This text is part of the special Theater booklet
Between 2018 and 2022, even if many performance halls remained silent for too long, the Quebec theater community did not sit idly by. Among other tasks and challenges, it has embarked on a vast process of reflection and consultation to envision the future differently. The first Master Plan for Professional Theater in Quebec (2023-2033), unveiled last November by the Conseil québécois du théâtre (CQT), is the culmination of this.
One hundred and fifty people from all corners of the province took part in the exercise, establishing eight priority areas and nearly 250 actions to be implemented over the next ten years. Something to make you dizzy, especially after three years of a pandemic that left many scars in a sector that has never really rolled in gold.
“The Master Plan is in a way a snapshot of the current situation,” sums up Laurence Régnier, co-president of the CQT alongside Rachel Morse. The one who first attended the consultations in 2018 in her capacity as an emerging actress also sees it as “a good means of communication for the entire community in order to encourage new collaborations”, also recognizing the extent of the transformations to bring.
Between eco-responsibility and the management of human resources, the development of audiences and the circulation of works throughout the territory, there is no shortage of important projects… but they cannot all materialize at the same time. “Our environment is diverse and complex, emphasizes Laurence Régnier, and the reality of a young actor, a company and a presenter is not the same. But throughout this long process, several things have been unanimous, and the important issues will have to be addressed quickly. “If the co-president of the CQT admits that the theatrical environment is suffering from pandemic fatigue, it is also very mobilized around this plan intended “to shape our art to better touch hearts”.
Individual and collective responsibility
General manager of the Périscope Theater in Quebec since June 2021, Frédéric Guay notes that “this beautiful work of introspection” turns out to be “enormous” in certain aspects, “but spread over ten years, it is much more realistic”. According to him, “each institution must work according to its possibilities, its priorities and its resources”, a position that Laurence Régnier shares, reiterating that it is a plan “designed by people in the community, and for the community”.
For those who have been evolving in the cultural world for 25 years, among others in Montreal and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec presents itself both “as a big city and a small theatrical ecosystem”. “Our theaters cannot necessarily be in competition, but complementary,” admits Frédéric Guay. A constant dialogue between companies “to avoid repetition and pool resources” remains a priority for those who deplore the fact that culture has been “for years in survival mode, forced to always do more with less”.
The Master Plan also represents an invitation to do better, particularly in terms of diversity and inclusion. Governments must take note of this initiative launched by the CQT, according to Frédéric Guay. “We have worked on ourselves, we are ready to make an effort, but the state must give us the means. Is it realistic to have a cybersecurity policy similar to that of Desjardins Group, or eco-responsibility if that means less support for artists? »
For Laurence Régnier, the Master Plan could be compared “to a book in which you are the heroes”. But, she insists, “responsibility is as individual as it is collective”.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.