It is an understatement to say that the triple reform of governance, support system and financing of the Private Theater Support Association (ASTP) is being carried out painfully. Quickly, the president of the association, Pascal Guillaume, announced his resignation, knowing, he explained in a letter to its members dated November 20, that “build a consensus (…) It’s not obvious ». A euphemism.
The city of Paris, for its part, indicated that it would no longer fund the association until true reform was implemented. Therefore, at the end of the year it reduces its subsidy by 1.4 million euros, from an initially planned total of more than 3.2 million for 2024. “The amount of the 2025 subsidy has not yet been decided”We clarified at the Paris City Hall. Several observers see this resignation as a rather convenient way to save when the city budget is already very limited to support, among others, the City Theater or the Concorde Theater.
Given that the ASTP is also funded by a 3.5% tax collected on dramatic, lyrical and choreographic shows (which generated 8.15 million euros in 2023) and by the State (up to 3.6 million), the announcement of The city of Paris necessarily places the Ministry of Culture in a rather uncomfortable situation. La Rue de Valois simply points out that it has been advocating for a long time for the elimination of the famous 3.5% tax, in order to increase the association’s resources.
New crisis
Where does this new crisis come from? In June, a report from the general inspection of cultural affairs harshly criticized the association’s functioning. The perpetrators attacked a “system designed by and for Parisian theaters”. They deplored that “Of the thousand contributors to the support fund in 2022, only 53 active members of the ASTP benefit from it”. And he stated that, in “contradiction with legal and regulatory obligations”the helpers were “reserved only for ASTP members”. Not counting the accusations about “locked governance”, “The great lack of transparency” in the allocation of aid and in the fact that the members of the association “they only imperfectly reflect the number and diversity of private theater actors in France”. Such a position had rarely been given, forcing the association to undergo rapid updating. Especially since the ministry indicates that “This report constitutes a roadmap” and promised to be attentive so that “the best possible distribution [des aides] be considered ».
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