Le Figaro Nantes
He had a smile on his face.
Wednesday morning, Jean Blaise, the emblematic director of Voyage à Nantes (an organization responsible for promoting the city), praised at length the merits of Christmas decorations.
A few weeks ago, this multicolored artistic journey caused an outcry in the city of the Dukes, and even beyond.
“We were
attacked a lot
, it was organized”
, the figure of the Nantes cultural world tried to immediately evacuate, at the start of the press conference dedicated to the assessment of this second edition of the Winter Journey.
“We are not going to come back to that.
The question is: did it work or not?
In terms of attendance, it worked very, very well
,” he rejoiced.
Thanks to an Orange application, the city recorded 3.7 million visitors.
“The indicators tell us that attendance has been good, since it is stable with that of last year
,” added Gildas Salaün, fifteenth deputy mayor of Nantes, delegate for businesses and the city at night.
Ticket sales for key venues have also increased (+50% for the Château des ducs, +19% for the Machines de l'île).
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Ideology and dishonesty
Raised several times about the criticism to which the Winter Journey had been the subject, placing Nantes on the national scene, Jean Blaise ended up responding.
“When we made the people of Nantes believe that what we were doing was ideological, it was dishonesty,”
he criticized, citing CNews by name and more generally the media which
“attack Nantes”
.
“These are dishonest criticisms from my point of view
,” he reiterated, even though the skepticism had been relayed by both local and national media.
“It wasn’t ideological, it was how we show creativity.
We absolutely do not deny
Christmas
,” he continued, assuring that relations with the diocese were
“excellent”
.
In this context, the installations will be renewed in 2024, and could even be extended.
The details of the third edition are under debate but it is certain that the spirit of 2023 will continue.
“We are not changing our vision
,” summarizes the director of the Nantes tourist office.
“I don’t know any artist who is unanimously acclaimed.
None.
Even Picasso.
It will always be like that
,” continues Jean Blaise, who hopes that within one or two years,
“the city of Nantes will be the city of Christmas
. ”
However, he does not intend to completely turn a deaf ear:
“we must succeed in convincing people through the demand for creativity and balance in space.
We deny nothing of what we are accused of except the ideological one.
It's up to us to treat these criticisms well
.
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Return of Mother Christmas
Concretely, the rainbow structures installed on the facades will still be there and should extend to other, more deserted streets:
“previously, the garlands were rented.
This year, we are capitalizing.
We get richer from one year to the next,”
adds elected official Gildas Salaün.
The now famous Mother Christmas will also return but perhaps in another place.
There could be more illuminated bell towers.
The return of traditional garlands that some had called for therefore does not seem to be a possibility.
On the other hand, traders will be invited to beautify, as they wish, the interior of their windows.
According to representatives of the sector, the controversies have not impacted their revenues.
Quite the contrary.
As for the Christmas market, where magical music and the smells of mulled wine or melted cheese followed one another,
“an increase of between 20 and 30% on average in turnover”
was observed, according to Thibault Delourme , general director of the events agency 2A Organization, which manages it.
Côté Plein Center, the association which brings together the shops in the heart of the city, 57% of their members were satisfied with their sales.
On the other hand, Teddy Robert, the president, assures that traders had to
“absorb complaints”
from customers.
“It didn’t hurt the wallet but hurt the ears.
It was hard to defend the joy we had when the media undermined the morale of our customers.”
Or when the media has a good back.