Festival Transamériques director announces she’s stepping down
Festival TransAmériques artistic and general director Marie-Hélène Falcon has announced that she is stepping down from her post.
But her resignation will not be effective immediately. She will continue to oversee the eighth edition of the FTA, slated for May 22 to June 7.
Falcon’s departure was announced Tuesday by the FTA.
“After 30 marvellous and passionate years at the FTA, the time has come for me to hand over the reins of the festival to another generation, to other approaches, to other imaginations.
“I am proud of having contributed in my own fashion to developing and raising the profile of cultural life in Montreal over the past three decades, and of having maintained a vibrant artistic dialogue between open, curious and demanding artists and audiences.
“The current festival team is extremely competent, dedicated, committed and ready to assist the future artistic director in pursuing new dreams and other fantastic ambitions,” Falcon said.
“Since the first edition in 1985 (of what was then known as the Festival de théâtre des Amériques) until today, Marie-Hélène Falcon has personified the soul of the FTA,” said Paul Leduc, chair of the FTA board of directors.
“Her spirit, her audacity, her influence and her boundless desire to venture off the beaten path will no doubt leave a great vacuum on the local and international artistic scene. I would like to thank her for the unique vision she has pursued, and to express my complete admiration and respect. The festival board of directors now has the task in the months to come of finding a successor able to live up to the ideals and dreams that have been a driving force with Marie-Hélène Falcon for all these years, and that have helped position the Festival TransAmériques as one of the world’s most renowned theatre and dance events.”
Falcon, who was awarded the Montreal Arts Council’s Grand Prix in 2013, leaves the festival in a strong position. The 2013 FTA recorded a 91 per cent attendance rate.
There is no word as yet on a successor. The person hired will be asked to organize and design the festival program for 2015.