With culture, recreate dialogue starting from the premises – liberation
Faced with the distrust of citizens vis-à-vis the State, institutions or politics, what role can local communities play? Such was the object of a conference organized in Rouen by the national center of the territorial public service. An event that Release is a partner.
One Saturday evening, in Aulnay-sous-Bois, in Seine-Saint-Denis, the door of a pavilion remains ajar for the time of the echelon arrivals of around twenty people. In the living room, an improvised scene: the show With feet, An anticipation fable designed by Nicole Genovese and Jeanne Desoubeaux, will soon begin. This home performance is organized By the Porterie, a theater dedicated to participatory creation. Established in Sevran but devoid of clean place, it « The scene of all places », explains her director, Valérie Suner. Each year, around 120 performances invest social centers, associative places, but also, therefore, apartments and houses of Sevran and neighboring municipalities.
« 85 % of the population is not going to the theater, which raises a democratic question, especially since the sector is subsidized, continues Valérie Suner. So we thought that when people did not come to the theater, it was perhaps the theater that had to go home. « For her, there is a way of creating a multitude of places of culture and therefore as many entrance doors to the theater, debate and exchange. Agoras that we are sorely lacking in. “Today, the cleavages are ultra-violent. At the Porterie, modestly, we try to recreate dialogue in our territories, starting from where we can act, of the local therefore. ”
But to act in your place, you still have to have the means. « Our action is not economically profitable, it is on long time », recalls the director, who does not hide her concern Faced with new budget cuts suffered by the sector. The observation is unanimous, and brings together far beyond the most alarming situations, like that of the Pays-de-la-Loirewhose head of the Regional Executive (LR) has proudly saved the cultural budget, or Héraultwhose departmental council (PS) was relieved, under the cover of empty funds, its cultural competence, excluding compulsory contributions. In Ile-de-France, the region announced a 20 %drop. In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, subsidies with live performance structures greater than 80,000 euros decrease by 10 %, the others by 5 %, details Marie Didier, director of the Marseille festival and unions of the Syndeac National Council. These new cuts are less drastic than elsewhere, but they work in an ultra-fragilized sector, which has already provided « All the necessary efforts, and beyond ».
Because the phenomenon of budgetary erosion does not date from the latest plane strokes of 2025, nor even from 2024. For several years, even decades, cultural actors have been forced to tighten their expenses, of « Save saving candlesticks » To deal with drops in public funding, inflation, health crisis … « We are now at a breakdown », Alert Marie Didier. Places reduce their programming, by offering fewer dates, cheaper shows, with fewer performers, fewer decorations, fewer mediation actions; Directors of prestigious places throw in the towel, faced with the impossibility of carrying out their missions (Wajdi Mouawad at the National Theater of the Hill, Jean Bellorini at the National Popular Theater, Galin Stoev at the Théâtre de la Cité de Toulouse …); Providers and companies see their contracts canceled, and at the end of the channel, artists lose their status and fall into precariousness.
Ultimately, a whole ecosystem is undermined, but « The maximum alert point relates to the artistic teams, with companies at the limit of the bankruptcy », Alert Jean Christophe Boissonnade, elected Syndeac for New Aquitaine. This region is not unscathed either: the Charente-Maritime has announced a 50 %drop, the Gironde 20 %… and many uncertainties remain to be lifted. « We will fight, but when given, if the means are no longer there, we will no longer be able to continue », loose Valérie Sun. What will happen to the precious cultural network of our territory, heir to defense of access to art for all? Of this essential proximity, in the words of Marie Didier, in « The construction of beings, feeling happy, connected, understanding new things, sharing collective moments »…? The director of the Marseille Festival observes the progression of an ideological background blade, that of an ultra -loose ultra -liberalism, which breaks with the defense of public service in favor of a stigmatizing discourse on assistantship. A subsidy, it must be remembered, is not, however, an alms, it is a contract. « And it’s not an expense, it’s an investment. »
