Despite Alès Agglo’s disappointment at being deprived of the label, the director of the Cratère Théâtre, Olivier Lataste, is positive.
Despite the immense work carried out around Alès Agglo’s candidacy for obtaining the “Capital of Culture 2024” label, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, preferred to designate Pays de Montbéliard Agglomeration on Friday (our edition of Saturday). The disappointment is equal to the enthusiasm that accompanied this candidacy, and the excess of energy of elected officials, cultural actors and civil servants to defend, as far away as Paris, the qualities of Alès and its agglomeration in terms of culture.
“I want to understand what went wrong”
On the side of the Crater, this announcement was particularly awaited. The national scene took on a major role in the program supposed to punctuate the year 2024. “It is a great disappointment, linked to all this work which deserved to go to the end, regrets Olivier Lataste, the director of the theater, who now does assert his desire to understand. I want to know what, in the different criteria, allowed Montbéliard to win. Personally, I want to understand what was missing. It’s also a way of turning the page on the label.”
By going through the press release from the Minister of Culture, Olivier Lataste finds some answers, targeting the terms “transdisciplinarity”, “sobriety” and “territorial networking”. Notions present in the Alesian file. “Could their proximity to Switzerland, this border, international side, play in their favor?” Asks the director of Cratère, who wants to believe that the rules were the same for everyone.
“Working at the label, I fed on this eclecticism”
And now ? Olivier Lataste is convinced that “the beautiful story will continue”. “The way in which the services of the Agglo have concerted the cultural actors, the work of co-construction, consultation… All of this will play a role, and the Crater will add its stone to the building, assures the director of the national scene. Even without a label, the territory has a lot to gain in this cultural dialogue. All of this will make children. Alès has shown how much it counts at the cultural level.”
Le Cratère, moreover, will “surf” this momentum in its future programming, on which Olivier Lataste and his services are still working. “Our commitment will be to leave room for all artistic expressions and different styles of culture. accelerated my meetings, my knowledge of the territory, the interconnection…”
“We will show that the application has allowed alchemy and interactions”
Of course, the programming will not be there as if Alès had obtained its sesame, but the Cratère promises beautiful surprises to its public. “We are going to show that the application has allowed alchemy and interactions, with more actors, associations, in the socio-cultural universes…, promises the director. We will feel it in 2024, also maintaining the traveling season Cratère espace . So that all Alésiens continue to appropriate the Crater.”
