“Let the town hall leave the Channel in peace, give them their subsidy and basta! “, gets carried away Jean-Philippe Lannoy, municipal councilor of opposition (LFI) in Calais. For several years, tensions have been high between the municipality and its theatre; today they are reaching their climax. The rivalry took a personal turn between Natacha Bouchart, mayor LR, and Francis Peduzzi, the director of the Channel. The first has been at the head of the municipal council since 2008, the second has been running the theater since 1991. “I’m not a little soldier!” exclaims the director of the Channel. This town hall sees me as a head of municipal service, while I am director of the national scene.
Labeled national scene by the Ministry of Culture, the public theater has gained independence from a simple municipal theater. It is this “project and management autonomy” that poses a problem, according to Jean-Philippe Lannoy, Channel support. “Natacha Bouchart does not like things not coming from her, he believes. There, inevitably, we are on another path of freedom, audacity and it is difficult for her to accept. Today, these tensions threaten the very existence of the national scene.
On September 29, 2019, after several months of negotiation, the city of Calais, the prefect of Hauts-de-France, the region as well as the department of Pas-de-Calais agreed with the Channel on a multi-year agreement of objectives (CPO). Lasting four years, this agreement defines, among other things, the artistic project as well as the amounts of the subsidies.
Through this CPO, the town hall undertakes to pay 900,000 euros in aid each year to the theatre. What she will never do. In the first years, she justified the reduction of the subsidy by the Covid-19 pandemic. But, according to Francis Peduzzi, “an even greater stroke of the penknife” comes in 2023: the theater receives only 550,000 euros out of the 900,000 planned. “The mayor declared that it was political, it is a refusal of my person and the project that I carry”, affirms the director of the Channel. For the past four years, he has estimated unpaid subsidies at 795,000 euros, or almost an entire year of funding.
Proof that the negotiations are tense, the drafting of the previous CPO stretched from 2012 to 2015, recalls the report of the regional chamber of accounts of 2018 that we were able to obtain. “The relations are conflicting between the municipality of Calais, whose vision concerning the programming and the pricing of the Channel differs from that of the Scene”, can we read. Another point of contention is the venue’s pricing policy. Francis Peduzzi advocates for a single tariff while the municipality would prefer to introduce a differentiated tariff.
On February 7, in city council, Jean-Philippe Lannoy asked for explanations on the reduction in subsidies. “I denounced a form of blackmail: that there would not be the full check for 900,000 euros as long as the Channel was not under the orders of the town hall, explains the elected official. For them there are good guys and bad guys, it’s almost paranoia.”
In his response, Pascal Pestre, Assistant for the Attractiveness of the territory, summed up the position of the town hall: “We are campaigning for the arrival of a new direction to which we guarantee the same artistic freedom but we wish to have, with this new management, cordial and constructive relations and exchanges built on bases other than permanent blackmail.”
Natacha Bouchart did not wish to speak on the subject with Le Figaro. “Let’s stop giving us a false trial, we don’t want to separate from the Channel”, explained the mayor in the municipal council, ensuring that there is no “don’t lower the subsidy”. “We give three quarters of it today, she defends herself. We will then vote on an additional budget based on the Channel project.”
The Channel organized a public meeting on April 11 to answer questions from the approximately 300 Calais residents who had come, worried about the conflict between the city and the stage, as reported by La Voix du Nord. The Channel has also launched a petition to support the national stage which has reached over 6,500 signatures.
Last twist, Ariane Mnouchkine invited herself into the debate. The director and founder of the Théâtre du Soleil, supported the management of the Channel in an open letter. “For more than fourteen years, Ms. Bouchart has been using all her power to reduce the resources [of the Channel], use her strength, divide and humiliate her staff, insult her director, deplores Ariane Mnouchkine. One does not uproot an orchard with impunity, one does not demolish a school with impunity, one does not dry up a haven with impunity, one does not burn an oasis.