Things are moving fast for Sanimir Resić. He joined the Malmö Academy of Music as head of department around 18 months ago. A few months later, he was promoted to dean of the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, tasked, among other things, with guiding the faculty’s scattered departments in the fields of music, theatre and fine art to their new joint home in Varvstaden, where a new campus of the arts is being created.
Sanimir Resić has managed this kind of co-location before. One example is the Centre for Languages and Literature. Although the move to Varvsstaden will not take place until the summer of 2027, it is now that detailed planning is underway as the large spaces in the old machine hall and carriage workshop are being divided into rooms and halls.
“But there will be space left over and I have already approached the other deans to hear about their needs. The Faculty of Medicine also operates in Malmö...”
Sanimir Resić is a historian. He does not have an academic background in the artistic disciplines, yet this need not be a problem, he says.
“I am not afraid to ask if I don’t understand something and I always listen to my colleagues, and then listen again and again. Only then do I make a decision.”
Has played rugby
He has extensive experience as a leader. He has been vice-chancellor of Kristianstad University, vice dean, head of department and now dean. Less known about is his career in rugby, both as player and trainer, which has contributed to making him the person he is today.
“I have dived into mud and chewed grass for twenty years, as well as training young people. This has given me certain qualities that I find useful in my job.”
A boost for the entire university
Sanimir Resić has never hesitated about taking on the faculty’s big moving project.
“The move will be a big boost. Once completed, we will have raised Lund University significantly above other universities in Sweden,” he says.
He describes it as a win-win situation for the artistic departments at Lund University, for the University as a whole and for the City of Malmö. The collaboration between Campus Helsingborg and the City of Helsingborg is a model when representatives from the City of Malmö and the University discuss how to draw more benefit from each other.
Campus comes together
At the moment, the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts is spread out over five different places across Malmö. The advantages of coming together in one place are clear to Sanimir Resić. There will be greater opportunities for collaboration and increased creativity between departments. Premises can be shared, which makes each individual organisation less vulnerable and administration more efficient.
At the same time, he does not hide the fact that there have been, and still are, concerns about the move.
“Some have assumed they are being forced to cooperate with the other departments, but that’s certainly not the case. It’s not a question of merging the departments, just that the move increases the opportunities to be creative across departmental boundaries for those who wish to do so,” says Sanimir Resić.
One factor that is difficult to put on the plus side is the rent. LU Estates estimated last year that the new premises in Varvstaden will mean an increase in rent of SEK 30 million a year.
From time to time, there are concerns that the students at the Faculty of Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts do not involve themselves enough in the students’ unions and nations at Lund. Sanimir Resić thinks this is in part due to the distance, twenty kilometres can feel too far, but he also puts it down to the students’ attitudes to their studies.
“They are passionate. Their studies are a calling in a way quite different from many other students, I’m quite sure about that. Simply put, there isn’t enough time for other things.”
Passion can turn into a feeling of emptiness once they graduate. In order for students to be able to work in the fields they are trained for, they are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities as they arise during their studies. These could be concerts, exhibitions or film roles.
Contacts are important for future jobs
“One has to make the most of the offers that come. The contacts they make could be the difference between work and unemployment.”
According to Sanimir Resić, the artistic disciplines have historically been considered the odd ones out in the university world. Perhaps even a little ignored. Not anymore.
“The current University management is exactly what we need. The Vice-Chancellor has a passion for culture and the humanities, and he cannot be accused of bias because of his background in medicine.”
“I feel that the University takes us more seriously now. We educate students in order to bring value to people’s lives. In my eyes, quality of life is as important as “just” surviving.”
Over the summer, the University management decided what would be LU’s five future profile areas. The Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts is the only faculty not to be involved in any of them, but work is in progress. Sanimir Resić believes the faculty can contribute to several areas:
“Throughout history, art has had the role of interpreting and understanding our times and ourselves. One of the tasks is to sense social changes that are taking place, changes that do not always bear the light of day. This is why artists, along with journalists, are among the first to be silenced by authoritarian regimes, just look at China and Russia.”
