Since November 2022, a visual campaign, entitled “An nou doubout o ka pou Sentdézaw”, is conducted by Cap Excellence, including on its Facebook page. It features nearly fifty cultural actors from Guadeloupe, Martinique and other countries who say they are “mobilizing for a culture of excellence” at the Centre des Arts et de la Culture in Pointe-à-Pitre.
Among them are Max Jeanne (novelist), Rony Théophile (singer), Mario Canonge (pianist, author, composer), Béliza Troupé (visual artist), Winny Kaona (singer), Érick Lequime (event producer), Frédéric Caracas (musician), Jocelyne Béroard (singer), Gisèle Pineau (writer), Ronald Cyrille (visual artist), Tanya Saint-Val (singer) etc.
Even if it is laudable, it is difficult to understand this current mobilization that should have occurred years ago… but it is never too late to do the right thing, as the saying goes. If everything is going well, it is difficult to understand this current mobilization organized with the blessing of Cap Excellence, which had to pay the photographers who photographed these different cultural actors… Why are they mobilizing now? Who do they want to educate? The public? Won’t the public end up getting tired of this soap opera shot without a script but with a lot of improvisation?
The main question should be : has Cap Excellence succeeded in collecting the necessary funds in order to resume the construction works. If the answer is no, does this campaign aim to “put pressure” upon potential funders who are still hesitating? The first working session of the urban community and the solicited funders was on July 13, 2021.
A smaller project?
We remember that the urban community was hoping for a participation of the two main local authorities that are the Region of Guadeloupe and the Department of Guadeloupe but also that of the French State which seemed more complicated to obtain… In order not to bear the cost of these works alone, Cap Excellence had claimed that the Centre des Arts et de la Culture built by French architect Jean Le Couteur (1916-2010) for the city of Pointe-à-Pitre and inaugurated in 1978 had become the Centre des Arts et de la Culture of all Guadeloupe. This argument, as we had already said, was acceptable until the closing of the building for renovation and extension almost 15 years ago but since then, cultural places have multiplied in the archipelago and the Centre des Arts et de la Culture de Pointe-à-Pitre is no longer in a monopoly situation.
In any case, Cap Excellence had stated, in July 2022, that the rehabilitation works will begin during the first half of 2023. Here we are, even if a precise date would have been appreciable considering the years of delay of this construction site… We learned that the two executives of the major local authorities said they were interested in bringing their financial contribution but not a word about that of the French State. We also noted that if the deadlines for this funding were not respected, in the Cap Excellence multiannual investment plan, the sum to create the large 1,200-seat concert hall was “protected” thus it will be built to allow artists to disseminate their creations. We can conclude that this future Centre des Arts et de la Culture would be stripped of some equipment, such as the recording studio, the 120-seat auditorium or the shops.
Near the end of the adventure
For their part, the “squatters”, the “resistants” or those who have invested the Centre des Arts et de la Culture since July 5, 2021 have no intention of leaving the premises, for now. During the month of December, the public could see, around the building, three large signs on which was written in red “Prohibited public site”. Since then, only one sign remains, the least visible from the visitors’ entrance.
On December 27 (thus during the Christmas school holidays, a period when Guadeloupeans who live in France and tourists are numerous), the “Kòlektif Awtis Rézistans” who renamed the building “Centre des Arts et de la Culture Maryse Condé” published a message on Facebook announcing that it is open every day from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, that more than 300 works of art are waiting for visitors.
In another post, the public is even asked to come “quickly to the CAC before it’s too late”. Are we to understand that, in order to erase all traces of protest, the works of this collective “adventure” will not be integrated into the plans for the renovation and extension of the building designed by the architectural firm Babel?
The “squatters” must not have made a good impression on the programmer who was sent to rethink the project…
