Michel Gagnon was director of programming at the prestigious Place des Arts in Montreal and arrived in Lugano with a great deal of experience, the result of what happened in Canadian theater which he managed to grow and appreciate by a heterogeneous audience.
How?
«Since the opening of the cultural center I have continued my leitmotif: a LAC for everyone. A cultural project like the LAC also has a strong social value and to be successful it was clear to me that it had to first of all give value to the City and the territory, with high quality proposals both in the Theater Hall but also in the open spaces, such as the hall, or in public spaces, such as Piazza Luini".
Am I wrong, or in the initial intentions of the city of Lugano was the LAC conceived as a space to rent and provide services to others who put on shows, where everyone would manage their own independently?
It was clear to me from the beginning that it wasn't the right model. Experience allowed me to develop clear ideas about what would be ideal for the LAC and for creating a valuable cultural project. Knowing which mistakes to avoid was a good starting point. A cultural center not only for the public, but also for the artists. The LAC needed to be not just a hospitality center, but also a programming and production center, with its own artistic director capable of providing a vision, supported by a solid structure with expertise in key areas such as marketing, communications, and cultural mediation.
A path welcomed without reservations?
«We all worked hard to achieve a clear objective, even if it wasn't all easy at the beginning. Then, when the pandemic broke out, after an initial moment of discouragement, we took advantage of the forced pause to improve some work processes, including, for example, the development of a new ticketing system that would provide us with fundamental data to develop targeted strategies and thus reach different audiences depending on the type of show. When I was in Canada we did a study based on the ten most important cultural centres, from which it emerged that during the regular season spectators come from nearby or from neighboring areas, while when special projects or festivals are organised, they also come from outside. This is also confirmed for the LAC with one exception, represented by our dance season: in fact, we host the major world ensembles for the first time or on rare dates of their European tours, which already attract numerous spectators from abroad".
It therefore took several years to complete his initial project. Are you satisfied with the results and the team today?
"Absolutely yes. I am proud of our accomplishments. I would make the choice I made more than ten years ago a thousand times and I am proud of the team that has been formed over the years. The LAC arrived at a moment in my life that allowed me to put together all the experiences I had in the past to give added value to the cultural center and the city of Lugano. To these I added the network of my acquaintances, quite a few on an international level. Honestly, I see myself in this project."
What are the projects and next strategies?
Last fall, we presented to the City Hall and subsequently to the City Council the Message for the renewal of the performance mandate between LAC and the City of Lugano for the next four years. It was unanimously approved and focused on the creation of a new music department. Following the integration of LuganoInScena into LAC in 2020, the Performing Arts Department was created, entrusted to Artistic Director Carmelo Rifici, with excellent results. In the next mandate, we intend to carry out a similar operation with the integration of LuganoMusica. The new music department, under the artistic direction of Andrea Amarante, will bring to Lugano not only opera productions, international orchestras, and major artists with symphonic and chamber music programs, but will also explore new musical formats and expressions . This program also includes concerts by the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, our resident orchestra. Last but not least... I have a dream..."
Michel Gagnon, a dream?
«Considering that the Theater Hall has reached its maximum capacity of use in recent seasons and nothing more can be done, I dream that at the LAC there will be a second theater hall, complementary in terms of capacity and functionality, which can allow us to continue to grow the project. The ideal would be a 'Black Box' with at least 300 seats, a solution which several international theaters are equipping themselves with, and which here could take advantage of the already existing common facilities, such as the Hall, the restaurant and the technical access... Making this dream come true it would bring various benefits, allowing the artistic sector to be developed with smaller productions, giving greater space to local artists, having an appropriate scene for chamber music, experimental representations, contemporary performances, and allowing various types of rehearsals. Not all productions are suitable for large spaces and large numbers of spectators. Allowing smaller installations to be hosted in another room, perhaps for multiple performances, would also free up the Theater Room, for example allowing the OSI a second evening for its concerts, an availability that is not currently possible".
Who is Michel Gagnon
Born in Canada in 1956, Michel Gagnon was called in April 2014 to supervise the opening phase and take over the management of the LAC, the cultural center of the city of Lugano, inaugurated on 12 September 2015. After studying Arts Management at the 'HEC Montréal, the most important university business school in the country, and the university degree in music from the École de Musique Vincent d'Indy (Université de Sherbrooke), Michel Gagnon was assistant stage director at the Opéra de Montréal ( 1980–1990), stage director for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (1990–1996) and production director for the Opéra de Montréal (1996–2000) until the Place des Arts de Montréal wanted him as director of programming ( 2000–2014) to manage a delicate moment of transition of the great cultural complex: seven theatres, a concert hall, over seven thousand seats for more than a thousand events represented every year, which had to find a way to bring the public closer together, estranged by distant and exclusive. A challenge that he faced by creating an artistic season aimed at exploring contemporary themes, co-productions and artistic residencies, and by developing an important cultural mediation project that went alongside the quality and international scope of the programming, managing to involve and regain the social component and artistic of the territory. A great human and professional experience that he brought as a legacy to the LAC and contributed to its success.
