Opera artists protest outside Government

Tens of artists of the National Opera and Ballet Theater (TNOB) “Maria Biesu” protested on Thursday, August 30, outside the Government building, unhappy with their low wages. The complained about Theater’s director Valeria Seican, saying that their wages were halved since her appointment. “We’re down. People’s artists have salaries of 2000 lei and people don’t have money for transport to work. It’s impossible to survive. The director has never heard us”, declared Elena Gherman, people’s artist. People’s artist Valeriu Cojocaru said the poor material situation made them take to the streets, because a wellbeing man has no reason to protest. The artist added that the director’s attitude towards the theater staff is unsatisfactory. She promises that the situation will improve, but does nothing. “We want the Government to hear us and see our situation”, declared the artist. “This is humiliating for us, but we don’t know how to survive”, said Aurelia Ciobanu, vocalist of the TNOB. Choir singer Maria Turta said that wages dropped since 2009 and they weren’t too high from the beginning. “We come to the Theater several times a day. We hardly have money for transport, but we also have families, children. It is the only opera theater in Moldova. The artists performed on Europe’s most important stages”, she stressed. The protesters displayed placards with messages: “We want our wages back at the 2009-level!”, “Our salaries are 1500-2000 lei”, “A country without culture is a country without future”, etc. The artists declared that Minister of Culture Boris Focsa promised them that a general meeting, with the participation of the whole staff and of the director, would be organized on September 20. The artists asked that Prime Minister Vlad Filat attended the meeting as well. Previously, Valeria Seican told Info-Prim Neo that accusations against her were a result of an excess of emotions and explained that it was the Government, not her, who decided to cut the salaries of artists.