The complete closure of performance venues, announced by Quebec on December 20, created confusion over the possibility of continuing rehearsals for professional artists. Whether on the stages of theaters abandoned by the public or in rooms rented for this purpose, artistic organizations still had not received the same instructions on Wednesday for the interpretation of the latest health restrictions for culture. However, all rehearsals, essential to the work of the performing arts, are permitted, as confirmed by the office of the Minister of Culture in Duty.
The Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM), which represents more than 9,500 musicians and cultural workers, sent an information letter to its members on January 4 reminding that “the performance halls are closed for all activities for an indefinite period” .
“It is not possible to hold rehearsals or make recordings there. The CQM has already notified the [ministère de la Culture] of this inconsistency and hopes for a quick turnaround in the situation, ”we can read. In addition, the CQM recalled in the wake that “rehearsals cannot […] take place in a private residence, even if spaces have been set up for this purpose and isolated from the rest of the house, unless there are only two people together ”.
This information was transmitted to the CQM by the Ministry of Culture (MCC) on December 23, told the Duty Dominic Trudel, Director General. The Quebec Theater Council, for its part, was told that rehearsals are allowed at this stage of the pandemic.
What is an activity?
“We have an email address that we can use for questions while we wait for government sites to be updated,” says Trudel. I raised the inconsistency at MCC. How can we continue rehearsals and recordings if the rooms are not accessible? “
In the Summary table of openings or suspensions of activities in the cultural sector during the COVID-19 period, updated on December 21, main tool of comprehension produced by the MCC, one does not find a word on the repetitions. The “Performing Arts – Indoor Events and Shows” section comes closest to this. It says “Suspended activities”, in bold letters in red ink.
The confusion is not removed further by the government site “List of economic sectors targeted by a closure order (COVID-19)”. It reads that “no person can be in a rented room, except in the following cases: for a production, an audiovisual shoot or for the recording of a show (without an audience)”.
However, according to the vocabulary specific to the artistic community, and long used by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, production qualifies the work that leads a work to its distribution, that is, the last moments before it meets the public; it is thus distinguished, always in the language of the arts, from creation.
At the office of the Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, it is confirmed that there was never any question of putting a stop to rehearsals. “Productions are always permitted, whether for a rehearsal or a performance or recording without an audience,” said the Minister’s press secretary, Elizabeth Lemay. “If there have been refusals to rent, this is a misinterpretation of the law. We are in communication with our partners to ensure that artists can continue their professional activities. “
Predictable questions
Dominic Trudel, Director General of the CQM, does not hide his exasperation or his weariness. “We are currently experiencing the repetition of an event that has already happened: the closing of theaters, the curfew, we already did everything last year. And that had prompted a whole list of questions from the community, which have been resolved over the past few months. But suddenly, we have no more answers. The CMQ estimates that it takes between three and eight days to obtain an answer from the ministry to essential questions on the practice of the profession of musician. “I do not understand why no one at the MCC has foreseen the blow and prepared in advance the answers to the questions that we asked last year, and that we still have. We have already practiced that, it seems to me that we should be better ”, continues the director.
“How many people at most can rehearse in the same room?” Can you pick up a work from a symphony orchestra in a church – for recordings it’s 250 people at most, but in churches it’s 25 people only. So, is it the place or the activity that prevails? What is going on with home music lessons? Can teachers go to private homes? He gives as examples of his pending questions.
No potential date for the reopening of theaters has been publicly put forward. Organizations consulted by The duty don’t expect a stimulus until February at best. “We are told it will not be until the schools reopen, so our new benchmark date is January 17,” one commenter wrote anonymously. “We are told that when the opening date is announced, we will have a month of grace to open at our own pace, with the measure of assistance for the distribution of shows. “