Martin Faucher will present his last edition
of the FTA in 2021
Martin Faucher, artistic director and co-executive director of Festival TransAmériques, has announced that he will step down as head of the Festival at the end of the 15thedition in June 2021.
After 15 years at the FTA, including 7 as its director, a feeling of having reached the end of a cycle, combined with a strong desire to return to a personal artistic practice, led to his decision. After lengthy reflection he announced his coming departure to the board of directors last December. Public disclosure of his decision was postponed due to the impact of COVID-19 and the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the FTA.
An actor, director, professor and administrator actively involved in the Quebec arts scene, Martin Faucher joined the FTA team in 2006. He was artistic advisor for Marie-Hélène Falcon, the general and artistic director of a festival then undergoing a major transformation as the Festival de théâtre des Amériques added dance to its programming, becoming in 2007 the Festival TransAmériques. Following Marie-Hélène Falcon’s departure in 2014, Martin Faucher and David Lavoie took over as co-directors.
“Selecting and presenting the FTA program was a powerful and political gesture. It was also an extraordinary means of bringing to local audiences stimulating new works from all over the world. I now intend to share in different ways all that I have learned with my artistic community, my collaborators and the public.
In these frightening but exciting times, I hope that a new and different perspective can be cast on works from Montreal, Canada and elsewhere. It is healthy to make room for renewal in our institutions. The Festival can thus begin a new chapter, pursue new ways of imagining and portraying the world we live in.
I am convinced that the FTA will astonish me as it always has.
– Martin Faucher
© Maude Chauvin
Since his arrival at the head of the FTA, Martin Faucher has presented editions that highlight a diversity of aesthetics, of provenance, of generations and genres. From renowned European masters to innovative artists from here and elsewhere or new, emerging voices from Quebec and Canada, he has always striven to create conditions such that each work is able to flourish. With simplicity imbued with rigour and high standards, he counted on the intelligence and curiosity of Montreal audiences and foreign presenters, who invariably embraced the challenge.
In close collaboration with his artistic advisor Jessie Mill, Martin Faucher also created the FTA Playgrounds, thereby increasing encounters linked to the shows presented, thus making this Festival of contemporary dance and theatre a celebration, a forum for exchanging views. During his tenure, the FTA affirmed its Montreal roots and raised its international profile, notably by investing in co-productions from here and abroad.
Martin Faucher is proud to have pursued the visionary accomplishments of Marie-Hélène Falcon, pleased with his rich and sincere collaboration with David Lavoie, very grateful for the ongoing support of a board of directors attuned to his artistic vision, and well aware that the unfailing commitment of the Festival team bodes well for future editions.
“On behalf of the board of directors, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to Martin Faucher for his invaluable contribution to the success, evolution and reputation of the FTA. Since his arrival in the organization he has constantly championed a powerful, irrepressible artistic vision that has given the FTA a special place in the hearts of festivalgoers, and in the eyes of major players in theatre and dance from here and abroad. It is with optimism and pride that we will continue his work with a team that, while rich with new members, will remain faithful to what makes the Festival unique.”
– Charles Milliard, President, Board of Directors
The 15th edition of Festival TransAmériques, from May 26 to June 10, 2021, will be the last with Martin Faucher as artistic director. A selection committee overseen by the board of directors is currently defining the recruitment process, and a call for applications will be issued soon.
