Mit - Index

Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_09_št.13 - Index

ThE OLD CITy CENTRE’S ImAGE. DO yOU
ALSO DO ThAT?
I do, but I am not that influential yet and I don’t think of myself as
the soul of the old city centre’s image. But I do try to continue his
work with dignity and develop the project further.
yOU hAVE BEEN ThE DIRECTOR fOR ThE
LAST fOUR yEARS. hAS mR. LORENz,
SAD TO SAy DECEASED, SEEN A NEw,
COmPETENT POwER IN yOU, whO COULD
GUIDE ThE SOCIETy fORwARD? hOw DID
yOUR COOPERATION BEGIN?
The cooperation began by coincidence. When I visited Prof. Lorenz
regarding some other project, we realized we shared a very similar
opinion on a number of things, even music, although we came
from different musical worlds. I had always been attracted by art,
so it wasn’t difficult to persuade me to join the project and take
over its business management.
yOU hAVE OBVIOUSLy BEEN SUCCESSfUL,
BECAUSE ThE SOCIETy hAS CLImBED
OUT Of ThE RED. hOw DO yOU SOLVE
yOUR fINANCIAL PROBLEmS, GIVEN ThAT
yOURS IS A NON-PROfIT ORGANISATION?
Most non-governmental cultural organisations have problems
funding their projects. Our Institution and the Society are no
exceptions, as they have been very poorly supported by official
institutions. Most of our funds had to be acquired from sponsors
and donors, which can be quite hard for cultural projects of this
size. Creative people in their creative passion and desire for the
highest quality events possible can quickly outgrow their financial
plans and run out of money. That is the reason I started a serious
rehabilitation and reorganization immediately after I arrived, which
will be concluded this year. The rehabilitation of a non-profit
organization can be quite strenuous and wouldn’t be possible
without the support and understanding of a number of artists and
sponsors, to whom I would like to extend special thanks.
Our financial management has been stable for a number of years.
I prepare a serious financial projection for every project and that
is the basis for all planning. Our organisational structure is very
rational, we have a very small full-time team and we include coworkers
from outside when needed. There is also a lot of voluntary
work done.
ImAGO UNITES TwENTy SLOVENE
mUNICIPALITIES AND ThIS, TOO, mAkES
IT A BIG PIECE Of CAkE: CONCERTS
TAkE PLACE ThROUGhOUT ThE yEAR, A
NUmBER Of ThEm IN ThE SUmmER. hOw
DO yOU wORk?
Imago Sloveniae is a cultural network, ranging from Lendava to
Nova Gorica and from Kranjska gora to Metlika. A number of
projects run within this framework, most of them during the
33
P e o P L e
summer, because the majority of our concerts take place outside
and in unconventional surroundings such as old city centres, squares,
atriums, castles, museums, churches,...To name a few of our most
extensive cycles: Imago Summer (around Slovenia), Summer in Old
Ljubljana, a Cycle of Christmas Concerts and Imago Young Talents.
We manage around a hundred and twenty concerts annually, with
more than one thousand musicians, which points to bigger groups.
This year our programs included seven symphonic orchestras, four
from Slovenia and three from abroad. We also cooperated in the
organisation of the concert commemorating the centennial of the
Slovene Philharmonic on Kongresni trg square in Ljubljana, which
reverberated across Ljubljana It often happens that there are a few
concerts taking place at the same time in different towns around
Slovenia and abroad.
This year’s summer season was very successful - let me just mention
two very interesting events: the concert by the Slovene Philharmonic
Orchestra in Logarska valley, and a visit by the Ljubljana opera,
soloists, choir and orchestra to Opatija, Croatia.
IT IS COmmENDABLE TO BRING TOP-
CLASS mUSICIANS ‘TO EVERy SLOVENE
VILLAGE’, AND IT IS ALSO A GREAT
SUCCESS TO PERfORm ABROAD. BUT
DO PEOPLE OUTSIDE Of ThE BIGGER
CONCERT CENTRES wANT SERIOUS
mUSIC, DO ThEy UNDERSTAND IT, ARE
CONCERTS wELL ATTENDED?
I don’t think we should ever underestimate the audience. Even
uneducated people are convinced by art on the highest level, by the
sincerity of performers. Our concerts, even the most demanding
chamber music concerts, are very well attended. In small towns,
even we are surprised some times over the number of visitors. One
of these is undoubtedly ©entrupert in the Dolenjska region, which
has a long tradition of classical music concerts (the mayor says even
from medieval times).
‘A CONSTANT CULTURAL INITIATIVE
CREATES CULTURAL NEEDS’
(mALINOwSkI). A wELL ATTENDED EVENT
AND GOOD REACTION fROm ThE PUBLIC
IS SURELy ThE GREATEST AwARD fOR
ThE ORGANIzERS. IN whAT wAy CAN yOU
BRING SERIOUS mUSIC TO PEOPLE whO
ARE BASICALLy NOT INTERESTED IN IT?
In the right way. Unobtrusively. The approaches are different,
according to the target audience.
SO yOUR TASk IS ALSO TO EDUCATE
PEOPLE, TO REVEAL NEw POSSIBILITIES,
NEw DImENSIONS Of mUSIC?
All serious musical projects must have an educational tendency, a
tendency to raise the cultural level. This is one of the missions of
Imago Sloveniae − to popularise and promote serious musical art.
13 sinfo