2023-09-27 21:16:29
The Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, at the Elysee, in Paris, September 27, 2023. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
There was a crowd in the large salon on Rue de Valois to attend the presentation of the 2024 budget of the Ministry of Culture. “There are a lot more of you than last year, is it because we have more money? », asked Rima Abdul Malak, all smiles. With an envelope of 4.46 billion euros (excluding public audiovisual), the culture budget shows an increase of 6% (+ 241 million euros) for 2024.
If it turns out to be less than in 2022 (+ 7.5%) and 2023 (+ 7%), this progression makes it possible to achieve “a record level”, welcomed the minister, who said she had “negotiated step by step”. In total, since 2017, “the culture budget is up 30%, an increase of more than 1 billion since the start of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency”she insisted, as if to respond preemptively to those who would consider this 6% increase low in a period of inflation.
Each budget has its own vocabulary. In 2023, it was that of “resilience and [de] l’action »for 2024, it will be that of “the transformation and [de] the mutation “. Ecological transition requires. Heritage comes at the top of the priorities, with a budget of 1.18 billion euros (+ 8%). While 2024 will see the reopening of emblematic places (Notre-Dame, Grand Palais) and the opening of the Cité internationale de la langue française in the renovated castle of Villers-Cotterêts, an envelope of 55 million additional credits will be allocated to the restoration of heritage sites (including the former Clairvaux abbey-prison, the Château de Gaillon in Normandy, the continuation of the cathedral plan, etc.) and the renovation of emblematic museums (notably the Center Pompidou, the Palais de la Cité, the Guimet Museum…).
“Promote cooperation and pooling”
“In order to be able to assume these investments while making efforts to contribute to the balance of public finances, choices had to be made,” underlined Rima Abdul Malak. It is the Cité du théâtre which bears the cost of these arbitrations. Announced in 2016 by François Hollande, this project consisted of bringing together, on the site of the Berthier workshops (Paris 17th), the National Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Art and performance and rehearsal rooms for the Odéon-Théâtre de l Europe and the Comédie-Française. Seven years and five ministers of culture later, this large-scale cultural project (22,000 square meters) will not see the light of day.
“I had to resolve to give up on this Cité du théâtre, whose budgetary calibration had been underestimated. After commissioning an independent expert, we realized that neither option was viable either economically or culturally”, explained the minister. Initially estimated at 86 million euros, the necessary financing “was up 45%”, she specifies. In these times of galloping inflation and environmental issues, the time is no longer for major works.
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