The Budapest-based Hungarian National Theatre is to host the “Madách International Theatre Meeting” (MITEM) for the first time with the participation of companies from 11 Central European Countries between March 26 and April 7, Director of the National Theatre Attila Vidnyánszky announced at a press conference on Monday.

Mr. Vidnyánszky said the MIDEM is not a competition; the main concept is for the Meeting to function as a means for theatres to exchange professional experiences, get to know each other better and to bring different national cultures closer together.

In this first year of the MITEM, the guest of honour will be Russia, with the opening performance presented by the Alexandrinsky Theatre from St. Petersburg, Russia. Other participants include theatres from Moscow, Baghdad, Novi Sad, Vilnius, Bucharest and Oslo.

State Minister for Culture János Halász said at the press conference that the Government had decided to provide 200 million forints (EUR 657,000) in funding to the festival last year, as part of a total 1.65 billion forints (EUR 5.4 million) in state subsidies for the 2014 Budapest Spring Festival.

Mr. Halász said the festival could be instrumental in putting Hungarian theatres on the world map.

(Ministry of Human Resources)