Cultural organizations face workforce and management challenges that are unique to them. Today, The duty examines how the changes of guard at their head take place.
An Olivier can replace another. Anne-Marie Olivier left the artistic and general co-direction of Trident in Quebec in June 2022. She wanted to return to her own creative affairs after a decade spent serving those of others. The call for applications to replace her generated a dozen strong applications. It was ultimately Olivier Arteau who won.
The multidisciplinary artist trained in dance and theater, author, director, performer and choreographer was just 30 years old at the time. However, he was already a regular on the boards of the capital, and of the Trident in particular. In 2019, before the pandemic lockdowns, to set up its Antigone, he voluntarily locked himself in the Grand Théâtre for a month, night and day, to devote himself entirely to its adaptation. Dedication, even while sleeping…
“We had wonderful applications, of all ages and from almost everywhere, and even people who proposed creative duos: our choice aligned with a young person who managed to convince us that he still loved music. “the classic theater aspect of the Trident and the great deployments of our stage while seeking contemporary audacity”, explains Carl-Frédéric De Celles, who was then president of the board of directors of the theater and co-responsible for the selection of a new pro to direct it.
The lessons of this selection can be useful, as Lorraine Pintal, artistic and general director of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, announced that she will leave her position in August 2024. She spent 32 years there and will have completed a second expansion of the establishment on Sainte-Catherine Street. The TNM board of directors will soon get to work finding her replacement. Just opposite, the Jean Duceppe Company recently succeeded in passing the baton in an exemplary manner, to reposition itself as a key player in the national theater ecosystem.
Mr. De Celles explains that Trident has carried out a thorough overhaul and relaunch under the leadership of Mr.me Olivier over the last decade. He himself served three three-year terms on the organization’s board of directors to support this change. “The board asked a lot of questions about the values and positioning of Trident. And then, if you want to bring young people back to the theater, you should perhaps appoint young people to theater management. It’s not the only criterion, but it counts,” he says.
Case by case, and keys
There are others, but, in the end, “there is no miracle recipe”, summarizes Pascale Landry, who heads the Compétence Culture sectoral workforce committee. She holds a doctorate in administration from HEC Montréal, defended in 2015 on succession at the head of cultural companies, a subject she also studied in Denmark. “There is no model that works in all organizations,” she continues. The size of the organization, its mission and the context of this change must be taken into account. »
On a case by case basis, therefore. Except that by studying dozens of concrete examples of change at the head of cultural organizations, Mme Landry came to identify certain key parameters.
The first asks whether the change is voluntary or suffered. Replacing a deceased boss is not like finding a successor after months of preparation.
Organizations — especially smaller ones — must also decide whether succession will be done internally or externally.
The third major parameter concerns the nature of the change: personal or structural in this case. Is it simply a matter of finding a replacement who will continue on the same paths or of taking the opportunity to review the administrative structure and management methods, or even the mission of the organization?
Freedom, equality, diversity
One, two, three heads
In the document announcing the departure of Mme Pintal, the TNM recalls the recent adoption of a 2024-2028 strategic plan and a new management structure moving from an artistic and general direction to two general co-directions, one artistic and the other administrative.
This is already the Trident model. The co-general director and artistic director, Olivier Arteau (an external recruitment), completed a duo with another young person, Marc-Antoine Malo, appointed administrative director and co-general director at the age of 27 at the turn of the decade, after an interim period (a recruitment internal). Duceppe has instead developed a tripartite system: two young artistic co-directors (David Laurin and Jean-Simon Traversy) and a young general director (Amélie Duceppe).
“We had a lot of debate about the two- or three-legged model,” says Mr. De Celles. Finally, we retained co-leadership, which works very well if the people in office get along. We therefore hired Marc-Antoine first, who was a bold choice, and his presence guided our choice of Olivier. We also thought about the vocation of the theater, to understand where the co-direction wanted to take it, for example by developing the international component or co-productions with Montreal. We want to show that there is a lot of talent in Quebec, besides Robert Lepage. »
Above all, at the end of the day, Mr. De Celles points out the obvious: a good director knows how to lead, period. This is, if not almost everything, at least already a lot. The advice he would therefore dare to give to his TNM colleagues is not to lose sight of this managerial quality. “I know that there will be administrative management at TNM, but I would still place a lot of emphasis on leadership and the ability to be a good leader, to motivate teams and to move the organization forward. »
“Making good artistic choices is important. Still, it takes a team to make them happen. In the applications to replace Mme Olivier, there were a lot of artists who didn’t have a lot of experience in management even though it’s essential for the work,” he notes.