In Toulouse, Roselyne Bachelot announces additional aid of ten million euros for festivals
Roselyne Bachelot takes place, Wednesday, December 1, in Toulouse, to close the 3 stage of the general estates of festivals focused on sustainable development. The Minister of Culture has announced additional aid of 10 million euros in 2022.
Festival managers from all over France gathered for two days in the main hall of the Cité theater in Toulouse to reflect on their future, in a sustainable development approach supported by the Ministry of Culture. Two previous stages had taken place over the past year in Avignon and then in Bourges. In her closing remarks, Roselyne Bachelot showed how much she was attached to this cultural network which is quite unique in the world. And said she was surprised that festivals had long been a “blind spot”, an “unthought” in the cultural policy of the State. “The aids were numerous and considerable but lacked coherence and a global vision,” she noted. “To see more clearly”, the Minister of the Culture asked that several studies be carried out. And, oh! surprise, discovered that there were “not 3000 but 10000 festivals in France”. Festivals “of all sizes”, sweeping “all disciplines” and working for both the cultural dynamism and the economic development of the regions. “These marvelous meeting places between artists and the public are major elements of the identity of the cities which welcome them”.
This being said, Roselyne Bachelot, took out her calculator, accounting for 30 million euros recorded at festivals in 2021 in addition to all existing aid, which made it possible to “save all of them despite the difficulties”. And announced that an additional 10 million declared by the state in 2022 for the protests suffering the most from a pandemic that lasts. Beyond that, the Minister of Culture wanted to be offensive in the longer term. “The challenges are numerous: digital transition, new cultural practices, ecological requirements… Be proactive. You will have at your side a State defending a clear policy based on objectives. »Among these is sustainable development for which a charter will be signed soon between the State and all the players concerned. These included soft and active mobility, controlling energy consumption, responsible waste management, economic and social impacts, etc. Roselyne Bachelot said: “Festivals were pioneers in this area. But they will have to go further because “the aid will be conditioned on virtuous efforts” that they will put into practice. In addition, the Minister of Culture recalled that the State “was not intended to help the festivals organized by the large groups with expansionist and sprawling aims”, evoking the wave of buyouts at gold price of large events , essentially musical, the most visible and the most profitable … at least before the pandemic. On this subject, Roselyne Bachelot concluded that “there is no question of referring to cultural places, of considering a reduction in the gauges or of resuming the curfew”. We are no longer talking about festivals but about a whole cultural life which persists, against all odds, to remain essential.