Ignacia Fridl Jarc will not dance

Minister Ignacija Fridl Jarc has announced that the tripartite agreement for the establishment of the Public Institute for Contemporary Dance will not proceed. In a statement released today, she explained that the agreement was incomplete and that the ministry intends to strengthen the field despite these shortcomings. The institute was established during the previous government’s mandate and its contract was signed in April this year. A deputy director was appointed, yet from the outset, ministry staff noted that the agreement was not implementable. According to the minister's latest statement, several observations were made, including the lack of clarity regarding which founder exercises founding rights and which individual founder finances the employees. The agreement also failed to specify how funding would be secured. Upon reviewing the documentation, officials found that the systematisation envisioned 19 positions within the public institute, with two designated for assistant directors. However, other public institutes do not have such privileges, according to the minister. Only three positions were planned for dancers, which does not align with the principles of minimizing bureaucracy and maximizing creativity. Annual salary costs for these employees could reach around 900,000 euros, meaning nearly one million euros less would be available for creative activities, she added. The minister emphasized that the purpose of the institute was more about support and strengthening creativity through network building and assistance with events or decentralizing contemporary dance, which is currently concentrated in Ljubljana. She noted that since the ministry already supports events, they identified overlaps in these areas and decided to withdraw from the agreement. An annex to the agreement, as stated by Fridl Jarc, would not have been sufficient, and the ministry had already informed all involved parties of its decision. Fridl Jarc assured that the funds originally intended for the institute will be fully allocated to contemporary dance in the coming year. The ministry is also considering establishing a separate budget item for contemporary dance and appointing a commission for the development of dance art. They are preparing a restructuring of the network of the Public Fund for Cultural Activities (JSKD) to ensure it manages the networking of creators who operate independently and non-governmental organizations in culture. She argued that it is nonsensical to create new institutions to handle these tasks when the JSKD already employs over 50 people nationwide monthly to manage cultural networking and creativity. The ministry believes that the network should be reorganized and effectively used for these purposes, redirecting the organizational structure to real support for contemporary dance creation. This decision, she clarified, is not directed against contemporary dance but aims to create conditions for its long-term development on solid legal and financial grounds.