Recently, the independent theater group Teater Tropos in Västerås announced that, after 25 years, it has become impossible to continue operations.
It was not an easy decision to make. Overwhelming is an understatement, says Conny Petersén, who has run Teater Tropos together with his wife Lina Petersén.
Decreased grants, increased costs
The economic situation is forcing Teater Tropos to shut down.
We have managed on small grants all these years. But in the cultural sector, grant levels are not being increased. At the same time, costs are rising. We have an inflation that increases the pressure while the state is reducing the cultural budget. Then it's no longer possible, says Conny Petersén.
Teater Tropos has mainly focused on theater for children and young people. Conny Petersén believes that municipalities' investments in school theater have decreased drastically and in many cases been completely withdrawn.
Unfortunately, I think many municipalities took the opportunity to get rid of an expense in connection with the pandemic.
Until the end of the year, Teater Tropos was a member of the organization Teatercentrum, which gathers the independent professional theaters in Sweden. The interest organization notes an increased anxiety among its approximately 100 members.
Theater ambulance on Gotland, Teater Soja in Sundsvall, and Teater Fredag in Nacka have already shut down, others are considering it but may not want to talk about it, says Theodor Ryan, who is the chairman of Teatercentrum.
Threatened infrastructure
Theodor Ryan fears that the shutdowns will mean that many young artists will never get the opportunity to stage good performing arts performances. Furthermore, the entire infrastructure of the independent theater, with support from the state and municipalities, is being threatened:
When a municipality decides not to have a cultural coordinator who buys performances for schools, both important expertise and a large network are lost.
The damage will be difficult to repair, and the independent theater groups' work with schools in the country will not be easy to replace in any other way, he believes:
This is a serious threat to live theater for children and young people in rural areas. An independent theater group that can travel to a school and perform for students cannot be easily replaced by theater institutions.
Theodor Ryan is afraid that this acute situation will only worsen.
Municipalities that have chosen to invest in culture, despite the state's cultural budget cuts, are being put under increasing pressure. If this continues at this pace, the independent theater art will have difficulty surviving.
Mats Almegård/TT
Facts: Background
TT
In a series of articles, we are highlighting cultural institutions and cultural practitioners whose operations are threatened by strained economies.
The prerequisites:
The pandemic grants that many cultural institutions received during the pandemic have ceased.
In the wake of the economic crisis, several cultural actors have been affected by increased rents.
The 2023 cultural budget resulted in abolished, reduced, or stagnant grants for several cultural actors.
Politically, discussions have been held about increased private financing of culture, which has led to debates about the role and function of culture – as an end in itself or as an engine for growth.
Teatercentrum defines an independent theater group as someone who is their own principal: those who create theater also own it. This can, for example, involve associations or companies.
An independent theater group is active outside the established institutions.
The first Swedish independent theater group, Narren, was formed in 1965. During the 1960s and 1970s, many independent theater groups emerged to be able to produce theater that, for political and ideological reasons, could not be produced within an institution.
Many independent theater groups focus on children's and youth theater.
Teatercentrum is the independent professional theaters' cooperative, interest, and information organization. Teatercentrum today gathers over 100 independent theaters that perform over 10,000 performances for more than 700,000 people each year.
There are more independent theater groups in Sweden, but Teatercentrum gathers most of those who work continuously.
Sources: NE.se, teatercentrum.se
