On Friday 2 November 2007, the FNCTA Board organized the celebration of its 100th anniversary during the final of Masque d’Or, the only competition organized by the French federation of amateur theatre and held every 4 years. Attending the celebrations were Vice-president of AITA/IATA asbl, Merja Laaksovirta; President of CIFTA, Nadia Barcoli along with the board - Marco Polli, Ettore Rimondi, Jacques Lemaire – who represented the main international organizations that FNCTA belongs to and were founders of. Also attending were Abdelhakim Ibnoussina, President of Moroccan NC, Geneviève Chevallier, Vice-president of Belgium NC and Franz-Josef Witting, Vice-president of BDAT (Germany).

 

The history of the French Centre is complex: it has seen 2 World Wars, lived through many political changes and survived the big bang of 1 January 2000 but the passion for theatre has helped the administrators to lead this vibrant organization to its current unique position. It is important to note that the FNCD (French Belgium) also celebrated its centenary in 2007: it is as if the two main French-speaking federations in the world were born as twins. In fact the twining was decided only during the 1990s and signed by Presidents Guy Villers and Jacques Lemaire. BDAT too is a twin federation of FNCTA.

 

The celebration included theatrical presentations and award presentations. One hundred copies of a memorial plaque were created to honour guests, friends and those volunteers who have served the institution along the years. Presentations, which were written by those close to the organisation, were about the “7 deadly sins” and they were performed by the administrators of the regional and national councils.  A special moment was when the current President Patrick Schoenstein and his 2 predecessors, Jean Saby, Honorary President and Jacques Lemaire, improvised a sketch when they exchanged their awards as a sign of mutual recognition.  This was also the culmination of their joint leadership which covers 30 years of the history of FNCTA.  The evening ended with a cake-sharing party.

 

International guests had a further opportunity to meet the FNCTA board the following morning when gifts and awards were exchanged. President Schoenstein also received the gold medal of BDAT, as well as Jacques Lemaire, Deputy President, who was also presented with the gold medal of Finish Centre for his action during his time as president of AITAIATA asbl.  The French Minister of Culture sent a member of her cabinet to present the decoration of Knight of Arts and Literature to FNCTA President Patrick Schoenstein.

 

The whole week end was dedicated to theatre and friendship and the Masque d’Or challenge offered the guests a unique occasion of seeing four excellent performances.

 

Jacqes Lemaire

 

 

1907 – 2007 FNCTA,

The National Centre

for France

celebrates 100 years

President Patrick Schoenstein and his predecessors, Jean Saby, Honorary President and Jacques Lemaire