Theatre Policy

Abstract

Of all the policy sectors considered in this book, the subsidized theatre could be most readily expected to exemplify a specifically French mode of relations between the state and cultural professionals. The historical roots of state intervention go back further in the case of theatre than in any other sector. The Comédie Française, the most prestigious theatrical institution in France, was founded in 1680, under the patronage of Louis XIV, and subsequently the role of central government in funding and regulating the theatre has expanded steadily. In the twentieth century, the consolidation of a national cultural policy, notably since 1959, has itself been centred on the development of a large subsidized theatre sector. Both the notion of cultural ‘decentralization’, in the sense of developing a provincial network of cultural venues equivalent to the great Parisian institutions, and the concept of an active policy of ‘democratization’, or action culturelle, originated in, and were first applied in, the theatre sector. In budgetary terms, too, the theatre has weighed heavily among the priorities of cultural policymakers: in the period under consideration, funds accorded the theatre sector accounted for, on average, around 13 per cent of the overall budget of the Ministry of Culture.