Begun seven years ago, the requalification of the station district in Quimperlé should see a new stage in a few weeks, and not the least, with the rehabilitation of the old freight hall. On July 1, Quimperlé community launched a call for projects to find a new destination for it, a call to which the association La Loco immediately responded, which would like to turn this disused building into a place of life bringing together a theater, a café cultural centre, a co-working space and a training centre.
« Port USB culturel »
This idea germinated several months ago in the minds of Lucy Vintenat and JC Klotz, driven by the desire to “create a cultural USB port on which associations and musicians might connect in order to benefit from , the provision of equipment, etc. “Culture brings people together, breaks down the barriers that may exist between them,” says JC Klotz. It brings you back to basics and when you’re in that state of mind, you’re quicker to meet others”.
Bringing people together, the one who was coordinator of the Tomahawk festival, in Querrien, knows how to do it, he who, as he says with pride, succeeded during this event “in getting metalheads, keupons (punks, Editor’s note), hunters, far-right agris (farmers), little grannies, in an intergenerational mix”. Unsurprisingly, he therefore intends to apply the same recipe to Quimperlé, to achieve this “social melting pot” mentioned by Lucy Vintenat, which both have put forward to the elected representatives of the Quimperlé community.
“Three quarters of the way already accomplished”
A few weeks before the verdict (the community of municipalities will announce its choice in September, knowing that it has not indicated whether other projects were in the running), the managers of the Loco continue to move forward, even if they entrust having already accomplished “three quarters of the way”, having obtained the support of partners (private and public investors, the European Union, the Region, the National Center for Music, the municipality, the Bank of Territories, etc.) and collected most of the funds.
“We have set up a cooperative society of collective interest (Scic), which will officially see the light of day on August 1, reveals the pair. It is halfway between an association under the 1901 law, which does not have the right to make profits, and a company. It is a profit-making company but with collective interest since we decide in general assembly what we do, what we want to invest in. It is a very practical structure which allows us to mix public and private and which makes us less dependent on public subsidies”.
“The building will return to the Quimperlois”
After narrowly escaping destruction, the freight hall should therefore quickly experience a second life, at the cost of work that will absorb the entire budget planned by the association. Subsequently, the proposed activities will allow the structure to function and to fit into its immediate environment, a point to which Lucy Vintenat and JC Klotz are very attentive.
“People are afraid of change and that’s normal, so we will consult local residents and build things with them,” they say. We will secure this area and, by offering activities to young people, prevent them from doing stupid things. In addition, we will only be tenants. We are going to sign a emphyteutic lease with Quimperlé community, which will recover the building at its end, with the work that we will have carried out at our expense. In the end, he will return to the Quimperlois”.