Inflation and the stagnation of the funding granted by the provincial government to the Quebec Arts and Letters Council (CALQ) have forced ex machina to set up “certain initiatives of rationalization of rationalization of [leurs] operations ”.
“We had to suspend the commitment of certain people who work closely with Robert Lepage in the creation of projects,” confirms Michel Bernatchez, producer at ex Machina.
The actress and playwright Marie Gignac, who was the bar of the Quebec International Théâtre Carrefour for 25 years, joined the team of ex Machina in 2023 as an artist in residence. The sun recently learned that his contract had been suspended, as are those of the thirty artists and craftsmen who worked on Dragons trilogy.
Marie Gignac is an actress and playwright well known in Quebec. (Yan Doublet/Archives Le Soleil)
“We decided that our initiatives had to generate new income will be fruitful before we can resume the creation of the project,” explains Michel Bernatchez.
These contracts are therefore suspended for an indefinite period.
Mr. Bernatchez assures that Ex Machina does everything in his possible way so that this break is not too long.
In addition to their internal initiatives, the producer hopes that requests from the Common Front for the Arts will be heard in the government.
Historically, CALQ financing represents between 10 and 15% of their budget.
“This is important when you see stagnating 10 to 15% of your funding, while inflation operates,” said Bernatchez.
“There must be a political will, in Quebec as in Ottawa, to protect culture,” he said.
Fewer contracts in Quebec
On Wednesday, the Bordée sent a letter to the Quebec theater community to inform them that it would produce one less show in the 2025-2026 season, four instead of five.
Established in Saint-Roch for almost 50 years, the Bordée has the double mission to broadcast and produce plays.
The La Bordée Theater in Quebec. (The sun archives)
“We must cut in our production activities to mitigate a deficit and hope to be able to return to five productions signed the edge in 2026-2027 for our 50th anniversary,” explains Rosie Belley, general co-director and administrative director of the Bordée.
One more production involves about fifteen less contracts for Quebec artists and craftsmen.
“It is perhaps a contract which, for an artist, would have made the difference between completing an end of the month or not, between continuing to do this job and continuing to choose Quebec to live there, develop, to grow His artistic word or not, ”says Rosie Belley.
- Rosie Belley, general co -director and administrative director of the Bordée. (Atwood)
“In Quebec, there are two producer theaters in season: the trident and us. We have an essential role in creating jobs for our community, ”she adds.
The co -general co -director and administrative director of the Bordée does not want Quebec to become “an empty shell”. She wants artists to continue to be able to speak to the public about the realities and challenges of their community.
Le budget you can calq
If the inflation of production costs and the stagnation of the financing offered by the CALQ continues, Rosie Belley calculates that it will have lost around 40 % of its purchasing power by 2028.
Like many other cultural companies and organizations, the Bordées begins to run for solutions and must make Crève-Coeur decisions.
“If it continues, we will find ourselves in the same situation,” warns the general co-director and administrative director of the Trident Marc-Antoine Malo.
The latter has not yet had to cut in the number and quality of the productions of his theater, in particular because he is one of the rare lucky people who have seen their funding coming from Calq increase slightly. This amount allows them to postpone the difficult choices looming on the horizon.
In the fall, the Quebec theater company Pupulus Mordicus had to put the key under the door after 30 years of activities for lack of adequate funding and first act had to cancel the representations of The story of a soldier.
The situation is hardly better in Montreal where the Metropolitan Orchestra (OM), led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, recently announced that it had to reduce its programming by canceling two concerts already on sale.
“We have exhausted all our tools, all our strategies, to get off around with what we had. Now this is no longer possible. We have reached the limits of this adaptability, ”says the administrative director of the Bordée.
“It is the budget of basic CALQ programs that must be consolidated and indexed,” she says, coming to support the requests from the Common Front for the Arts.
Ms. Belley recalls that the amount allocated to CALQ represents less than 1 % of the provincial government’s budget.
“If we give $ 200 million to the CALQ, consolidated and indexed, we would avoid the worst.”
— Rosie Belley, general co -director and administrative director of the Bordée.
Help of the CALQ represents 20 % of the budget budget. The theater located in Saint-Roch welcomes approximately 40,000 spectators annually.
