On Wednesday, a battle pitted the Common Front for the Arts against the Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, over the government’s investments in the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ). But what does life as an artist look like in Quebec in 2024? How do very small budgets change the way the arts are made? How do finances affect humans? Portraits, in figures and in testimonies.
Théâtre Duceppe, theater and translation of texts from elsewhere, Montreal
Increase in Mission Support budget
Duceppe is one of eleven Associated Theaters (TAI) institutions. Only four members received increases in their Mission Support this year, for the new four-year cycle.
“We have the highest in dollars: $75,000, or 8% more than in 2017. That gives us a grant of $1,019,250,” indicates the general director, Amélie Duceppe. Duceppe is a big company: 20 employees, a budget of $8,391,624.
“The fact remains that we are in trouble,” continues M.me Duceppe. From TAI, there is the Espace Go, the Prospero and the Trident which also had increases. » For the other seven, nada.
“Many have to take money donated for the mission, and put it into maintaining the premises. The choice: two more actors out of one show or replace the air conditioning? » illustrates the director.
At Duceppe, 17% of revenue comes from subsidies. The CALQ gives the largest, around 10%. 62% of revenue comes from ticketing.
The theater has calculated what its economic activities generate. “Just with the QST on tickets, the taxes of our employees and freelancers, we return 131% of what we receive. »
“This means that we finance ourselves, in addition to financing the State. All this, on a structural deficit. » According to Amélie Duceppe, several theaters in Quebec are currently in structural deficit. “For us, it’s $350,000. We have two years of breathing room to structure ourselves. »
Duceppe is the “seasonal theater” that welcomes the most spectators in Quebec, with also the largest stage in cubic feet. “And I have to tell my artistic teams: ‘You can have video just in one show out of five, because the design, production and the technician to operate it are too expensive,” she laments.
“We have the same scenography budget as in the early 2000s,” adds Jean-Simon Traversy, artistic co-director. The decorations, however, create the atmosphere, and a strong difference in impression on the spectators.
The living arts, these two heads believe, are a school of empathy, of living together. “If you make cuts where we talk, where we make people feel, where we feel, it will have broad social consequences,” saddens Mr. Traversy.
The Phénomena festival, interdisciplinary arts, Montreal
Increase in Mission Support budget
“We had a ridiculous $37,500 for too many years — that’s not even a joke », explained the director, D. Kimm, at the Dutythen in a Facebook status. The Filles Électriques company, which produces the ongoing Phénomena festival, has existed for 23 years. “We have been inclusive for a long time, with several emerging artists and diversity,” continues D. Kimm.
This year the request was for $140,000. “We needed at least $100,000. We received $70,500. It’s an increase, but… We really needed more to hire a third resource. »
She asks: “If the CALQ cannot provide acceptable financing, can it reduce its expectations of the companies? Stop increasing accountability? »
And stop, she continues, “the nonsense asking artists to take over from governments to resolve the environmental crisis? We have always traveled by bike, eaten lunches, dressed in thrift stores and recycled our decor. What will be the next step? »
D. Kimm is also surprised by the pressure exerted by the Council to promote inclusion, without providing the means. Example ? “We have been working with the deaf community since 2019, with very little help to pay the interpreters — $80 per hour — that we need to do this work. »
Galileo Orchestra, classical music, Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent
Refused to Mission Support
The concert Creation according to Haydnpresented only once at the end of 2023, “is a project costing $68,000 in creation, $95,000 with administration and management,” explains Daniel Constantineau, conductor and director. “It was done without the help of the CALQ. »
The orchestra’s previous four seasons were adequately subsidized, according to Mr. Constantineau. But for the Haydn“we received a total of $128 in public money.”
“We hire 15 to 40 freelance artists depending on the production. » Creationfor example, had 32 musicians, 55 volunteer singers, three solo singers. She required four hours in the rehearsal room, including three hours of general practice.
“In 2024, repetition rates will be around $40 per hour. That’s $220 for the concert. For 25 concerts per year, calculate $19,500 per year in artistic income for a regular musician. We produce at best two to five concerts per year. »
“Individual home rehearsals are not paid nor are instrument maintenance fees, which amount to several thousand dollars per year. »
“My salary as a conductor is around $2,800 per concert, for around 100 hours of preparation,” reveals Mr. Constantineau. $28 an hour, that’s what. This salary is systematically given back to the orchestra. “In other words, I am a volunteer. »
Maribé — get out of this body, dance, Montreal
Ejection of Mission Support, return to Specific Programming
“Seven years ago, I did not receive the four-year funding. It was a shock,” says choreographer Marie Béland.
