Le Figaro Lyon
The decision has everything of a punishment.
After announcing, since the start of his second term at the head of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, that cultural subsidies should no longer be considered as a given for automatic renewal, Laurent Wauquiez again played the stick.
Its vice-president for culture, Sophie Rotkopf, who had already tightened the cord with several Lyon cultural institutions, announced last Friday the outright withdrawal of the 149,000 euros granted to the New Generation Theater (170,000 euros until last year ).
“I feared this decision, but hoped that they would make me lie”
, comments Joris Mathieu, its director, who had published the day before a forum very critical of the cultural policy of the region and in particular these reductions in subsidies.
He was even moved by it directly on stage Friday evening at the opening of the play Sócrates by Frédéric Sonntag.
“What I said reflected a feeling widely shared in the profession, by questioning an extremely destabilizing method
, blows Joris Mathieu to
Figaro
.
This permanent uncertainty, this threat, this trouble caused, where we discover what will be the support of the region, even before having been informed, us or any other funder
.
And to point out the lack of consultation, while the deliberation was withdrawn from the last plenary session to be taken in committee.
After the first drastic cut last year – for the Lyon Opera, the Villa Gillet and the TNG already – six structures have seen their subsidy reduced for the current year.
“Neither an annuity nor a due”
"Subsidies of public money are not an annuity nor a due"
, objects Sophie Rotkopf.
It therefore remains for the TNG to fill the hole, which represents 5% of its budget.
"A national dramatic center is a public service mission and is intended to be financed by public money to guarantee freedom in its work"
, regrets Joris Mathieu.
“These subsidies are important for independence
, recognizes Sophie Rotkopf,
but it is a decision concerning someone who no longer wanted to work with us”
.
The region criticizes the TNG for an approach that is too "Lyonno-Lyonnaise" while Laurent Wauquiez advocates the decentralization of culture to the more rural areas of the region, in particular for the benefit of his Auvergne stronghold.
“A new cultural policy which places the inhabitant at its heart and no longer the structures”
, translates its vice-president.
She takes the example of the Lyon Opera, which had seen its subsidy cut by 500,000 euros last year, the same amount as the drop in that of the city but on a much lower total.
“The opera wanted to renew the link with other external structures, in particular by proposing the Berlioz festival at La Côte Saint-André and innovative projects in Auvergne, for example, tours of young composers in nursing homes and high schools”
, she brags.
"
The vice-president pretends to reinvent decentralization
," says Joris Mathieu.
In our specifications, these decentralization missions represent 10% of our budget with actions in rural areas, 1000 hours of artistic intervention in high schools, residences in Dombes and the Monts du Lyonnais or 120 tours outside the walls .
On each side, there is an evocation of outstretched, ungrasped hands.
The region says it wanted to work with the TNG but ran into a wall.
The TNG ensures for its part that its proposals have not even been studied.
Little expenditure for culture
This
“rebalancing between the territories”
, presented by the region crowns on the other hand a big winner, the festivals.
Supplemented with an additional 1.3 million euros, they are hailed by the regional executive for their popular culture.
“We are going from 475 to 530 supported festivals out of a total of 700”,
welcomes Sophie Rotkopf.
However, the most populated region behind Île-de-France (8 million inhabitants) spends little on culture.
8 euros per Aurhalpin, when the national average is 12 euros.
Its budget of 60 million euros is, for example, lower than that of the Grand Est (70 million).
"Subsidies contribute both to the permanence of jobs and structures, but also to the establishment of a reduced tariff policy accessible to all"
, recalls Joris Mathieu.
The Vice-President highlights the 52 million euros for the renovation of performance venues included in the envelope devoted to regional planning, and four additional euros for artistic and cultural education, which does not do not appear in the budget line dedicated to culture.
But these devices also exist elsewhere.
