The National Ballet is left without financing for 3 months. They write Haradinaj and Wessel

Kosovo's National Ballet through a public letter to the Speaker of the Parliament, Kadri Veselin, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and Culture Minister Kujtim Gashi have said they are obliged to review the continuation of the event, as it has been suspended from funding and has completely plunged into collapse their institution, seriously risking the realisation of our agenda as an institution.

NJOFTIM

Chairman of Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Kadri Wessel

Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Ramush Haradinaj

Minister of Culture Youth and Sports, Mr. Remember Gashi

Your Honor, Prime Minister. Haradinaj and Minister. Gashi,

Kosovo's National Ballet is directed through this announcement concerning the disturbing situation, which has been ruling in the last three months in the Culture Institutions, which has included the Kosovo National Ballet.

The Kosovo National Ballet has been out of funding for three months and has completely plunged into our institution's collapse, seriously jeopardising the realisation of our agenda as institution.

Agreements with artists and Festivals abroad and tours across Europe, which the BKK has planned and put into the agenda for 2018, are endangered as a result of the budget impasse, and this created situation has questioned the functioning and credibility of the Kosovo National Ballet.

We remind you that the BKK has a confirmed reputation both inside and abroad as a serious institution, which only in this year, was presented with performances in different European centres as in; Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Graz, Sveti Vlas (Bulgaria) etc, and the failure to establish preliminary agreements with national and international partners will be fatal for the journey, as well as many problems of the Kosovo National Ballet.

Mr. Corographer. Israel Rodriguez, has travelled from the US to Pristina on August 25th, 2018, to fulfill the BKK's next premiere, which will be October 4th, and I have to let you know that our institution, due to the budget block, cannot be able to make a commitment to guests.

BKK date 13 September will travel to Bulgaria's Russian city of Ruse, as guests to perform the “Juliet saw Romeo”, and at the moment we have no means to realise this journey.

In October, the BKK will travel for the first time to Finland, where it will tour four Finnish cities with a “legend of love”, a tour which was planned more than a year ago, and the recently created situation seriously jeopardises the realisation of this valuable tournament, not just for us as the Institute, but for the culture of our country.

Honored, we recommend that the National Ballet of Kosovo, since the war, has developed its activity in serious conditions, and thanks to the will and the desire to maintain this valuable institution for our country, we have done everything we can, working beyond the conditions that have been offered, hoping that difficulties will go by reducing.

Unfortunately, in recent days the opposite has happened. The situation we are in at the moment is extremely desperate for us because it is impossible and paralyses the entire activity and implementation of our projects, questioning the labor and sacrifice we've made for years, so that the Kosovo National Ballet can enjoy the respect it has today.

Our colleagues from other institutions are on strike for not realising their demands, which as such as the institution we support, but without interrupting work, because the art we develop is physical art and every lost day is extremely harmful to the realization of performances.

The regulation which is under way, for the rise in performance wages, we think it's discriminated against some of the cultural institutions, and as such we don't think it will solve the wage problem for performers.

Your Honoring Prime Minister and Minister, we as artists are bound and committed to maintain the values of institutions we belong to, because we have shed sweat in severe conditions, to create respect and values, but this situation cannot continue indefinitely, because we cannot get out of ourselves and do miracles and with deep concern we inform you that we as bodies, pushed from this heavy situation created, are obliged to tear off the continuation of our activity as a dancer.

Hopefully, this situation will be resolved as soon as possible for our common good!

With respect,

Kosovo National Ballet