|
Interview with Manuel Herrera,
ex-director of Seville's Bienal de Flamenco
"I think it's time for the Bienal
to take another leap"
Silvia Calado Olivo. Seville, June 2003
Manuel Herrera Rodas is leaving as director of Seville's Bienal de Flamenco.
He has made this irrevocable decision coinciding with the change in the political
make-up of Seville City Council - the institution upon which the festival depends
-, after six years at the head of the world's main flamenco festival. He weighs
up the strengths and weaknesses of the management carried out by his team in these
last three editions: on the one hand, he shows the statistical leap made between
1996 and 2002; on the other hand, he insists on pointing out pending matters such
as the festival's provision as its own legal entity, the budget and the availability
of venues. He suggests to his successors that they should "design the model
of the Bienal which is desired in order to afterwards choose the most suitable
formula of management or direction for such objectives".
| |
Manuel Herrera, ex-director of Seville's Bienal de
Flamenco
|
| |
|
Although you've always put your post at the disposal of the institution
which aids the Bienal, why have you decided to leave now?
It isn't a new decision; I've been announcing it for a long time. I came for
a year to solve an urgent problem within a service commission and in 1999 I'm
asked to continue, I'm named area manager. And on June 14, 2003, the day on which
the city councils are dissolved (following the municipal elections in Spain on
May 25th), I've decided to leave. I think it's the ideal moment to make way for
another team. I've achieved some objectives, not all of them, I've worked as hard
as I could and I think that enough time has gone by for one team. There's no exhaustion,
nor confrontation. Objectively, I'm convinced that the objectives have been achieved,
and subjectively, I think it's time for the Bienal to take another leap.
In Seville City Council, the Socialist Party is forming a coalition government
in this legislature with Izquierda Unida (the United Left), instead of with the
Andalusian Party, which had administered the Culture Council during its term of
office. Could it be said that there are political reasons?
No, honestly, there aren't any political reasons. Seville City Council names
me within the framework of the coalition government in the previous legislature.
And history tells us that José Luis Ortiz Nuevo coexisted with Socialist
and Andalusian mayors... There's never been any kind of suggestion for me to leave
or stay. Everyone is responsible within their circumstances. The decision to take
a step backwards is irrevocable because it's bad for the Bienal and bad for flamenco
for a director to get too settled in. I'm aware that it's the ideal moment; there
are no commitments that can affect any companies or artists. The existing agreements
are already signed and the program has been ordered so that in December the projects
are to be put forward. There's no commitment.
How do you weigh up these six years, these three festivals?
Statistically, progress has been made. In audience, in the number of spectators,
it went from 31,000 in 1996 to 65,000 in 2002, without counting programs such
as 'Bienal va por barrios' ('Bienal goes local'), the youth festivals... with
that it surpasses one hundred thousand. It's also gone from 34 to 69 shows, without
counting those parallel programs either. The ticket sales turnover has gone from
219,000 euros to 670,000 euros. And the budget has grown from 730,000 euros to
1,600,000 euros. You have to bear in mind that the Culture Council used to give
25 million pesetas and now it gives shows, that the City Council and the INAEM
(Spain's National Institute for Music and the Performing Arts) have increased
their participation and we have sought another kind of financing by entities such
as Turismo Andaluz (Andalusian Tourism), CajaMadrid (a savings and loan bank),
Supercable...
And that doesn't at all imply any criticism towards the previous director,
José Luis Ortiz Nuevo, who will always have my admiration. The circumstances
are simply different. At that time the director used to be named every year and
those in charge of production were hired for three-month periods. When the Bienal
finished, the whole thing closed down until the next one. We have had a steady
head office, with a team, with a permanent office, with contacts worldwide...
progress has been made because we asked for those conditions, because the Bienal
couldn't go on like that. My commitment went hand in hand with the attainment
of these objectives. Only thus were we in condition to acquire that commitment
and carry it forward.
What remains to be done?
In my opinion, the Bienal needs to be consolidated as a foundation, with its
own legal entity, as a public management or cultural company, like a society...
These things aren't unknown in Andalusia, nor in Seville's City Council, which
has public companies such as Envisesa for housing, Emasesa for water...; and institutional
collaborations such as the Maestranza Theater and the Symphonic Orchestra. One
model that I like a lot is the Granada Music and Dance Festival. There are models
for us to take note of in order to make the Bienal's management more self-governing,
to guarantee its agility. We're going to turn twenty-five years old and the director
can't go on scraping together the budget and seeking voluntary collaborations
when it must all be much more professionalized.
| |
|
|
"The Bienal's director can't go on scraping together the budget
and looking for voluntary collaborations"
|
|
|
The Bienal should have a consolidated budget whether it is municipal or from
an institutional contribution. There must be a given annual sum so that the management
knows how much money it has for all its activities, even if its a pittance compared
to the rest of the public companies.
Nor was I able to attain the complete availability of the stages in the city
and in the rest of Andalusia. The Bienal should be the great reference of flamenco
music and, though it already is, it has to consolidate itself as such, leaving
aside the Sevillian egocentricity. You can't be begging to use the Alcázar
or any other place. The institutions have to sit down and talk about that availability.
It's crazy that there's going to be that monumental Carmen by a Belgian company
at the tobacco factory, at the bullring and other places in mid-September 2004,
just coinciding with the Bienal. Do we overlap shows to compete with ourselves?
Are you sorry to go or relieved?
Sorry. I've made friends; human relations involved in all management, well,
if it isn't based on that, it doesn't make sense. With companies, with artists,
with journalists... I'm sorry about the possibility of not having that closeness
and as you get older, you become more sensitive, but I don't want my heart to
overshadow what intelligence dictates, what is the best for flamenco and for the
Bienal. If anyone wants to follow these vindications, they should make a commitment
before taking over.
Is there any idea about who will be the new team of successors?
People say there are already pesky individuals promoting themselves as indispensable,
but I find those kinds of people repugnant. Another matter is that there's a vacancy
and when the desired model of the Bienal is designed, with certain perspectives,
with a certain presence worldwide and bearing in mind the business generated,
a manager is sought instead of a director from among all the institutions; or
an artistic director and another technician; or a coordinator and hired technicians...
Any formula is OK if you know where you're going. I've said that I was leaving
many times; that's why the good thing, the positive thing to do is to examine
our conscience and see what we want to do, since we are an element of the development
of Seville and Andalusia. We have to analyze what we've done to lay down the foundation.
Besides the logical rest, what projects do you have on the agenda?
I'll still keep up the old itch. We're going to strengthen the Flamenco Thursdays
by the El Monte Foundation (for whose program he is the coordinator), which
will give me the chance to go on in this field. And, if I can, I want to tidy
up my things. I'm a disaster with my files, but I want to recover the sound and
literary documents of that school which we used to do years ago with Tío
Borrico, La Talegona, Manolo Fregenal...
revista@flamenco-world.com
|
