To present the best of Canadian and international theatre on Quebec City stages.
Mandate
Each spring, Carrefour international de théâtre produces and presents a major festival in Quebec City. Its root discipline is theatre, its artistic choices are influenced by current trends in contemporary creation and are biased in favour of original artistic undertakings.
Productions from abroad make up at least half of the program, complemented by strong Québec and Canadian components made up of premiers, revivals of exceptional productions and works by emerging artists. The festival is meant to be a crossroads where professionals meet, discoveries are made, audiences discuss and express their opinions… a celebration of theatre and contemporary creation.
It stages, alone or in association
with partners, exceptional works that would not otherwise be presented
in Quebec City or elsewhere in Québec.
It takes advantage of its association with a showcase of international renown to reinforce its presence in the city and engage a dialogue among artists, the arts and audiences.
History
Quebec City has been host to an international theatre festival for
nearly 25 years now. Carrefour international de théâtre was founded in
1991, after the Quinzaine internationale de théâtre ceased its
activities. Initially held every two years, Carrefour added a second
biannual event in 1997 with Théâtres d’Ailleurs. Presented alternately,
Théâtres d’Ailleurs and Carrefour international de théâtre have
occupied the stages of the Old Capital for 10 years, presenting the
works of internationally acclaimed artists from here and abroad,
alongside emerging creators.
Over the years, Carrefour has vigorously pursued its commitment to
presenting the best of Canadian and international theatre on Quebec
City stages. During the 17 events held between 1992 and 2010, 219
different shows were presented, half from Québec and Canada, the others
from around the world: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil,
Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia,
Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United
States, Rwanda. On four occasions Carrefour received the Masque award
for best foreign production from the Académie québécoise du théâtre.
Awareness and concern for the public manifested itself in different
ways over the years, notably by the adoption in 2003 of a strategy to
develop its public, and the creation in 2005 of a cultural mediation
activities component known as Carrefour - amateur critics: An encounter
between art and the public.
Michel Bernatchez and Pierre MacDuff were the first artistic
codirectors and Bernard Gilbert was the first executive director. In
1996, artistic direction was successfully passed to Marie Gignac and
Brigitte Haentjens, while in the fall of 2000 Dominique Violette became
executive director. In 2006, Brigitte Haentjens left the festival to
concentrate exclusively on her creative theatre company Sybillines. The
artistic adventure of the duo Gignac-Haentjens lasted 10 years and the
strengths of their collaboration made their mark. In addition to the
undeniable consistency in quality and artistic rigour, there was an
extraordinary openness, audaciousness and resistance. Resistance to
facility, to various pressures, to insufficient means. In the fall of
2007, Marie Gignac, agreed to continue the adventure, assuming sole
responsibility for artistic direction of the festival and projects in
development.
Throughout 2007, management and the board of directors of Carrefour
undertook a program of consultation, analysis and redefinition which
led to the adoption of a stimulating strategic development plan. Now
the sole international festival dedicated to theatre in Quebec City,
Carrefour has been redefined on the basis of its central focus on
theatre as a celebration of contemporary creation. The festival will
continue to be held in the spring, but will become an annual event and
it will be more present in public sites. In parallel, other activities
will be developed, making use of the unique expertise acquired in
putting on the festival and cultivating the roots put down by Carrefour
in the world of professional theatre.
What is the challenge we have set ourselves in building the festival?
To always listen with the same enthusiasm, to the innumerable artists,
to works both old and new, to complex or extremely simple and effective
ways of employing language and contemporary theatrical means in order
to articulate, provoke, entertain, move, surprise… because creating a
festival lies above all in its program, this unlikely assembly of
instant favourites, essential works, inescapable artists, specialized
approaches and unexpected discoveries that come together, in an
environment, at sites in a city, at a moment in time. Offered for the
enjoyment of both amateurs and professionals, each program is more than
the sum of its various parts. It is the reflection of a distinctive and
individual sensibility, with regard to theatre, culture, the period and
the public.
