After 20 years on the corner of Sherbrooke Street and De Lorimier Street, the National School of Humor has been able to move to the heart of the Latin Quarter, just a few steps from the Espace St-Denis and the Bordel Comédie Club. “We would establish ourselves on the street and be in an environment that offers much more synergies,” mentions the school’s founder, Louise Richer, who plans to give up her job after this move.
Louise Richer and her colleagues at the National School of Humor have been working on a move for three years. “Because the current school and the premises are really too narrow,” the general manager told the Journal.
In 2004 the facility moved east of Parc La Fontaine. For two decades the school was located on the seventh floor of a building there. Louise Richer has long dreamed of having more accessible spaces in the middle of the action.
Two feasibility studies were recently conducted. And management has its sights set on two buildings in the Latin Quarter on Rue Saint-Denis.
“We would be central, next to the Espace St-Denis [future] House of Song and the Grande Bibliothèque, mentions Louise Richer. The Latin Quarter is a cultural and educational district for which there is a great desire for revitalization. The Quartier des Spectacles partnership has identified the possible arrival of the school in Saint-Denis as a pillar of revitalization.”
To find out if the move is possible, the National School of Humor will find out in March whether it will receive the grant from the Ministry of Culture. “They are in the process of developing the 2024-2025 budget with the loans granted,” says Louise Richer.
If the response is positive, extensive renovations would have to be carried out in the two buildings to make them suitable for housing a school with students. The inauguration is planned within two years.
“Nobody is irreplaceable”
After this important milestone in the history of the ÉNH, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last year, Louise Richer plans to leave her post as Director General. “I can’t imagine radically ending this overnight,” she explains. I plan to maintain a link. […] I dare hope that I will still play a small role, but will be more on the service route.
Louise Richer refuses to say the person who replaces her will have big shoes to fill. “I wear a size 6.5! [rires] I don't believe in that. It definitely makes an impression, someone who has been there for about thirty years. […] Nobody is irreplaceable. I am convinced of that.”
“There are a lot of interesting people [qui pourraient diriger l’École nationale de l’humour], She continues. Maybe it will be a two-headed one, with someone who is more of a leader and another person who has more of a humorous culture. All of that is something to think about.”