The Regina Maria Theater announces that this year's edition of the Oradea International Theater Festival (FITO), scheduled for September 13–21, 2025, will no longer take place.
The decision was made following the significant increase in costs associated with organizing the festival – from guest band fees to accommodation and transportation expenses, influenced by VAT and excise tax increases – and the current budgetary uncertainty. In a difficult economic context, characterized by inflation and a possible decrease in the public's appetite for cultural consumption, we consider it unrealistic to organize the 2025 edition without affecting the artistic level of the event.
In order to maintain the connection with the audience and to offer repertoire diversity, we propose to schedule eight guest performances throughout the season, outside of a classic festival format. This formula will allow for a balanced distribution of expenses and easier access for spectators, who will be able to purchase tickets in stages, not concentrated in a single week.
We are already looking to the future and preparing, for 2026, an edition of FITO with a solid and coherent international component, accompanied by debates dedicated to updating the festival concept. We believe that the focus on short theater – which has been a particularity of FITO – needs to be reanalyzed in relation to current theatrical realities, in order to ensure the relevance and attractiveness of the event.
At a time when economic and artistic sustainability must be carefully balanced, we believe that this reorganization will contribute to a responsible use of public funds, to increasing cultural access for young people – a priority of the current season – and, in the future, to relaunching the Oradea International Theatre Festival to the standards that the audience and artists deserve.
