Benoît André, director of La Filature: “Building a season is a gamble! »

After two complicated years due to the health crisis, La Filature is back, full throttle, for a 2022-2023 vintage full of panache. Interview with its director, Benoît André.

You took up your duties at the dawn of the health crisis, one could have imagined an easier start…

I actually arrived two and a half months before confinement. The conditions were clearly not ideal for taking the helm of this ship. During all this time, we tried to stay afloat by multiplying the proposals, especially around digital, as for the Les Vagamondes 2021 festival, or in November 2020, during the recording of the concert without spectators by Angélique Kidjo… even if nothing replaces the live performance! We have also carried out a gigantic task of maintaining the link with the school environment as part of our actions. We have again set up a « Micro-folie »a local cultural platform, with the support of the Haut-Rhin Prefecture… Despite obvious difficulties due to the period, I was able to start certain projects, even if they are only seeing the light of day now, at the image of the great collaboration with the Ballet of the Opéra national du Rhin with Kamuyot. An all-terrain piece, presented the first week of July in Mulhouse gymnasiums (Editor’s note: Schoenacker, Caserne Drouot and Complexe sportif de la Doller). One of my goals, when I arrived at La Filature, was to meet new audiences, we’re getting there!

“Proposing a joyful season”

How did you build this new season, which will open in September?

It’s a real joy to start again on a full season. Several axes guided me in the programming. First, I voluntarily lightened it, because the two previous seasons, marked by numerous postponements, were very busy for the teams. Then, I built it by winking at a certain number of artists identified by the public, because they had already come to our walls. It is in this spirit that we will find, at La Filature, Sophia Aram in season opener (September 23 with the Orchester national de Barbès), the La Cordonnerie theater company (from October 19 to 22), or even David Bobée with Dom Juan (May 4 and 5)… The central idea is to offer a joyous season, as festive as possible, through beautiful appointments and surprises capable of arousing astonishment.

What are your favourites?

Among the pretty discoveries, even if he has already come to La Filature once in the past, Thomas Jolly (Harlequin polished by lovein November, then The Dragon in February) is one of the directors who best address the youngest audiences. He is nicknamed the “director 2.0”, he reinvents the codes of the theater. It is also he who is in charge of the staging of Starmania, which will be reassembled for a tour of very large rooms. There is also the return of Christoph Marthaler, a great gentleman of the theater. With “Das Weisse vom Ei” (A floating island), in January, he will present a play that is very easy to access, which is inspired by the codes of the boulevard to make it an extremely funny moment, with fabulous actors . At the start of the season, and still in theatre, there will be a very nice meeting with Cyril Teste, a young French director who works a lot on video. He will come to present The Seagull around Chekhov (in September).

In dance, several events will be presented around Damien Jalet, who was initially to be hosted in 2020-2021. He is a fascinating choreographer, whom the public knows without necessarily knowing it: he is the co-creator of all the pieces of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, a choreographer whom La Filature regularly welcomes. The three pieces presented (Skid in November, Vessel in January, Thr(o)ugh in May) all have a particular strength and uniqueness.

In music, I will quote Roberto Negro, who signs an ambitious orchestral project: to associate his trio of free improvisation with the musicians of the Ensemble intercontemporain. This creation takes place at La Filature as part of the Jazzdor Festival (in November). Before Christmas, we thought that a moment of sweetness would be welcome: we therefore invited Yolande Moreau and the singer of Les Têtes Raides Christian Olivier, around Prévert (in December). To get the season off to a good start, we are delighted to welcome Sophia Aram and the National Orchestra of Barbès (in September). Finally, the Nights of the Strange are renewed for the second edition (October 28 and 29), between shows, exhibitions, performances, workshops and courses…

“Attract new audiences”

One of the challenges of this season will also be to win back the public in the long term, how do you plan to go about it?

Like other cultural structures, we communicated the program for the past season in two stages. By limiting communication to only events over five months, we ended up worrying people more than reassuring them. With hindsight and in view of what has happened in other structures, it was a mistake: we have all experienced problems filling rooms. As I said before, this new program is geared towards artists who already have a relationship with the audience at La Filature, even if that doesn’t exclude discovery. I also strongly believe in the multiplication of partnerships with local players, as we have done with Le Noumatrouff (Editor’s note: during the Sofiane Pamart concert for example) and this season with the Mulhouse Climbing Center with whom we will propose “Extreme Bodies” (January 27) by Rachid Ouramdane, who summons a world climbing champion to the stage. Beyond our work in schools, we also try to schedule appointments in order to attract new young audiences, as with « Music for 18 Musicians » (in June), a danced, participatory and playful concert. Finally, in terms of prices, they remain unchanged and generally very accessible. Afterwards, building a season is always a bet, there are never certainties.

One of the new appointments, set up the previous season, are the “Sundays at La Filature”. Will you pursue them?

Not only are we going to renew them but we are going to develop them, on the basis of a monthly meeting (from Sunday September 18 at 10 a.m.). The idea is to attract audiences who don’t set foot in La Filature, because they don’t think it’s a house made for them. With these “Sundays at La Filature”, we want to offer a “third place” between National Stage, exhibition gallery, media library, the mezzanine (…) mixing small forms of shows, workshops, conferences (…) to see , meet, exchange (…). We started at the end of 2021 with a brunch formula with an OSM chamber music concert, we filled up by attracting new audiences. We really hope that Mulhousiens will take possession, on Sunday, of this place which is also open to partners, associations and active forces who can offer activities. You have to reinvent yourself to attract new audiences.

What about the La Filature restaurant?

We’ve been talking about it for 29 years! Even if I cannot announce an opening date, I can tell you that the La Filature restaurant project is progressing. Slowly, but he’s moving forward!

Interview by Marc-Antoine Vallori

+ info, programming for the next season and reservations on lafilature.org