“There is a desire on the part of the majority to overhaul the city’s cultural policy”: the town hall cancels the 2026-2027 season of the Théâtre de Vanves

What did the teams, artists and audiences of the Théâtre de Vanves (92) do to be punished? An entire season thrown in the trash, and the parts, and their teams, and their salaries with them. The decision, communicated by the mayor of Vanves, Bernard Gauducheau (UDI), to the director of the municipal theater, Anouchka Charbey, during a meeting in May, has the effect of a cleaver: the 2026/2027 cultural season of the municipal theater will be “white”. That is to say, canceled, purely and simply. Only the shows for young audiences and the cinema component of this multidisciplinary place obtain the favor.

“We have just learned that the municipality had chosen to change the Vanves Theater project and, after a consultation period of a few months, will put in place a new, radically different cultural policy.”announced the management of the theater to the artists and scheduled companies, in an email made public. “This new direction means the end of the Vanves theater project as it has existed for almost 30 years.”alerts the team, which thus explains its “Silence for a few days” with companies.

A demanding program combining theater, dance and performance

A mecca for contemporary creation and a point of reference in the field of live performance, the Vanves Theater has for several decades defended a demanding program combining theater, dance and performance. With audacity and a certain flair: some artists who have now acquired a national or international reputation made their debut there: Julien Gosselin, current director of the Odéon, or Boris Charmatz, who until recently directed the Tanztheater in Wuppertal, founded by Pina Bausch.

Today, the Théâtre de Vanves continues to defend creation with young companies who come to show their first shows during the house festival, Artdanthé, a meeting of assertive and demanding gestures whose influence goes beyond the borders of the city. It is this requirement which seems to be under attack, for the moment half-heartedly. “There is a desire on the part of the majority to overhaul the city’s cultural policyâ€notes Cécile Soubelet, elected opposition socialist, contacted by telephone. “But it is a decision to break violently, which requires very clear justification.”

A municipal council with far-right leanings

“I could tell very many examples which testify to the attachment of a large part of the population to this place and to the quality of the relationship between the works and the inhabitants that it allowedâ€testifies, in a Facebook post, Jérémy Mazeron, general secretary of the theater in charge of dance until this season.

“The little melody which says that art as it is defended today is not sufficiently addressed to the population is heard louder and louder, everywhere. The National Rally had made it an element of communication but today we see clearly that this discourse is present everywhere. Today he is invited to join a center-right municipal council. »

Unprecedented for its brutality and hasty nature, this political intervention nevertheless had precedents, such as at the Forum, an approved stage in Blanc-Mesnil, where the mayor, Thierry Meignen (LR), attacked the theater’s programming upon taking office in 2014. But in Vanves, this decision is not made following a change of municipality. Bernard Gauducheau, re-elected with 54.45% of the votes in the first round last March, has held his seat since 2001.

Questioned in the municipal council by opposition municipal councilor Camille Lemarchand (PCF) on Tuesday evening, the mayor kicked in. Since 2014, the municipal council has included former Prime Minister and presidential election candidate Gabriel Attal in its majority. On the presidential horizon, the far right does not have a monopoly on threats to culture.