Mentor Of The Month

Q & A WITH DAVID LAVOIE

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VERSION FRANCAIS

Could you please describe what you do?

I am theatre administrator for a series of theatre companies in Montreal. I manage Le Théâtre de la Pire Espèce, le Théâtre du Grand Jour, le Festival du Jamais Lu, Carte Premières and I have worked for the last two years creating a new theatre space called Théâtre La Centrale.

So you’re not very busy at all?

No, (smile) I still manage to find time for my kids…

That’s very impressive, it’s funny because last month we were talking about stress & burnout and work life balance. Even though I wanted to ask you more about activism, how do you balance everything?

You should ask my wife that question….not very well actually. It’s very difficult to balance everything at the moment. The reason that I continue to be hyper active at the moment is in the hope that we will succeed in all areas in the short term. This pace is not something I endure over a long time.

How long have you been working in the arts?

I started in 2001 after graduating Business Administration at HEC in Montreal. For the first 6 years I worked for a few design companies and then spent three years with a film festival. Then I met the members of La Pire Espece and got more and more involved in working with them.

What is an average day like?

In an artistic project, I have three principal functions, administration, communications and of course the artistic. The administrative work is to first develop a vision, create a work plan and then put that in action. For example, my personal interest looks at international tour development, so I will build relations with organizations from other countries, I liaise with other theatre companies to facilitate coproductions, budget costs or partnerships. That’s the exciting part of my job.

The real day to day demands are grant writing, accounting, managing the team, marketing and keeping an eye on the artistic developments to make sure that everything is running smoothly. It’s a bit like a being an orchestra conductor. The administrative people often have the most consistent presence in the company and in the theatre. It’s necessary for us to be on top of everything that’s going on, so that the artists can loose contact with reality for a bit and focus on the rehearsal and creative process. 

What have been some of the challenges as a Theatre Adminstrator?

There are so many (laughs)….Since I work with young and emerging artists, I think that the most important part of my work is to properly relate to them, to understand their artistic practices and take the right steps to help them succeed. My job is to find the solution that can be adapted to directly suit their needs. Every project is different, certain ones are individual artist projects, other involve much more of the arts community, however they all share the same dynamics. That is to say that when you find yourself in the middle of a group that shares the same interests then the solutions can relate to all them. The biggest challenge is to stay current. Certain organizations that I manage have a limited life span. Others are much longer and other will last as long as their creators do. Each one poses it’s own challenge.

What are some of things that you’ve done as an activist to get the attention of the funders?

It goes back to what I was saying. It’s important the funding bodies are aware of current trends and show flexibility when creating their grant programs. I’d prefer to see more competent and intelligent program officers in the councils than have programs that protect their incompetences.

I find that the artists are not engaged enough in politics, especially if you compare them with how engaged artists were in the 70s and 80s where they were truly making some real societal changes. Presently our generation and young people seem much less interested in politics but at the same time very socially conscious. We have access to so many means of communication that allow us to really know what’s going on.  Yet, at the same time the perverse effects of this there is the feeling that with so much information, what is my point of view worth? So I said to myself : there is still a sense of emergency, I can feel it and therefore I am going to turn towards the councils to see if they are going to seriously address this crisis. And this crisis, I could not address through any of the current granting programs. I knew that I had to find an alternative way to express it, with some more militant actions.

In 2005, I produced a colouring book that I send to the ministries to make them aware of the role that art plays in society. I knew that it was a shot in the dark, but even so it was still taking positive action. Two years later, the state of things had worsened so much that I decided to create a fake press release using the Quebec Council of Arts & Letters letterhead. It stated that the council program employees were on strike. Each arts office would take a turn going on strike to support artists demands for more support. I was completely nervous about doing this but I sent these emails out to the arts community on a Friday afternoon. On the Monday, the Quebec Arts Council had to send out an official statement disclaiming the fake press release, but in this time I received 25 letters from the community in just 48 hours. This allowed me to write to the council explaining the reason behind my actions and attached the 25 responses. While I acted alone, I also acted on behalf of many others.

Artists receive a lot of training nowadays but perhaps they are not necessarily given all the facts. They step out there with their diploma with all these exepectations and those expectations aren’t always met. What are some of the things that you would like them to know that maybe they are not being told right now?

It’s a question of the intergenerational relationships. Thanks to the generations before us we have the opportunity to attend some really excellent schools. Artists are graduating quickly with very competent artistic training. However, this skill is highly technical. They still need to estimate the value that someone with 40 years experience in the field has and who developed their vision thanks to this experience. Presently these training institutions are not establishing healthy relationships of confidence between the generations, which causes a disconnect. This leaves the emerging arts professional in a very precarious place where they do not have a proper connection with other arts professionals. As this younger generation is now getting so well trained, we can often leave a little arrogant carrying our new bag of knowledge.

It’s a difficult discussion. I’m not interested in sending my parents & my grand parents out the door. But that is the dynamic that is being played. Do I push forward only to leave others at the door or do we start to open the lines of discussion and create a new balance. Obviously, I’d like for everyone to gain from this, but it is likely that certain sacrifices have to made.

My last question for you David is why do you do this? Why did you decide to become as you stated in your speech to CPAF “a mad business man?” What is the passion that drives you?

The most honest response I can give is that it came from my six years working with graphic design companies who were for profit organizations. The nature of the for profit company bothers me a bit. There is always a point where the need to raise a profit out ways the work itself.  There are people who simply want to get rich and under them are people who are doing the work, really excellent work, but this gets undervalued in the quest for more money.

What brought me to work in the arts is that in a not for profit company, there is always a mandate that rises above the simple need to make a profit. That for me is much more interesting for society and our communities. Money is useful but not the end goal.