This is what they say in a petition put online by the union of workers artists-author (STAA) and the Metoo BD collective, relayed, this Thursday, by the newspaper L’Humanité.
“She seems to want to materialize her SAS merger project with 9eart +, who would become unlimited manager of the festival. »»
Extract: “During the last ADBDA meeting (1) of April 3, the FIBD association spoke of the possibility of denouncing the contract which links it with the company 9EArt +, but it did not demonstrate the wish to submit the management of the festival to a call for impartial projects. On the contrary, she seems to want to concretize her SAS merger project [société par actions simplifiée] With 9eart +, who would, in fact, become unlimited manager of the festival. “The signatories denounce” blindness “,” obstinacy “and” contempt “in the face of their” repeated arrests “so that the event is not” corseted with personal interests or authoritarian choices “.
Association meeting this Friday
A petition unveiled on the eve of a key date. It is this Friday, April 18 that the association brings together its board of directors. On the agenda: the denunciation of the contract which has linked it since 2007 to the company of Franck Bondoux. A denunciation that elected officials and the State also call for their wishes, hoping not to see the scenario of 2015 reproduce: the contract had been renewed for ten years … for a form of form.
They also support the launch of a call for projects … a track that Delphine Groux, president of the association, will only agree to study if her SAS project with 9th art + does not help. His explanation: “For almost 20 years, [cette entreprise] plays a decisive role in the development and influence of the festival. Logically, the FIBD association […] Study with it, how to capitalize on the current dynamics in order to ensure and structure the future ”.
A SAS, Quèsaco? “It’s not a merger,” nuance Me François Forestas, Angoumois lawyer specializing in corporate law. “In a SAS, each partner remains independent and autonomous. Each structure continues to exist. This is how the Francofolies de la Rochelle or the spring of Bourges work.
“May the association keep the property of its marks”
A simple and flexible tool that offers an advantage: “a great freedom of writing in the statutes”, explains Me Forestas. “We can notably provide that one of the partners keeps supremacy on this or that subject. We can write a catalog of decisions for which majority rules differ. The risk: that Franck Bondoux grants himself even more power than it has today.
“Surrounded by legal advice” -natant Étienne Apprel and Grégory Antoine-, Delphine Groux, the president, however posed two prerequisites for the project: “Sanctuarize the festival in Angoulême and that the association retains the property of its marks”. A point of vigilance: the 9th art + boss has already tried to appropriate them in the past. In 2015, he had deposited the brands “Angoulême comic book festival” and “Angoulême festival” without warning elected officials or even the association.
Within a SAS, the association should “open a right” so that the brand can be used, via a license contract or a use concession for which it would set a time limit.
How communities can have a voice in the chapter
Applicating more transparency, communities want to have a voice in the chapter. “Within a SAS, they can either be associated, or have a right of expression within a committee, to whom power can be given. It then becomes a floor in decision -making, ”observes Me Forestas. Who insists: “A SAS is hand sewer. There is a whole study and advice work that must be done upstream. »»
A track also studying elected officials, who thought, for a time, of the creation of a SCIC, a cooperative society of community interest. SAS could group the association of the festival and another organizing player. Not necessarily 9th art +.
(1) Association for the development of comics in Angoulême.
