The cultural community generally remains stingy with comments about health restrictions. But we have seen the beginning of a protest movement on social networks in the last few days, a few people in the industry having openly called for the reopening of theaters for January 17, at the same time as the start of the event. face-to-face school.
The director general of the TransAmériques dance and theater festival, David Lavoie, was one of the first to speak to urge the Legault government to reopen the theaters next Monday.
In interview at Duty, he explained that his motivations were not so much of an economic nature, the government aid offered being more than sufficient not to jeopardize the survival of theaters, according to him. David Lavoie says instead that he is driven by a love of art, too essential to be put on hold at the slightest pandemic upsurge.
“Maybe it was okay to close in March 2020, but two years later, we have to change the paradigm. We cannot just manage Quebec based on the number of beds available in hospitals. We must allow a certain number of creations, despite the context. If we turn off the tap completely in winter, the pipes will explode, ”he explains.
Director Brigitte Haentjens shares this opinion. For her, the decision of the Legault government to close the theaters until further notice last month was in no way justified, especially since theaters were not at that time at the origin of any known major outbreak. .
Maybe it was okay to close in March 2020, but two years later, the paradigm has to be changed. We cannot just manage Quebec based on the number of beds available in hospitals. We must allow a certain number of creations, despite the context.
“If Ikea is open, I don’t see why the theaters are closed. We can continue to rehearse, but we cannot play in front of the public. It’s an immeasurable mess. To think that we can rehearse without having a release date is to completely ignore our environment, ”she protested.
Imperfect measurements
Brigitte Haentjens finds the silence of many cultural players at the moment bewildering, while several shows are postponed when others are canceled altogether due to a lack of predictability.
She accuses them of being in the pay of large institutions, which are the largest beneficiaries of government aid and which have no interest in reopening on a reduced scale. Small artisans and theater groups who have no room are the big losers in the current situation, deplores the director.
“The current system is based on the runoff theory. With the money given to me, I can act on my artists who were supposed to be showing this season, do the maximum for them. But of course I can’t do anything for those who weren’t scheduled this winter. It is true that the current system accentuates the inequalities in the environment ”, recognizes Marcelle Dubois, general director and artistic co-director of the theater Aux écuries.
Mme Dubois still doubts that a return to the theater on January 17 is realistic, even with tight health constraints. Same story with the Quebec Council of the theater, where one remains concerned by the great contagiousness of the Omicron variant.
“I’m not sure people are ready to come back. And in addition, there is such a shortage of manpower currently among technical employees that, if there was an outbreak, even a small one, no one would be found to replace them ”, underlines the general manager of the council. , Catherine Voyer-Léger.
The artists still cautious
In short, Quebec’s cultural community is a long way from the protest that won the streets of Brussels last month after the Belgian government decreed the closure of theaters and cinemas to counter the dizzying increase in COVID-19 cases. Justice had a few days later forced their reopening, believing that the government was not able to demonstrate that theaters and cinemas were places conducive to contagion.
Actress Catherine Brunet cannot explain why we do not see such a protest movement emerge in Quebec, she who is one of the rare personalities known to have posted on social networks for the resumption of the performing arts on January 17. .
“I think there may be a Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge effect. Artists don’t want to sound like conspirators in criticizing the government. It’s all super tricky, ”she says, taking a lot of precautions, insisting that she has always been in favor of sanitary rules up to now.
The Artists’ Union (UDA) also observes that its members are very divided on the possible reopening of the rooms. On the one hand, some are arguing for a recovery as quickly as possible. On the other hand, some artists are really worried about catching the virus and are in no hurry to return to the theater.
“There are people who are worried about no longer working, but there are people who are afraid to go to work. This is the first time since the start of the pandemic that I feel that people are afraid of catching the virus at this point ”, notes the president of the UDA, Sophie Prégent, who avoids commenting on any date of return to the theaters.
The cabinet of the Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, does not advance any date either, limiting itself to recalling that “the discussions are continuing”.
The ministry does not set criteria to establish when the health situation will reopen theaters and cinemas.