With their announcement, the professors of the drama school of the National Theater -who had resigned on February 8 as a sign of support for the students of the school who had proceeded to occupy it, but also as a protest to the State regarding the issue of the graduation of artistic studies- they return to their duties “continuing the struggle with the schools open”.

“Our basic request has not been heard. Artistic studies remain ungraded. However, we recognize the radical change in conditions, the desire of students to return to classes, as well as the extremely pressing time juncture which makes the only possible solution for the smooth completion of the year to return the same teachers who had already started before the occupation. Thus, we decide to “continue the struggle with open schools”, as our students also say” the professors of the drama school of the National Theater mention in their announcement, stressing that the mobilizations so far have not gone to waste.

“We brought to light a very important issue, and won the unity of the entire artistic world, as well as the support of a very large part of public opinion. It is a good start, to continue the claims in a new form when a new government form emerges after the elections» they point out.

The full announcement follows:

“On 8/2/2023, we, the professors of the drama school of the National Theater, submitted our group resignation as a sign of support for the students of the school who had proceeded to occupy it, but also as a protest to the State which was deaf to the subject of the gradation of artistic studies.

However, since 28/2, the landscape has changed radically, and the edge of the mobilizations has shifted to much more serious issues that have to do with human lives. On top of that, we are now in a pre-election period, which means that there is virtually no interlocutor to whom pressure can be exerted on behalf of the artists.

We judged, therefore, both we and the students, that the occupation of a drama school cannot serve its original purpose under the recent circumstances. The student body resolved the occupations of the schools, and the Directorate of the National Theater sent us the following invitation yesterday: “According to what we announced publicly on 9/2, we invite the resigned professors of the National Theater to return and complete the teaching their work, in order to ensure in this way the smooth continuation of the educational process for this year”.

Our basic request has not been heard. Artistic studies remain ungraded. However, we recognize the radical change in conditions, the desire of students to return to classes, as well as the extremely pressing time juncture which makes the only possible solution for the smooth completion of the year to return the same teachers who had already started before the occupation. Thus, we decide to “continue the struggle with open schools”, as our students say. The mobilizations so far have not gone to waste. We brought to light a very important issue, and won the unity of the entire artistic world, as well as the support of a very large part of public opinion. It is a good start, to continue the claims in a new form when a new government form emerges after the elections.

Anestis Azas / Io Voulgarakis / Alexandros Voulgaris / Charalambos Gogios / Christos Dimas / Fokas Evangelinos / Evita Zimali / Thalia Istikopoulou / Grigoris Ioannidis / Alexandra Kazazou / Simos Kakalas / Alexia Kaltsikis / Hara Kefala / Maria Kehagioglou / Katerina Kozadinou / Rinion Kiniosta Kyriazis / Georgia Mavragani / Yannis Metzikofs / Thomas Moschopoulos / Konstantinos Bouboukis / Yannis Dalianis / Vicky Panagiotakis / Thanos Papakonstantinou / Aglaia Pappa / Konstantina Pitsiakou / George Sambatakakis / Petros Sevastikoglou / Angeliki Stellatou / Syllas Tzoumerkas / Tsa Toumbakaris / Angeliko Triadros / Angeliko Triadlos Lena Filippova / Taxiarchis Hanos / Nikos Hatzopoulos / Argyro Chioti”.