Syndicat National des Metteuses et Metteurs en scène - SNMS

What Syndicat National des Metteuses et Metteurs en scène - SNMS does

SNMS — Syndicat National des Metteuses et Metteurs en Scène — is the sole national trade union representing professional stage directors (metteurs en scène) in France, founded in September 1944 at Liberation by Jacques Copeau, Louis Jouvet, Gaston Baty, Charles Dullin, Jacques Rouché, Edward Gordon Craig and André Barsacq. Headquartered at the SACD Maison des Auteurs, 7 rue Ballu, 75009 Paris, and operating with approximately 15 staff, it serves individual professional directors working across theater, opera, dance, street arts, circus, humor and musical theater in both the public and private sectors. Its core remit is the recognition and defense of the stage director's dual legal status as both artist-employee (during rehearsals) and artist-author (from first performance), a status progressively secured through French jurisprudence from 1957 onward and culminating in the 1985 Loi Lang.

The union delivers a portfolio of services rather than a technology product. Members gain access to monthly 'Informelles' thematic meetings, regional workshops, presence at major festivals (Avignon ON and OFF, Bis de Nantes), legal assistance through a dedicated commission and external counsel (Maître Caroline Delaude), the 241-page Grand Livre online encyclopedia on the art and practice of directing, and a national consultation program (Assises Nationales de la Mise en Scène, launched in 2024). It also advocates at the political level on employment conditions, intermittence protections, FONPEPS, training funding (via its AFDAS commission seat secured in 2020), and against censorship and budget cuts. Strategic partnerships anchor the union within the broader French live-performance ecosystem: it re-affiliated with the Fédération CGT Spectacle in January 2024, holds institutional ties with SACD, co-organizes events with AAFA and EAT, and collaborates with ODIA Normandie, ONDA, Audiens, and Université d'Evry Paris-Saclay's Laboratoire SLAM.

The business model is a recurring subscription funded by individual members: the standard annual cotation is €100 (€50 for non-taxable members on presentation of justificatif, with a €10 administrative fee for cash or check payments). Membership requires proof of at least one professional mise-en-scène in a public professional setting. The union is governed by a 13-member Board of Directors elected for three-year terms; the current board (term 2025-2028) is led by President Cyril Le Grix and First Vice-President Sara Veyron. Revenue is concentrated almost entirely in membership dues, with institutional support from SACD and partners, and the organization operates exclusively in France with no disclosed subsidiaries, no app, no API, and no AI/ML capability.

Name

Syndicat National des Metteuses et Metteurs en scène - SNMS

Legal name

Syndicat National des Metteuses et Metteurs en Scène - SNMS

Website

https://snms.info

Company type

Private

Founded year

1944

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SNMS is the sole national trade union for professional stage directors (metteurs en scène) in France, founded 1944, providing legal assistance, advocacy, training and networking to several hundred individual directors across theater, opera, dance and circus, funded primarily by €100/year membership dues.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Trade Union Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Contracting, Licensing & Rights Management (Music/Performance Releases) (HSACAHAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Executive Summits & Invitation-Only Forums (MPAGAGAK)

Keywords

• Professional stage directors union
• Theater trade union advocacy
• Live performance representation
• Artist-author rights defense
• Stage direction professional services

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Annual Membership Dues: SNMS generates revenue through annual membership dues. The standard annual cotation is set at 100€ per member, collected via RIB direct debit. A reduced rate of 50€ annually is available for non-taxable members upon presentation of documentation. An additional 10€ administrative fee applies for payments made by cash or check.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

SNMS is a professional trade union that represents stage directors (metteuses et metteurs en scène) across theater, opera, dance, street arts, circus, humor, and musical theater in France. It provides legal assistance, professional development, networking events, and advocacy before public authorities on working conditions, intellectual property rights, and the dual artist-author status of stage directors. Membership is sold on an annual subscription basis and grants access to thematic meetings, festivals, the Grand Livre encyclopedia, and collective bargaining representation.

