La Bordée forced to reduce its production of shows

It was with reluctance that La Bordée announced to the Quebec theater community its decision to reduce the number of show productions for its next season.

Of five local productions per season, La Bordée will only produce four shows for the 2025-2026 season, the programming of which should be revealed in April.

In a press release intended for the entire theatrical community of the city, the cultural institution, established in the Saint-Roch district for nearly 50 years, recalled that it lives with chronic underfunding. The contribution of the Conseil des arts des lettres du Québec (CALQ) only increased by 9% from 2008 to 2024 while inflation over the same period was 41.8%.

La Bordée was founded to be a theater producer, if we cut that, what is the point of having a place to heat, to light, to bring to life, if we are not able to offer jobs for our community in Quebeclaments Rosie Belley, administrative director and co-general director of La Bordée.

The financial difficulties which overwhelm the hall, the only theater producer to own its place of creation and distribution in Quebec, are due to a perfect stormexplains the co-director general.

We are a hyper-resilient environment that has been able to adapt for decades in the face of different periods of challenges or different changes in government, policies and all that.she said. The thing here is that we no longer have any capacity to adapt because we have adapted too much to each aspect of our organizations.

Having no more room for maneuver, and hoping to save the 50 edition^e anniversary which will take place in two years, La Bordée has resigned itself to cutting where it could, in production.

A multitude of factors

This is a first for this theater which is almost half a century old. La Bordée is one of the only two theaters, with the Trident, to produce shows.

We are cutting 20% ​​of our creative and production activities, it is major. What will Quebec artists live on? We know very well that they do not live off the two or three contracts that we manage to give them in theatersunderlines Rosie Belley, visibly worried.

The director does not place all the blame on the government for the lack of money. A multitude of factors, including rising costs, inflation, building costs and rising minimum wages have contributed.

The increase in the minimum wage in recent years has been 40% over 7 years. This is 12-13% more than inflationmentions Rosie Belley. In the cultural sector, it is not hidden, salaries are lower than in other sectors. It’s hard to be competitive.

For us, we manage the ushers, the ticket clerks. When the minimum wage rises by 40%, a good part of our payroll also rises by 40% and completely unbalances our internal salary scale of the organization.

La Bordée supports the demands of the Common Front for the Arts. In particular the indexing of programs. It is surprising that the support given to the mission, to organizations like La Bordée which will be 50 years old in two years, is not indexed over timeshe mentions.

Saint-Roch in the heart

Theater has had its share of challenges over the past few years. The pandemic, work in the neighborhood and homelessness which is more visible. It is certain that at the moment the issues of cohabitation in Saint-Roch, we know that our public is sensitive to that. People are not blind, she said.

The press Saint-Roch is currently getting is difficult. But La Bordée remains an indisputable pillar of Saint-Roch. We are here, we have been in place since 2002, it is a building dedicated to the theater.

Open in full screen mode

La Bordée receives 40,000 spectators annually. We are an economic, cultural and vital lever for Saint-Roch. Coming to La Bordée is a way of supporting the neighborhood, of contributing to its vitality!

La Bordée will unveil the 2025-2026 program in the spring.