The Royal Theatre “Zetski Dom” became a full member of the European Theatre Convention (ETC), the largest and most important pan-European network of leading public theatres, based on the decision of the General Assembly which was held on May 20, 2022 in Prague, Czech Republic.

The admission document was signed by the president of the network, Serž Rangoni (Serge Rangoni) and the director of “Zetski dom” Ilija Subotić.

Director Subotić says that the membership in the European Theatre Convention is a great success for the Royal Theatre “Zetski dom” because in this way the quality of the work of the oldest Montenegrin state theatre is confirmed, it opens up space for further respectable positioning on the international level, with other concrete benefits, among which are the improvement of cooperation between theatres and artists, reinforcing personnel capacities, development of co-productions and partnerships, striving for new audiences.

President Rangoni recalls the three main goals of the European Theater Convention.

“We know that sector of theatre is mostly national, because theatre speaks its own language, but that is no reason not to join forces. Second, we are witnessing terrible events, but we need to reinforce contacts and colaboration with one another. Third, networking is a great practice for all of us in the theatre world, for our staff, technicians, administration, artists, actors, directors, to learn from one another.”

Network Director Heidi Wiley says that the Royal Theatre “Zetski Dom” has taken a fantastic step by joining the European Theatre Convention.

“It is a fantastic step that the Royal Theatre “Zetski Dom” joined the European Theatre Convention. I believe that it is very important for theatre authors from the former Yugoslavia to be part of the community, for their perspectives and dramatic texts to be visible to our network of colleagues, friends, producers and program managers.”

The European Theatre Convention, based in Berlin, was founded in 1988, reflecting the diversity of the dynamic cultural sector on the European continent.

Through the realization of numerous programs, the benefits of membership refer to the possibility of participating in artistic cooperation and networking in order to develop and realize co-productions and exchange performances, while the projects that ETC has recently launched are focused on theatre for young audiences, new drama, sustainability, digitalization, gender equality and diversity of cultural expressions.

The European Theatre Convention currently has 49 members from 26 countries, with three associated members.

The page of the Royal Theatre “Zetski Dom” on the website of the European Theatre Convention can be visited via the following link:

https://www.europeantheatre.eu/member/royal-theatre-zetski-dom

(video material: TVCG; photo: Jan Hromadko, Zdenĕk Sokol; editing: Vladimir Martinović, translation by Anđela Đurović).