LE ZEF – scène nationale de Marseille came into being through the merger of two very different venues: the Théâtre du Merlan, a Scène Nationale, and La Gare Franche, a house and studio surrounded by gardens which, after the death of its founder, the artist Wladyslaw Znorko, was left without long-term planning security. At the suggestion of the regional cultural authority (DRAC), a process began that lasted two years, was accompanied by an external consultant and, step by step, in-volved the whole team, the associated artists and finally the authorities as well. Director Francesca Poloniato and her deputy Céline Rousseau explain why the merger could not be a takeover and what it takes for two teams to become one that looks into the distance together

As part of our visit, Cornelius Puschke spoke with Francesca Poloniato, Director, and Céline Rousseau, Deputy Director, at LE ZEF.

CP: So you knew each other, you’d had a brief working relationship. There were the two venues with their histories, practices, roles and goals – in all their differences. And then there was a moment, a situation that was new, and change became necessary. What happened?

CR: Yes, the situation changed when the artist who founded this place, Wladyslaw Znorko, passed away. From that moment on, the team running the venue wanted to preserve the artistic spirit of the place without simply replacing Vlad. That was the starting point. A new system then emerged – a new project centred on the artists. But this project was rather fragile, particularly in terms of support from local authorities and the state. Politicians made it very clear to us quickly that they considered this place important and wanted to preserve it, but that there was no long-term planning security. Ten kilometres away from us, Francesca had just been appointed director of the Théâtre du Merlan, with a concept that was very much focused on the urban environment. We had started meeting and getting to know each other, and wanted to take things a step further together during this challenging phase for us. We sensed that there was a strong complementarity in what we were doing in relation to urban society, and so we began to work together with a new perspective and to draw closer through this complementarity.

CP: What was it like for the Théâtre du Merlan? Did you also face a crisis, a challenge, a need for change?

FP: When I arrived, it was a very difficult time for the team, which had just come through a turbulent end to the previous direction. There was a neighbourhood in turmoil, high expectations towards the new management, a team that was in a very fragile state, and on top of that the authorities saying: ‘It has to work out with her, otherwise you’ll lose the title of “Scène Nationale”. There was a sword of Damocles hanging over us. The concept I’d put forward in my application for the role of director was very open to the different neighbourhoods and involved a completely different understanding of leadership, which meant I was able to bring the team together quickly. There was immediately a lot of support for this within the team and we got down to work. There were no further disagreements after that – I felt very much at home there and the team worked well together. We received initial feedback from the neighbourhoods and the politicians were reassured. I knew that the funding would follow as our project took shape. So at that point I wasn’t in a particularly desperate situation – I already had plenty to do.

CP: So you had two completely different types of crisis to manage within your organisations. Against this backdrop, how did the merger of your organisations come about, and what was its impact?

FP: We had already overcome the crisis and were fully immersed in our new project. I joined in 2015, and the crisis subsided quite quickly over the course of 2016 and 2017. We were already making good progress with the Merlan team, independently of the Gare Franche. However, I recognised the potential for our two organisations to enrich and complement one another. The DRAC (Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs) put forward the merger proposal so that the Gare Franche could better establish itself, consolidate its position and continue its work, just as the Merlan could. The arguments put to me were that my artistic concept could be linked to an artists’ initiative and that it was important to be able to work across a large area and to have a venue that could facilitate artist residencies. I had to speak to the Merlan team. They had to agree to the merger. Without them, it wouldn’t have been possible.