the results (for the current year, published in July!!!). Nishville, a festival that is taking place for the thirty-second time, was rejected on the grounds that he could realize the festival with his own funds. Support is given to people and groups we didn't even know existed, which have no duration and no results. It is the same in other spheres of culture. It feels like the state is punishing artists because they raised their voice against corruption and everything that happens in the state, where we are all threatened, and the government is also threatened in some way - look at the tragedy that happened in Novi Sad, literally anyone could have been under the canopy. I want to say - we could talk about the issue of system support if we were now, for example, in Germany, so we were thinking, criticizing, discussing how much and what kind of support that is. It's just not here. Systemic support for culture also existed during Milosevic's time in the nineties. Back then, almost two percent of the budget was set aside for culture, now it's probably a little over 0,5. Only independent festivals like Nashville, Desire survive, using their resources.
And yet, this year's program of your festival is both diverse and rich.
I really know the people I invite to the Nashville Theater Festival. They are not only my colleagues, they also want to help. Like last year, Milo Rau came to Ne:Bitef at the invitation of Miloš Lolic because they are colleagues, because Rau is clear about what he supports. We also use this approach and strategy at the Nashville Jazz Theater Festival. Many of the artists who come to the festival are my longtime collaborators, colleagues, and friends. For example, Kathy Randles from ArtSpot Production from New Orleans is with us this year. We will be doing a play through a project involving musicians from New Orleans, musicians from the Nashville Jazz Band, actors, dancers, and the two of us will be directing and on stage. The topic is the preservation of tradition, the tradition of making brandy in this case, but I am afraid that we, right now, are losing the tradition of culture in this country.
International festivals are financially sustainable. I don't know why it is constantly lost sight of that when guests from the international scene come, they generate a large VAT for the state, because those people who come to the festival, and the audience from all over the country and abroad come to Nis, they all sleep somewhere and eat somewhere, and the state receives VAT on that expense. That round is really profitable financially - the state gets back the invested money. Now, why is there no system support anyway? Well, there is no good answer. I feel that it is like some personal whim of the ruling elite, those who lead the country and in general the entire establishment that is currently in power, because there is absolutely no economic logic.
An anniversary is an occasion for memories.. How the music festival embraced the theater?
From the beginning, Nashville grew as a festival that transcended just one genre. And from the need for expansion, this International Jazz Theater Festival was born. It was launched in 2017, when there was no political and social upheaval that occurred with the fall of the canopy, although many of us were aware even then that as a country we were not going (again) in the right direction. It is based on the Nashville Jazz Festival, something of high quality and recognized in the world, and that helps in the birth of something new. I will make a digression for the sake of a parallel: this is how this current Fest could rely on the one from the time of Yugoslavia, which had guests like Miloš Forman, Wim Wenders and not to mention... and not to shut it down. I know for sure from my friend Nevena Đonlić, who spent her entire working life in the Sava Center's film editorial office, which worked on the FEST, that during the reconstruction of the Sava Center, she went and collected scattered, thrown, trampled photos of various editions of our internationally recognized Fest from the floor of the Sava Center. Nobody came to archive it because of the concern of the state, the city, cultural institutions. I don't understand that. We go, we travel, we visit museums, we know what tradition is. Such history must be preserved, it is all part of our culture, our duration - it is sad what is happening to Fest. It is visible what is happening and that it was directed from the center of political power, and it is clear to everyone that the government does not want to help culture, that it does not recognize national identity through culture, or they do not care at all, and that this is a punishment to culture for supporting students. National identity is language, it is exchange, it is respect for diversity, it is to hear others and for someone to hear me. I just hope we don't become North Korea and become totally isolated from the world.
Festivals like Nishville work and persevere, as its founder and director Ivan Blagojević said, on masochism. We are persistent and determined to endure the difficult times, we know that the festival must flow in order to survive and last.
What criteria must a performance meet in order to become part of the program??
From the beginning, the basic criterion for the selection of plays was that they are socially engaged and that music plays an essential dramaturgical role in them, that it is not just an accompaniment, but an active element of the stage language. Through dramaturgy, as well as jazz, contemporary theater rests on rhythm, improvisation, dialogue, freedom and the exploration of new possibilities of expression. After all, in my opinion, jazz can be the rhythm of a performance without the performance having a single note.
How do you see Nashville in ten years??
The budget for culture must definitely be bigger. And I would really like our country to be decentralized. And I would like the festival to expand, and for the City to expand the festival - well, there are still three or four powder rooms in the Niš fortress that are falling into disrepair, which are used as public toilets. They are in places where scenes could be made. The festival could last throughout the year, if there was at least one performance per month, one concert. That the troupes that come to the festival stay longer, that they can hold workshops, meet local artists, and pass on knowledge. So, I'm not interested, and I don't think anyone in the culture is interested in just playing the show and going home.
One is always wondering whether to play or not to play. And yet, I really think that festivals are the only free zones where we meet ourselves, others, works, where we exchange something, ask a question, because we won't get anything if we don't play, if we're not there, if we withdraw. That is resistance, when you choose what and in what way despite everything - you do!
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