Let’s not forget culture | The Press

Charlotte Cardin cancels her concert tour in the United States, the TNM postpones the performances of the play Lysis, The Diamond cancels The Seven Branches of the Ōta River…After nearly two years of the pandemic, live performance is once again engulfed in a cycle of heartbreaking cancellations and postponements.

While television ratings and the sale of Quebec books are on the rise, which we are happy about, the performing arts are suffering from a certain indifference.

Cultural workers have changed jobs because they can no longer pay their rent. Artists are chomping at the bit in silence, wondering when they will get back on stage.

As for the producers of shows, they wonder: will the public be there when we finally reopen the rooms?

Thursday and Friday, various associations representing the performing arts will discuss with the team of the office of the Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, to talk about the “after”. One could criticize Minister Roy for not attending, but at the same time meetings are being held on the revision of the laws on the status of the artist, another important file for the cultural community. The main thing, we are told on both sides, is that the meeting takes place. The representatives of the associations concerned are well aware of the seriousness of the situation in the hospitals and do not question the measures of Public Health. However, they want us to think about what happens next.

If we have to accept living with this virus for a few more years, what does that mean for them? You have to think about a strategy. We do not reopen the rooms like we open a tap. How to make the artistic experience conclusive? What are the conditions for bringing the public back to the theaters in a safe manner? Some even wonder about the notion of season. If the virus returns from one winter to another, should we still schedule shows in January and February? And if we delay the start of the season, what will be the consequences for the cultural ecosystem?

We also have to talk about economic security. Think about a special status for intermittent workers, so that they are entitled to the same protections as other workers. A meeting with Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez was to discuss compensation and support for artists and cultural workers, but the summit had to be postponed due to COVID. But this file has dragged on long enough, he is in a hurry to settle it. The shortage of personnel caused by the exodus of technicians from the stage as well as the loss of expertise are likely to hurt behind the scenes. And what will happen to a whole generation of artists fresh out of school who will begin their careers in a context where the bottleneck caused by the pandemic risks suffocating them? As we can see, the issues are numerous and complex.

The problem is that we tend to think of culture last, like a layer of icing on a cake. This is a sector that deserves our attention just as much as shops, restaurants or sports.

We talk a lot about it these days, about sports. Think of the exploits of Mikaël Kingsbury, the problems of the Montreal Canadiens or the setbacks of Novak Djokovic. Holding the Olympic Games in a totalitarian country is justified on the pretext that the athletes have been training for years and that they have to achieve their performance. But what about the artists who train their bodies, their voices, who learn texts by heart? They too want to perform and practice their art.

Culture has repercussions that our society cannot do without: economic repercussions, of course, but also psychological, educational and intellectual ones. Not to mention this social bond that we have been so lacking for two years, and which is at the heart of live performance. This magic that is born when we all attend together, in the same place, an artistic performance will never be equaled by a digital substitute.

The question for the moment is therefore not to question the decisions of Public Health, but to get to work to ensure the survival of a creativity essential to our lives.