This Friday, September 27, a collective is calling for continued funding for the Escapade theater and an agreement in response to the National Rally’s desire to “take control” of this cultural venue.
A collective of workers from the companies scheduled at the Escapade theater in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), supported by the CGT spectacle, called this Friday, September 27 to mobilize to “the backup” of this place. «After months of pressure from the municipality Rassemblement National” et “the departure of several employees during the summer”, THE “workers of the scheduled companies can only note the technical and artistic impossibility of performing there”, deplored the CGT spectacle in a press release.
The senator from Pas-de-Calais and leader of the RN majority in the municipal council, Christopher Szczurek, defends himself from any pressure. On Wednesday, these workers, formed as a collective supported by the CGT Spectacle and the National Union of Living Arts (Synavi), spoke at the launch of the cultural season, in Hénin-Beaumont, a town led by Steeve Briois (RN) since 2014.
“Get your hands on this place”
Besides “maintaining the financing of the place”, the collective asks “a convention which guarantees freedom of association in artistic management” et “the resumption of artistic direction” by the current director Jean-Yves Coffre “with the guarantee that he can carry out his mission”.
In January, the president of the Escapade association “signed a new agreement with the mayor, without the approval of the board of directors and the director”, Who “provides in particular for the possibility of reassigning the place to cultural use under municipal management or of using the room at the expense of artistic programming”, reports the union. “Unable to carry out its mission”, the director has been on leave since August, according to the same source.
For the CGT spectacle it is “from a political will of the town hall”, pour “get your hands on this independent place of culture”. Christopher Szczurek confirmed the signing of an agreement which allows the municipality to “benefit from the premises […] by requesting the association when it does not occupy them”.
“We never imposed anything” assured the elected official, adding that the subsidy has always been renewed since 2014, around 300,000 euros. “We have never issued an opinion on the programming. In any case, we have never deprogrammed an artist who was not suitable. argued the senator.
Related News :