The return to autumn promises to be fragile, we hear behind the scenes. And the pandemic could well be the least of the worries of the middle of the show: to the possible surge of another wave of infections is added a delicate economic context, the exhaustion of the troops having to compensate for the shortage of a workforce. specialized work and an overabundance of the cultural offer. The cocktail gives the stakeholders in the community a sweat, who must also recover from a difficult summer for indoor shows.
The beautiful season about to end will have crowned the success of the many outdoor cultural festivals in the province. The performance halls have found the summer long, says David Laferrière, general and artistic director of the Gilles-Vigneault theater in Saint-Jérôme, and chairman of the board of directors of the RIDEAU broadcasters association.
“That’s what I hear from colleagues and that’s what I experienced on my side,” he says. No one in the industry had too many illusions when theaters reopened to full capacity earlier this year. “We knew that the recovery would be long and gradual, but we never stop experiencing upheavals [de la pandémie]. The summer was beautiful, people needed to go back to festivals, so it was a difficult summer [pour les salles de spectacle]. » « Without wanting to go too fast, he adds, we still see fall with a little concern. »
Ticket sales for indoor shows are slowing down, says David Laferrière, who estimates that at the time of the balance sheets, at the end of 2022, box office could show a general drop of 30 or 35% compared to a year. pre-pandemic.
“As far as our attendance rate is concerned, we are far from the averages we had in the past,” notes Evelyne Chagnon, deputy general manager and artistic director of Diffusion Hector-Charland, which manages the theater located in L’Assomption. . “This is where we realize that the ticketing assistance measure [la mesure particulière à la diffusion de spectacles mise en place par le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, en vigueur jusqu’en mars 2023] is essential. »
The pandemic effect
The pandemic has transformed the habits of spectators, notes David Laferrière. Tickets for the shows may have gone on sale several months ago, but sales are slowing down, and more and more spectators are waiting until the last minute to buy their seats. “Productions that were successful before, established artists, continue to do well at the box office,” he explains. Where it hurts is on the side of the more “nested” disciplines, often series of concerts offered by subscription, whether we think of concert music, theater or dance, which reach an audience that trusted. The two-year break hurt us. »
The same goes for the Hector-Charland theatre: “Purchases are made more at the last minute, so that several investments that we have made in advertising purchases do not reach their objectives, says Evelyne Chagnon. We must redouble our efforts to win back the viewers who used to buy subscriptions for our series in advance. »
A context that particularly affects artists who are starting out, drowned in a particularly abundant cultural offer – for the fall, the evenings of the Gilles-Vigneault theater will be occupied “95%”, confides David Laferrière.
“We can see that there is an excessive offer of cultural content compared to a normal season”, assures Mathieu Rousseau, director of the Bonsound entertainment agency (Les Louanges, Jean-Michel Blais, Lisa LeBlanc, Laurence-Anne, etc.). “On our side, established artists, those who have had the wind in their sails for a while, are selling their tickets correctly — it’s not madness, but it’s not dramatic either. On the other hand, the smallest groups, those which benefit from being known, have much more difficulty in positioning themselves. I feel like people are watching their budget and opting to pay for tickets for better known artists. »
Inflation
Ticket sales could become more complicated than expected due to the galloping inflation that we have been experiencing since last spring, which could encourage the public to cut back on expenses related to cultural outings. This steep increase in the cost of living is already having a direct effect on the income of concert halls, show producers and artists, assures Mathieu Rousseau.
“The reality of the show producer is no longer the same today, nor that of the bands on the road, he explains. Let’s take the example of a concert that we sold [à un diffuseur] a year or a year and a half ago: the higher cost of gasoline, the increase in accommodation costs, all of this has an impact on our reality” and on the income of artists, once all these expenses have been paid .
Even broadcasters are having a hard time acknowledging the blow: the labor shortage in the stage technician sector has driven up salaries, and this is eating into the profits of concerts whose tickets went on sale sometimes before the pandemic — from Next to the Hector-Charland theatre, for example, a fifth of this fall’s programming is made up of performances postponed due to the pandemic, and therefore of seats sold before the rise in gas prices and the labor crisis. ‘work.
Exhaustion
Several factors will have repercussions on the financial performance of venues — and, consequently, on the artists who perform there —, explains Mr. Laferrière: the pandemic, the cost of living, but also “the great exhaustion of cultural workers” . “Theatrical programmers, box office employees, communications employees, stage technicians… We can never talk enough about the pandemic of labor in our rooms. »
In the same breath, he said he expected that performances of shows would be canceled almost everywhere in the province this fall, for lack of manpower. “I do not expect to have to resolve myself to that, but in our room, we are at a permanent chief technician falling ill from having to postpone concerts. »
“The technical teams, like the production and broadcasting teams, are under pressure because we are short of staff, confirms Evelyne Chagnon. All these factors are forcing us to work differently and to adapt, but we are obviously still a little nervous at the start of the fall. »