” I have repitched this year, asking for $130,000. » Another refusal. “But I was automatically admitted to Specific Programming, they gave me $63,750. This is a decrease of 15% compared to last year. »
Marie Béland’s latest creations have toured extensively: 90 performances in 2022-2023, 49 in 2023-2024. In dance, it’s huge. “I planned 103 performances for 2024-2025. I will honor the shows to do. Afterwards, I don’t know. »
Upon leaving school, Marie Béland quickly made her mark and popularized contemporary dance. She made MC Gilles dance in God didn’t create you just to dancein 2008.
Perceived then as a quickie who quickly grasps the codes, she created works that have had long lives. The previous onesoutdoors, was danced over a period of 12 years (2008-2021).
“I don’t understand what happened. When I returned from maternity leave, I was no longer received in the same way. I had two children. I have also done works that have been less popular. That’s normal in a career, right? »
“There, I needed to make what I did shine: to turn Radio booth », an installation, “and not always produce new works”.
She says she asked older choreographers at what point in their career they felt significantly supported. “‘After ten years,’ they told me. I have 20 years of experience. I have nothing botched. Next year, if I don’t receive the Specific Programming, I will have to change jobs,” she says with a sigh.
Advienne que peut Theater, young audiences and families, Gatineau
New to Mission Support
“I must rejoice: we have stability now,” breathes the artistic director, Frédéric Bélanger. We are one of the lucky ones. But we are given 40% of what we asked for. It’s a base, around 10% of our income, but it traps us. A budget so thin that we have to decrease it. Reduce projects, cancel some. »
Mr. Bélanger eliminated full-time employee positions and reduced salaries by 5% for a second year in a row. “We have three contract workers, 8 hours per week, and an exhausting turnover rate,” he says.
“I also assume general management. No one wants this position anymore at the salary we are offering. I do the accounting, schedules and budgets. Production management. In other words, I am the director of everything,” he says in a sad joke.
This year, the company is touring Paper Plane, The Wizard of Oz, Sherlock Holmes and the last one, Jules & Joséphinewho is going on tour this week.
“We go everywhere: Montérégie, Gaspésie, Mauricie. » But costs have increased so much that tours are no longer profitable, explains Mr. Bélanger. “The more you play, the further you play, the more money you lose. This compromises our accessibility mission. »
“Take our commercial warehouse for decorations, which passed on its tax increase of $800 per month to us. This amount is crushing us. »
To do Jules & Joséphinethe theater, in addition to finding partners, borrowed from the funds. “If the show was a failure, we closed. » To avoid the deficit, 35 performances were required at 85% attendance. That’s a lot to ask. “We make theater for children and families. We can’t increase ticket prices, we will lose our audience. »
Low Mass, theater, Montreal
Refused to Mission Support
“There we play In your footstepsat the Bastille theater, in Paris. The rooms are full,” says the director, artistic director and co-founder, Maxime Carbonneau.
Telerama says that it is “a damn exciting show”, and “without doubt the most delightful and innovative theatrical experience of this fall”.
The Low Mass also signed Siri (2016), The most dangerous woman in Quebec (2017), and collaborated on I’m writing to you in the middle of a beautiful storm (2023). Among others. Since 2012, the company has performed at OFFTA, at the Festival TransAmériques, at Duceppe, at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, at the Prospero, with more than a hundred performances.
“I don’t understand what we should have done, what more we could have done,” Mr. Carbonneau despairs. The CALQ currently provides 26% of La Messe basse’s needs.
“We feel that we are in full possession of our artistic means; it’s a window that doesn’t stay open forever. For us, it comes at the same time as interest from broadcasters, from Quebec and internationally. This is a rare situation. And we don’t have the means to seize it. It’s terribly frustrating. »
“We’re not the ones pushing our growth. It is generated by invitations from broadcasters, believes the director. We would like to honor that. To do this, we must plan on two- and four-year time frames. »
What income does he make? “Um…maybe $10,000 a year? A little more, with the administration. We all have to have two, three jobs at the same time. The team is exhausted. »
Maxime Carbonneau does not hide his anger. The current arts crisis, he believes, “is artificially manufactured by the government. That’s what puts me in tabarnak. It is a government which says it wants to defend the French language, its productions, and which contributes to the dismantling of its culture by not financing it.”