Product overview

The SNMS operates as a professional union offering its members a suite of services including the Grand Livre (a comprehensive online encyclopedia for stage directing), monthly newsletter subscription, legal assistance through a dedicated commission, networking opportunities at major festivals, professional development workshops, and advocacy services. The union also organizes the Assises Nationales de la Mise en Scène, a national consultation event on the profession's contemporary challenges. Membership provides access to 'Informelles' meetings, voting rights at general assemblies, and strategic lobbying support for the profession's interests.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SNMS Membership
• Grand Livre
• Legal Assistance Service
• SNMS Newsletter
• Assises Nationales de la Mise en Scène

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNMS is headquartered at the SACD Maison des Auteurs. The SACD supported the creation of the SNMS Grand Livre encyclopedia and provides institutional backing for the union's mission to promote and defend the author status of stage directors. SNMS has been instrumental in securing SACD membership for stage directors since 1987.
• AAFA - Actrices & Acteurs de France AssociésmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNMS co-organizes 'Premières Approches' events with AAFA and EAT, bringing together playwrights and stage directors for table reads and professional exchange.
• EAT - Écrivaines et Écrivains Associés du ThéâtremajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNMS co-organizes 'Premières Approches' events with EAT and AAFA. In 2005, SNMS and EAT jointly reaffirmed that live performance representation constitutes a new collective work where each author (text, staging, choreography, music) retains full moral and economic rights.
• Fédération CGT SpectaclecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNMS rejoined the CGT Spectacle federation in January 2024 after departing in 1990. This affiliation enables SNMS to participate in collective bargaining for the two live performance collective agreements and strengthens its negotiating position on employment conditions and social protection (intermittence, FONPEPS).
• ODIA NormandieminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerODIA partnered with SNMS to co-host a regional ethics charter workshop in Normandy in May 2026, supporting the union's national consultation on deontological standards for stage directors.
• ONDA (Office National de Diffusion Artistique)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerONDA partnered with SNMS to moderate the Avignon ethics charter workshop in July 2025, supporting professional development for stage directors.
• Audiens (protection sociale)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAudiens provided support for the national consultation process and ethics charter workshops for stage directors, including regional events in Hauts-de-France and Normandy.
• Laboratoire SLAM - Université d'Evry Paris-SaclayminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNMS partners with the SLAM research laboratory for events such as 'Metteuses et Metteurs en Scène sous Influence' readings at the Avignon Festival, combining academic research with professional practice.
• AFDAS (formation continue des auteurs)majorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFollowing advocacy from SNMS starting October 2018, AFDAS granted SNMS a seat on the 'Écrit et Art Dramatique' professional commission in 2020, enabling SNMS to participate in decisions about continuous training funding for dramatic authors including stage directors. Cyril Le Grix serves as SNMS representative.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SFA-CGT (Société Française des Auteurs): Authors' union within the CGT federation, representing writers, translators and dramatic authors alongside SNMS. Shares the CGT Spectacle umbrella and overlapping membership in creative professions' rights defense.
• SNES (Syndicat National des Entrepreneurs de Spectacles): French employers' union for live performance producers that co-signed the 1986 and 2005 conventions with SNMS defining stage directors' double status. Counterparty at the live performance collective bargaining table.
• SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques): French authors' society hosting SNMS at its Maison des Auteurs. SACD collects and distributes royalties for dramatic authors including stage directors and shares SNMS's mission of defending author status for mise en scène.
• AAFA (Actrices & Acteurs de France Associés): French actors' collective that co-organizes 'Premières Approches' table reads with SNMS and EAT. Sister organization in the performing arts rights ecosystem, representing the artist-interpreter counterpart to SNMS's artist-author members.
• EAT (Écrivaines et Écrivains Associés du Théâtre): French theater writers' collective that co-organizes 'Premières Approches' events with SNMS and jointly reaffirmed in 2005 that live performance is a collective work where each author retains full rights. Closely allied on rights-management advocacy.
• SYNDEAC (Syndicat National des Dirigeants et Administratifs de la Culture): Union of directors and administrators of French public cultural institutions. Counterparty and occasional ally of SNMS in defending public funding for live performance and theater sector working conditions.

Emerging players

• Directors UK: UK trade union for film, television, and audiovisual directors. Comparable structure as a single-profession directors' union, with stronger commercial rights-management capabilities via the ALCS royalty stream.
• SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society): US professional organization representing stage directors and choreographers. International peer with a comparable advocacy mission on behalf of mise en scène professionals, offering a useful comparator for SNMS's regulatory positioning.

Others

• AFDAS (Fonds d'Assurance Formation des Activités du Spectacle): French continuing-training fund for performing arts professions. SNMS gained a seat on its 'Écrit et Art Dramatique' commission in 2020. Adjacent institutional partner rather than competitor — funding flows depend on AFDAS decisions.

Broad incumbents

• Fédération CGT du Spectacle: Parent federation that SNMS rejoined in January 2024. Represents the broader umbrella of performing arts, audiovisual, and entertainment workers in France, including technicians, performers, and authors.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/snmssyndicatnational.metteursscene
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/syndicat-national-des-metteurs-en-sc%C3%A8ne

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

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