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Assistants to Dubrovnik Summer Festival's Artistic Director Appointed

Datum objave: 18.10.2017.

At the suggestion of Dora Ruždjak Podolski, Nina Obuljen Koržinek, Minister of Culture, has appointed assistants to Artistic Director of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Theatre director Saša Božić has been appointed Theatre Programme Director, conductor Tomislav Fačini has been appointed Music Programme Director, and musicologist Karolina Rugle has been appointed Innovative Cultural Practices Director.

- I have chosen three assistants because I believe in teamwork and see the Dubrovnik Summer Festival as a place where creativity is shared and multiplied. Introducing an additional team member, Innovative Cultural Practices Director, I am announcing changes in the programme guidelines, following the trends which the Festival has also developed in the past, and which nowadays indicate the mobility and communicativeness of ideas, attracting new audiences, networking with Croatian and European artists, and exploring new site specific policies focussing on the affirmation of interdisciplinary and educational programmes. With full trust and sharing the same Festival vision and mission, we move together towards our goal to achieve the best possible results in promoting Croatia's greatest artistic values and international recognisability – explained Dora Ruždjak Podolski, Artistic Director.

Saša Božić has carried out a number of independent theatrical projects including The Miser: Plays, a co-production of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and the Lazareti Art Workshop;  Ranko Marinković's Glorija at the ITD Theatre; Henrik Ibsen's Nora at the Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb; Madame Bovary at the Gavella Dramatic Theatre; and The Penultimate Panda or Statics at the Zagreb Youth Theatre. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the De facto Theatre Company, whose projects explore the dividing lines between theatre, dance and performance. He has presented his collaborative projects successfully and on a regular basis at numerous European theatres and national and international festivals. His field of work is diversified and encompasses theatrical direction, dramaturgy, choreography, playwriting, organisation of promotional cultural campaigns, and strategic planning of cultural projects. He is a senior lecturer at the Stage Movement Division of the Acting Department of the Zagreb Academy of Theatre Art.

Tomislav Fačini has appeared with almost all Croatian ensembles. With Symphony Orchestras of the Croatian Radio and Television and the Slovenian Radio and Television he has performed in concerts, released numerous CDs and made recordings for film and phonoarchives. From 2014, he has been Chief Conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, and this year he became Artistic Director of the Croatian Radio and Television Choir. He also serves as Artistic Director of the renowned Antiphonus Ensemble, with which he appeared at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Fačini has conducted a number of modern first performances of works by old Croatian masters and premiered numerous new pieces, using every opportunity to promote Croatian music. He is a full time Professor at the Zagreb Academy of Music’s Conducting, Harp and Percussion Department.

The musicologist Karolina Rugle has written reviews, articles, programme brochures and festival catalogues, and translated texts in the fields of music and musicology. She has served as producer and organiser for Croatian ensembles and orchestras, and several international festivals including the Zagreb Music Biennale, where she has been engaged over the past ten years. She has also worked at the Croatian Composers Society and as producer of the Cantus Ensemble in recent years, taking part in creating programmes of concert seasons, music and music-and-stage projects, the Society’s international collaborations and the Ensemble’s guest appearances, including the European projects. Karolina Rugle has authored a variety of TV programmes and interviews, numerous themed forums and round-table discussions.  An external associate of the Croatian Radio and Television, she works as an author and hostess on the Croatian Radio Channel 3.

The assistants have been appointed on 10 October 2017, and their mandates coincide with the Artistic Director's mandate, i.e. they will remain in their posts until 30 August 2019.