The Quartz de Brest, the largest National Stage in France, was inaugurated Friday evening, after nearly three years of closure for extensive renovation work, noted AFP.
“Finally, France's leading stage is finding its setting again
,” said Stéphane Roudaut, president of Brest'Aim, the mixed economy company managing Quartz, during the inaugural evening.
“Le Quartz is the flagship place, it’s even a lighthouse in its own right
,” he added on a stage decorated for the occasion on a public works site.
A place of theater, dance and music but also a conference center, the Quartz has been completely renovated for a budget of 23.2 million euros, distributed between Brest Métropole, the State, the Brittany region and the Finistère department. .
The work required almost three years of closure from April 2021 to January 2024.
Designed by the Parisian architectural agency Blond&Roux, this transformation made it possible to create a new opening onto the city, improve the comfort of spectators and artists, while improving energy efficiency.
The stage of the Grand Théâtre (1,488 seats) was notably remodeled to improve
“the working conditions and comfort of technicians and artists”
, according to a press kit.
The room's acoustics have been improved, its chairs changed and the aisles reconfigured.
The building envelope has been modified to improve thermal and acoustic comfort.
Inaugurated in 1988, Le Quartz was built in place of the former Palais des Arts et de la Culture, ravaged by a fire in 1981, then became Scène nationale in 2001. The National Union of Artistic and Cultural Enterprises (Syndeac ) and the Association of National Stages (ASN) welcomed this renovation work in a press release.
“It is ultimately the affirmation of an ambition in the service of culture and the public that we can only welcome,”
they said, while demanding guarantees as to
“the independence of the future management”
Quartz.
The previous director, Maïté Rivière, was suspended from her duties in February 2023, by Brest'Aim, who had argued
“deep disagreements, and at this stage irreconcilable”
.
La Scène Brestoise has since then been led by an interim director pending the recruitment of new management.