Minister St-Pierre in France for Festival d’Avignon

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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Christine St-Pierre, Minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women, is in France from July 7 to 12 to support Québec artists who take part in the 63rd Festival d’Avignon.

Loupe

Québec has a high profile at this year’s Festival d’Avignon. Playwright and director Wajdi Mouawad, who has spent most of his life in Québec, is the first non-European to be chosen as the festival’s associate artist. Québec talent in the performing arts, literature and cinema are also part of the program. France’s leading live performance event, the Festival d’Avignon will feature a dozen Québec artistic creations this year.

In the words of Minister St-Pierre, “I am proud of the place of honour reserved for Wajdi Mouawad and Québec artists at the Festival d’Avignon, which is recognized and appreciated for its excellent programming. They will have a chance to show the originality and quality of some of our most cutting-edge productions to the public, as well as to performance distributors and programmers from across France and elsewhere around the world.”

In addition to attending several plays, the Minister will take advantage of her trip to Avignon to speak with the President of the Rhône-Alpes region, Jean-Jack Queyranne. This region of France supports Québec culture, among other ways by funding co-productions.

The Minister will also take part in a roundtable on contemporary Québec theatre. Held to mark the 15th anniversary of the creation of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), the event is being organized in collaboration with the Délégation générale du Québec à Paris (Québec government office in Paris).

Christine St-Pierre will then travel to Lyon, where she will tour the building site of the Musée des Confluences, one of Europe’s biggest museum projects, which is slated to open its doors at the end of 2010. The institution is led by Quebecer Michel Côté, a museum expert who worked at the Musée de la civilisation in Québec City from 1987 to 1993.

In addition to attending the French premiere of Eonnagata, featuring Robert Lepage, the Minister will renew her dialogue with the new Senator from the Rhône region and Vice-President of the Rhône General Council, Jean-Jacques Pignard, to discuss their respective approaches for promoting culture.

The Ministère des Relations internationales provides support for the artists and organizations that take part in the Festival d’Avignon.


Festival d’Avignon (in French)
Délégation générale du Québec à Paris