The Board of Trustees of the Palau de les Arts has approved the members of the management body and the announcement of an open recruitment procedure for the position of artistic director.
The Board comprises 17 members, 6 from Valencian civil society and 11 from institutional bodies. The promoter of the Fundació Per Amor a l’Art, Susana Lloret, has been confirmed as President of the Board. The new members are: former director of the Prince Felipe Research Centre, Isabel Muñoz; the former Minister of Culture and patron of the Teatro Real de Madrid, Carmen Alborch; the co-president of the Valencian Infertility Institute (IVI), José Remohí; the CEO of Dulcesol, Rafael Juan; and the president of Amics de l’Òpera i de les Arts de la Comunitat Valenciana, Pablo Font de Mora.
With regard to institutional representation, President Ximo Puig holds the honorary presidency and the members who complete the Board of Trustees of the Palau de les Arts Foundation are: the Regional Minister of Education, Research, Culture and Sport, Vicent Marzà; the Regional Secretary of Culture and Sport, Albert Girona; the Regional Secretary of Finance, Clara Ferrando; the Regional Secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer; the Director General of Culture and Heritage, Carmen Amoraga; the Director General of the Public Sector, Juan Ángel Poyatos; the Undersecretary of the Regional Ministry of Education, Research, Culture and Sport, José Villar; the Director General of the Valencian Institute of Culture, Abel Guarinos; and the member of the Valencian Council of Culture, Ramon Roselló. Both the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and INAEM also have two seats on the Board.
The current trustees of Les Arts shall serve terms of five years and may be re-elected indefinitely.
Artistic Director of Les Arts
The new Board has approved the rules, in line with the Code of Good Practices in Valencian Culture, for selecting candidates for the position of artistic director of the opera house.
The Les Arts Foundation has also appointed the committee that will be evaluating the different candidates. This committee will comprise 9 members. As stipulated in the Code of Good Practices in Valencian Culture, three are institutional representatives, three are experts from the world of music and culture, and three are representatives of civil society.
Representing the world of music and culture will be Christina Scheppelmann, artistic director of the Liceo de Barcelona, Joan Matabosch, artistic director of the Teatro Real de Madrid, and Ana Luisa Chova, professor of singing at the Valencia Music Conservatory
The representatives of civil society will be Pablo Font de Mora, president of Amics de l’Òpera i de les Arts de la Comunitat Valenciana, Ramon Roselló, of the Valencian Council of Culture, and Vicent Ros, director of the Palau de la Música de València.
Susana Lloret, president of the Les Arts Board of Trustees, Marga Landete, IVC Deputy Director of Music and Popular Culture, and José Villar, Undersecretary of the Regional Ministry of Education, Research, Culture and Sport, will make up the institutional representation on the committee.
Evaluation of the candidates
Each candidate must present a project with his/her artistic proposal and how it will be managed. The project must include the proposal for the next two seasons and the main programming strands up to the end of the contract.
The proposal must include all the performance spaces of Les Arts and be related to operatic as well as to musical, choreographic and performance programming in all its varieties.
Candidates’ projects must also include strategies designed to make Les Arts a space for internationalisation and operatic excellence, to use the space to its fullest potential and across all disciplines, and to offer a symphonic programme for the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana. In addition, the project must include a proposal to enhance the profile of the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo and a specific project for the technical and educational teams.
The committee will evaluate the relevant specific training of the candidates, their musical knowledge, international experience and experience on educational projects; their ability to adapt to the current artistic approach of Les Arts and their capacity for artistic innovation and management; team leadership capacity; a proven track record and their national and international opera network, public relations skills related to the world of opera, and an understanding of the management and economics of programming to be able to deliver financially sustainable content.
Applications and requirements
The announcement for an artistic director will be published in the coming days in the “Diari Oficial de la Generalitat Valenciana” (DOGV). The deadline for submitting applications will be 30 calendar days from the day following its publication in the DOGV.
The successful candidate will sign a senior management contract, for a period of 4 years, renewable for 4 more years after a performance appraisal.
The gross annual salary will be between 120,000 and 135,000 euros, according to the functions assigned to the role.
