European Theater Convention

Daniel Benoin remembers the early days of the European Theater Convention back in the late 1980s. The first exchange took place as the Berlin Wall came down, a fitting symbol for a new European venture that was about sharing artistic values across borders.

"It is the idea that Europe exists in theater," said Benoin, the group's founder and today director of the Nice National Theater.

The European Theater Convention is now a network spanning 36 theaters in 21 countries, including the one in Nice. It is funded largely from membership fees and public receipts. But part of its income is from the European Union: 100,000 euros ($133,000) last year. The funds help the convention stick to its target of producing a book of new plays every other year.

"In each country in Europe, we nominated a jury and this jury decides what the four or five most important plays from the past two years are," Benoin said. "So for every country, you have absolutely the best plays."

The book is sent to 20,000 people across Europe, Benoin said.

"We have seen that two years after a book appears, many pieces are played in other countries than in the original one," he said. "It's very fantastic to have this book."

Diversity is the richness of Europe

Tutor Paul Charieras is a veteran of the convention. He has helped many actors perform plays and run workshops in several different countries -- from Stockholm and Gothenburg to Berlin and Bratislava.

"What seems interesting to me is that apart from mixing our cultures and making them clash in a positive way, I find it also helps us to know each other," Charieras said. "That's the richness of Europe; it's not a uniformity of cultures."

Charieras said he remembers some tours, like one to Scandinavia, as being particularly challenging.

"I don't speak a word of Swedish and I was nervous, because to train actors in a language I didn't master seemed like an unreal task," Charieras said. But he said it was nothing of the kind.

"You get used to the musicality of the language very quickly and try to work within other parameters," he said. "You let your sensibility, your heart and your spirit express themselves, rather than your eyes or your ears. And the exchanges can be exceptional."

Theater has helped put Nice on the cultural map

The famous seafront in Nice, the Promenade des Anglais, and the large hotels give this center on the French Riviera -- or Cote d'Azur -- perhaps deservedly more of a reputation for money and tourism than for culture. But Thierry Martin, the new Director of Culture, has his sights set on the future.

One day, Martin said he hopes the fountains and architecture of Nice will be a fitting backdrop for a European City of Culture. Nice is a candidate for the nomination for the year 2013.

"It's true that the Cote d'Azur has been more institutional in its culture than outside in the streets, in alternative art," Martin said. "That has changed, and it's time to drop the old clichés. This is a chance for all the artistic community of the Cote d'Azur to show off our artistic vitality."

Smaller projects are struggling for funds

There's little doubt that the National Theater and the large Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art have helped put Nice on the cultural map. Subsidies have undoubtedly assisted some at the top of the scale. European funding is naturally targeted at artistic projects that have a European dimension. But could it reach more of the numerous smaller operations that struggle from day to day?

The Grain de Sable artistic company, for example, helps children with learning difficulties in theater workshops. The group works with several organizations from its draughty premises along one side of a large hangar in a run-down area of Nice.

The company's director Nicole Enouf said one project -- an exchange with children from Portugal -- had won funding from Europe, once. But that was all. Enouf said she believed larger institutions tend to see more of EU money.

"We're in a bit of difficulty, because European projects need a lot of work: from shaping the nature of the exchanges to doing the paperwork," Enouf said. "It becomes very complicated unless you have someone dedicated to that task, and that's not the case in our little organization."

But European subsidies will only go so far, even for a large outfit such as the Nice National Theater with its adventurous program. Benoin said he has learned to explore all financial avenues if he believes an idea deserves to see the light of day.

"Europe can really be a mortar for things, which are very complicated to do for a country or a national theater such as mine," Benoin said. He said he had pushed for funding for a European theater forum -- and was successful.

Nice, though, doesn't exactly need money. It sits along one of the wealthiest stretches of coastline in the world. But partly at least, thanks to subsidies from Europe, its name is becoming known on the cultural scene, as well as simply being a hangout for the rich and famous.