“As a child I always liked entertainment and politics. When Javier Milei came to see the show I produced with Ángel Mahler I told him that I come and go; “It’s good to go out and come in while you can, I don’t aspire to stay in a position forever, I go out and continue producing theater,” Leonardo Cifelli told this newspaper., theatrical producer who will take over as Secretary of Culture of the Nation (since it will cease to be the Ministry and will become the Secretariat) as of December 10.
Cifelli produced, among others, “Dracula, The Musical”, “Mincemeat”, “Endorphin Monologues”, “The Hunchback of Paris”, “The Prodigious Shoemaker”, “One Thousand and One Nights”, “Dorian Gray , the portrait”, “Priscilla the queen of the desert”, “First Ladies of the musical”, and “More respect that I am your mother”, and made national and international tours with Enrique Pinti, Pepe Soriano, China Zorrilla, Antonio Gasalla and Carlos Perciavalle. He will be producer along with Carlos Rottemberg of “La Fuerza del Affection”, with Soledad Silveyra and Osvaldo Laport, which premieres in January at the Multiteatro although he already anticipated that his colleague Ángel Mahler will be fully responsible for this production. We dialogue with him.
Journalist: You said that you were confident that there would be no budget cuts to Culture or closure of institutions such as the INCAA or the National Theater Institute (INT).
Leonardo Cifelli: The culture budget for next year has not yet been approved but the president-elect has already said that it is not a large budget to make a big cut. With the money we have we must make it worth more, an artist cannot come, no matter who, and charge fortunes. In the same way we will welcome everyone regardless of their ideology; I am not going to make those differences under any circumstances as they did in the summer in the Auditorium. I know this because I did a season there, I saw the billboard and noticed that they were artists related to the government, except Graciela Borges. I make constructive criticism and say that everyone comes, and that you cannot pay more cachet than you pay in the private sector. I know about this because I live from this; I know about lights, sound, I know what is charged and I don’t see why the State should pay double or triple. The country is not here to pay fortunes for gigantic recitals. I did it in the City, which has more money and those were different times, in 2017, but you cannot summon a mega figure and pay millions for people to go, there are many other ways to attract an audience.
Q.: What will happen to the Cervantes Theater and other institutions in the face of the announced wave of privatizations?
LC: I didn’t have any downtime, they told me “come and do it”. For the Cervantes I want works by national authors and I work for the 95% of actors who don’t work because they are always the same. I understand that you have to cast some renowned figure but then you have to go out and look for actors who don’t have work. I called Solita Silveyra and Osvaldo Laport to sell tickets to “The Force of Affection”, but the objective is to give work to those who do not have work and promote “Your First Work”, which an author can premiere with directors and an important cast.
Q.: What will you do with the many aids to cinema or theater that, however, are not enough?
LC: We will not get any subsidies, the budget will be rearranged and instead of paying 30 million to artists, they will be paid 1 million and the rest will go to subsidies. Rest assured, I am a manager, I know the independent sector and they gave me complete confidence to execute my plan.
Q: What does your plan consist of?
LC: For example, in the field of music, the tax situation puts producers and artists at a disadvantage who, unlike theater, pay Profits and Gross Income. We will raise a project so that the sector is free of these taxes, as it already has. does the theater. We plan to provide locations for artists to make their presentations throughout the country, we will promote the federalism of culture. We want to articulate with the provincial governments a patronage system at the national level as there is in Buenos Aires, and urge that the provinces also contribute.
Q: You said that stable orchestras or ballets are a big cost but that they must be federalized and taken to the entire country. What is the project like?
LC: I would like them to go out and play more, within the possibilities, we must redistribute resources and send orchestras to play around the country, with the help of the governments of each province or city, I know that it is an expensive issue. I usually go on tours around the country and you don’t lose money if you organize it well, we had done it with the Colón and instead of paying the full hotel rate we paid half.
Q.: You said you want Alejandro Tantanián for CCK and Alberto Ligaluppi for Cervantes, any other names?
LC: I offered them but nothing is confirmed, we agreed
finish talking these days.
Q.: How are platforms encouraged and incentivized to film in Argentina when cash rebates in Uruguay or others like Colombia or Chile make Argentines themselves go to film there?
LC: It’s crazy that it’s not filmed here. It will be encouraged with aid of various types, lowering taxes, we must give them a hand and have them come and film. It cannot be that with the country, places and resources we have so little is done. I also think about contributing with the catering, hotel, transfers, making agreements so that it is attractive to come to film and for the Glacier or the Falls to be shown in series to the world.
Q: What relationship do you have with the unions involved in cultural activity?
LC: We will have to do good management, talk to unions and reach an agreement among all.
Q.: A good part of the artists campaigned, on the networks and in the streets, against Milei. Now phrases from Gramsci or Vonnegut are circulating calling for resistance. How will it coexist with a largely oppositional world of culture?
LC: Resist what if we still haven’t done anything? I repeat: I had no downgrades, they looked at my proposal and didn’t tell me anything. Give us a chance. If I go crazy or do something harmful, then resist.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
