Ten years after its creation by the Ministry of Culture, the National Center for Circus, Street and Theater Arts (ARTCENA) is subject to its first audit by the Court of Auditors. In its final observations on the 2019 and following financial years, rue Cambon describes an association almost exclusively financed by public funds, which has considerably developed its activities but whose missions and positioning remain difficult to read.
Born in June 2016 from the merger of the National Theater Center (CNT) and HorsLesMurs, ARTCENA has changed scale again by absorbing the International Stage Resource Center (CRIS) in 2024. These mergers have strengthened its documentary funds and its digital tools: its portal recorded 4.4 million page views in 2024, compared to 900,000 in 2019. But, estimates the Court, the association remains above all a “platform for managing heterogeneous systems” whose strategy is difficult to evaluate.
Its perimeter itself remains confused. ARTCENA’s services are accessible to the entire theater sector, including the private sector, but in practice the association is more oriented towards approved theater, while the largest public establishments have sufficient resources to do without its services. She also concentrates her circus activity on the creative circus, even though she was responsible for monitoring the “Right of the City” charter, historically intended for the traditional circus. The ministry now announces that ARTCENA will no longer intervene in supporting the latter.
A still very theatrical abundance
With 30 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) budgeted for in 2025, the association manages five newsletters, eleven editorial tools or products, seven support systems, a dozen event categories and four international or professional networks. For the Court, this accumulation of tools does not yet constitute an integrated strategy.
National aid for the creation of dramatic texts, allocated €715,000 per year, especially gives weight to theater. The ministry has retained the management of aid for the creation of the circus (€423,000 on average per year) and street arts (€383,000) on the grounds that they relate more to production and distribution. ARTCENA therefore created upstream mechanisms, such as “Writing for the circus”, endowed with €50,000, and “Authors in tandem”, whose leverage effect the Court still considers to be poorly demonstrated.
Contested overlaps
The Court returns to the overlap between the ARTCENA documentary collection and that of the National Circus Arts Center (CNAC), already noted in its control of the latter in 2024. Noting that no notable progress has been made since then, it asks to “unify without delay” their management.
The Ministry of Culture, however, rejects the idea of two equivalent funds: that of the CNAC would be above all educational and intended for students, teachers and researchers, while ARTCENA brings together broader resources intended for professionals.
Another friction, artistic and cultural education. After the absorption of CRIS, ARTCENA inherited educational resources previously carried by Théâtre-contemporain.net. The Court considers that certain programs now “collide” with those of the National Association for Research and Theatrical Action (ANRAT). In its response to the Court, it takes issue with the notion of duplication: it underlines its specificity, based since 1983 on the joint training of teachers and theater professionals and on an important voluntary network.
The Court nevertheless proposes to the ministry to assess by 2027 the regrouping of ARTCENA, ONDA and ANRAT in a “Common House”. The ministry agrees to resume the study abandoned in 2013, but wants to precisely compare real estate costs, human resources, digital systems and expected savings. ARTCENA itself is not opposed to this, subject to preserving the identities and skills of the three associations.
An abandoned observation mission
The Court also questions the disappearance of the socio-economic observation of the 2025-2028 objectives contract while it remains included in the statutes. She considers this mission “orphan” and criticizes the purchases of data from the Entertainment Archives (LADS), of which several public organizations are clients.
Finally, the Court notes the virtual absence of own resources and at the same time an abundant cash flow supplied by dedicated funds. In particular, it recommends charging for certain training or legal services. ARTCENA objects that its missions are, by nature, non-profitable or not very solvent and that its margins are therefore narrow; it is nevertheless considering a study on its training, paid partnerships and patronage.
The most sensitive point concerns the reuse of unused aid credits. The Court calculates the “fallen aid” reallocated to various operations at €273,100 and considers that their use is not sufficiently supervised by the ministry. ARTCENA emphasizes that these movements are approved each year by its board of directors and controlled by its auditor, with no irregularities noted in the nature of the expenses.
The overhaul of the statutes, initiated in 2025 and announced for the end of this year, will finally have to formalize the powers of general management, rebalance the board of directors, give more weight to the orientation council and extend the general assembly to users. On this point, the ministry and ARTCENA accept the Court’s recommendation.
Internationally, the Court still judges ARTCENA’s strategy to be insufficiently structured and recommends better articulating its action with the French Institute and the objectives of promoting the French-speaking world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs qualifies this observation: it emphasizes that cooperation already exists around Contxto, dedicated to the translation and circulation of French-speaking dramatic texts, as well as through several translation support mechanisms.
