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France’s National Center for Circus, Street and Theatre Arts (ARTCENA) and CRIS - International Stage Resource Center have agreed to merge as of January 1, to strengthen online resources on circus, street and theatre arts.
The two arts governing bodies have adopted a joint project, which will be presented for a final vote next month.
“Faced with the increase in management costs due to the development of its theatre-contemporain.net website (visited each year by more than 2.5 million people), the CRIS association has been facing underfunding for several years,” said François Berreur, founder and director of CRIS.
“To perpetuate the online resource it offers, it has initiated a reflection with the Ministry of Culture and ARTCENA on its future.”
The combination, which has been funded and managed by France’s Ministry of Culture, hopes to preserve the accessibility of data on contemporary theatre collected by CRIS for the general public. The merger will also see CRIS benefit from ARTCENA’s digital infrastructure, organisation and skillset.
Additionally, the Ministry of Culture has committed to transferring financial support from CRIS to ARTCENA.
“As a national centre and operator of the Ministry of Culture, ARTCENA aims to federate data from various sources to make them available through a reference portal on the contemporary creation of the circus, street and theatre arts,” says Gwénola David, director general of ARTCENA.
“It focuses its action on the accessibility of resources and their readability, in a collaborative and complementary approach, on the selection and editorialisation of content with a view to mediation and transmission. Attendance at the artcena.fr website increased by 30% in 2022, and has 2.7 million page views per year.”
The merger will improve the services provided by gathering additional digital resources and simplifying access, providing editorial and information on contemporary creation, ensuring the sustainability of resources and more.
Berreur and David added: “This alliance will strengthen the richness and variety of digital resources on the circus, street and theatre arts. ARTCENA and CRIS share a common objective: to make their resources and knowledge available to professionals and audiences in the performing arts, in France, Europe, and internationally, to promote contemporary creation, encourage discovery and facilitate the encounter with the works.”
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