OVADA. On Monday evening 1 November the autumn edition of the Rebora Festival ended, which with three concerts (10 and 17 October and 1 November, in fact) celebrated the reopening of the Municipal Theater of Ovada, inactive since 2012.
But now that the lights on the exhibition have gone out, what will become of the hall in Corso della Libertà, which Palazzo Delfino has refurbished with difficulty and for which you are looking for a manager? “There is no risk of staying still for a long time. By December, when we have the Christmas Concert, whoever will take care of the structure for the next few years will already be in charge “promises the councilor for Culture, Roberta Pareto, who has followed the long process for the reopening of the theater, locked for almost a decade.
To tell the truth, the name of the new manager was expected before 1 October, the date on which Palazzo Delfino had planned to trigger the agreement, with a three-year duration. But operations are getting longer than expected.
The Municipality has done its part. After having launched an investigation to collect the “expressions of interest”, he sent the four names of the subjects found suitable after the verifications to the Province, so that it could deal with the actual tender and arrive at the assignment. It was late summer and there was still the hope of making it in time for the reopening of 10 October, the first date of the Rebora Festival, but it wasn’t like that.
So much so that the Municipality had to rush to entrust pro tempore the management of the three evenings to the specialized company Alesbet, which is headed by Circuito Cinema Genova and, with it, also the current management of the Splendor in via Buffa, for a total cost of almost 10 thousand euros.
Now it is expected that from Palazzo Ghilini the definitive indications on the name of who has won the game of the management of the Municipal will arrive. «On September 29, the deadlines were closed for the four interested parties and contacted by the Province to send the formal proposals to Alessandria – explains the commissioner Pareto -. During this week, I think that the competition commission will be able to meet to arrive at the outcome of the procedure and give us the name of who, based on the score received, will be the new municipal manager. I’m sure we will get there in time for the next event on the agenda at the theater: the Christmas concert in December ».
Also because it will not be possible to go further. According to the contract that the Municipality intends to sign, the manager, until 30 June 2024, will not only have to take care of the 313-seat hall, but will also have the task of organizing a theater season with at least six high-level performances every year.
Autumn is already lost and Ovada cannot afford to “burn” even winter and spring. Especially after spending € 400,000 for the renovation and upgrading of the theater and announcing its return to business.
And even if it will take time to get the inhabitants of Ovada back used to attending the theater, the results of the Rebora Festival are encouraging for the artistic director Andrea Oddone: «The city wanted and needed the return to activity of the theater. I am sure that the Ovada people will continue to go there, even after the end of the festival ».
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