The Villa Gillet, the Lyon Opera, the Lumière Institute, the TNP or the Contemporary Art Biennial undergo important financial cuts. The region invokes a territorial rebalancing. The elected officials of Lyon see it as political instrumentalization.
by
The regional majority of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, chaired by Laurent Wauquiez (Les Républicains, LR), brutally announced a series of abolition of cultural subsidies, affecting major institutions of the second region of France. The Regional Council plans to completely withdraw, or to partially lower, from the substantial financial aid to the Villa Gillet, the Contemporary Art Biennial, the Lyon Opera, the Lumière Institute, and the National Popular Theater ( TNP). The measure would apply very quickly, for an amount of almost two million euros, according to plot indications, distilled in the local press.
“We have helped certain structures a lot, it was not necessarily the role of the region to help them as much,” said Sophie Rotkopf (LR), vice-president in charge of culture, in Le Progrès, Friday 22 april. Since then, the elected official is unreachable.
The regional majority affirms that the overall budget devoted to culture, in the amount of 62 million euros, would remain unchanged, without providing precision on new financial assignments. The vice-president of culture spoke of the objective of “irrigating culture even in the most distant territories”. Which ? “There is no judgment on the actions carried out by these structures, simply the concern to conduct regional cultural action throughout the territory”, has confined itself to specifying the cabinet of Laurent Wauquiez, which holds Remember that “60 % of regional commitments focus on structures based in metropolises”.
“We have no information, we discovered these decisions in the press, none of that was announced or even discussed within the regional assembly”, deplores Samuel Arnaud (Socialist Party, PS), Regional advisor and member of the Culture Commission. Aid cuts all concern institutions in the Lyon region. This makes elected officials of Lyon and Villeurbanne say that the operation is a purely political logic, under the cover of a better geographical distribution.
“The argument of geographic rebalancing is fallacious. The regional executive ignores the numerous mediation and dissemination actions carried out by these different structures throughout the Aurhalpin territory, well beyond the city of Lyon alone. Scandalous! “, Tweeted Grégory Doucet (Europe Ecologie-les Verts, EELV), mayor of Lyon, Friday April 29.
a” Strichy vision of culture “
You have 53.48% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.