Lundi 30/03/2026 - La grande interview de Lucie Doriot du Syndic'art

·24 min·2 clips

Lucie Doriot reveals why being a professional artist in New Caledonia means fighting to be paid for your work, not your hobbies.

1. Buzz Radio NC hosts Lucie Doriot, president of Syndic'art, New Caledonia's union for professional artists, for a second interview on Monday March 30, 2026. 2. Host Yannick leads alongside team members Steven, Jean-Marc, Aurélie, Mylord, Loïs, and Christelle; Jean-Marc is preparing for the first official reading of a play called 'Les Nickel Boys Bang'. 3. The episode covers Syndic'art's founding, the precarious legal status of New Caledonian artists, and Lucie's active work as a performer and creator. 4. Syndic'art was created in response to Covid, when artists were deemed non-essential workers; the founding group included Nicolas Mollet, Isabelle Dehasse, Julie Dupré, Sylvain Lornier, Eric from group Inou, Simon, Claire Cousin, and Laurent Lange. 5. The union's core mission is to ensure professional artists — comedians, technicians, stage directors, decorators, sound engineers, DJs — are paid for their work at a fair rate, distinguished from hobbyists. 6. In France, the 'intermittent du spectacle' status provides a minimum salary linked to declared artistic hours, a legal framework Lucie describes as unique in the world; no equivalent exists in New Caledonia. 7. New Caledonian artists are classified as self-employed ('patenté artiste'), filing quarterly with CAFAT but receiving no retirement, no maternity leave (unless they paid contributions a year in advance), and no structured social safety net. 8. Cultural subventions in New Caledonia are being cut, with Lucie describing a budget process she views as arbitrary: institutions reduce funding by round numbers without a considered cultural policy. 9. The Théâtre de Poche in Nouméa is described as a key resource for Nouméa-based artists, renting at 16,000 francs per slot for up to 100 seats, but access to stages outside Nouméa — in the North and the Loyalty Islands — remains more difficult. 10. Syndic'art's short-term goal is to hire a professional to manage union operations, and its structural goal is to create an official professional artist card with minimum income recognition and social protections. 11. Lucie has been part of theatre company Les Incompressibles since 2008 and collaborates with André Lucerga's company Néane on stilt theatre ('la brigade du bien-être') and clown performances at hospital. 12. Her current project is an ecology-themed commissioned show created with colleague Sam, directed by Stéphane Piochot; the concept is to address ecology without addressing it directly, through comedy that disrupts a straight-faced co-performer. 13. A previous show, a condensed 45-minute version of Molière's 'Le Malade imaginaire' for school classrooms, features 12 characters performed by two actors using everyday objects (a laptop bag as a hat) instead of costumes. 14. The show was designed for schools after Lucie was told it was logistically difficult to bring students to theatres; performing in classrooms eliminated transport and cost barriers. 15. With support from Valérie Meunier at CREPAC (cultural exchange and francophone promotion body) and the MAC, the 'Le Malade imaginaire' production toured Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Vanuatu, accumulating nearly 300 performances. 16. Playwright Stéphane Kiosho, Lucie's partner, will take his play 'Barrage' to Avignon — an example Lucie uses to illustrate that local work can reach major international stages. 17. Lucie identifies a cultural syndrome in New Caledonia: institutions favour importing artists from outside because perceived prestige attaches to external origin — Sam named her company 'Exterior Compagnie' partially as a joke on this dynamic. 18. Lucie argues that viable Pacific export markets exist — New Zealand's francophone community, Vanuatu, Fiji, Seoul's OIF network, Japan — and that touring these destinations does not require going as far as France or Europe. 19. The episode is conversational and warm, with frequent jokes; Lucie is direct and occasionally self-deprecating while making pointed structural critiques of arts funding policy. 20. Listeners interested in the economics of professional performance, Pacific francophone arts networks, or cultural policy in small island territories will find this episode most useful; those seeking a global or metropolitan arts perspective will find the scope very locally focused.

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