Address by Frédéric Mitterrand, Minister of Culture and Communication, on the occasion of the signing of the Convention «Shared Culture» between the State and the City of Bordeaux.

In our cities, in all our territories, there are initiatives
very often of associative origin, which serve one of the
main ambitions of the Ministry of Culture and
Communication since its creation: cultural democratization. These
actions do not always have the visibility they deserve. That’s why I have
committed to relaunching these important tools, territorial agreements
cultural development between the State and local authorities, which
commitment of public authorities in this area. This
more than sixty agreements are being finalized, and
which will be signed by the end of the year, on all of our territories.
Forty of them concern rural areas: I had the pleasure of signing
the first with the Community of Sancy-Artense, in Auvergne. The
For their part, urban territories must be able to
build on large-scale events to secure gains
in terms of mobilization and visibility: this is precisely the case at
Bordeaux with Evento.

Let me remind you of the spirit of these conventions: they aim to
highlight the fact that cultural services and institutions in
the State and local authorities have every interest in coordinating their approaches
with the associative fabric in the achievement of their
shared culture. Our policies for cultural democratization,
deeply inscribed in the history of my ministry, must be
updated: this is the whole meaning of the national consultation
made during the past year. Contemporary creation,
offers us, in the fields of plastic arts and
live performance, new ways to rethink what we
calls for mediation. In Bordeaux, Evento offers us a framework
of tremendous experimentation.

This framework convention in favour of cultural democratization, that
we sign today, therefore has for objective this putting in coherence of the
development of cultural projects for unfamiliar audiences
or away from cultural practices.

I am particularly pleased to be able to sign this
joint engagement with Minister of State Alain Juppé, Bordeaux
thus paving the way for further commitments to be made shortly
in the Aquitaine region with Villeneuve-sur-Lot in the Lot-et-Garonne and
the Oloronais Piedmont in the Pyrenees-Atlantics.

Act in favour of the coherence and visibility of
cultural democratization in Bordeaux is: To guarantee the
mobilization of major Bordeaux cultural institutions: the Opéra
the National Theatre of Bordeaux Aquitaine, the media library, the
museums, archives; This is to encourage artistic approaches in the
Euratlantic Urban Restructuring Operation
of national interest, which benefits from the 1% artistic and social
support experimenters, who offer us new perspectives
in an area where forms of artistic expression and modes of
mediation are constantly evolving; It is giving oneself the means
identify a neighbourhood that will serve as a focal point for these experiments,
the Bordeaux Maritime district as a good example.

The agreement we are signing also marks renewed support
of the State in Evento for its second edition, this year under the
head of Michelangelo Pistoletto. In Bordeaux, Evento
the ideal platform for the experimentation of projects at the service of
shared culture: including participation of primary schools
and the city’s colleges in “mobile city”; with the “
shared knowledge», which invites us, in the heart of the Saint-Michel district, to
rethinking the urban space; with the «mobile site», this installation
A nomad that will cover the entire agglomeration.

In addition, the association has supported the “Chahuts” festival.
of the speech arts in the Saint-Michel neighbourhood, which
great opportunity, in a district marked by the history of different
waves of immigration, encourage citizens to express their critical sense and
explore new ways to reclaim urban territory, with
the support of the Office national de diffusion artistique and Hors les murs, the
national street and circus arts resources.

Finally, the media libraries can only be clearly at the heart of this
for cultural democratization. Thus, a
ephemeral library on a boat in the Bordeaux district
Maritime, the modernization of the service Diderot destined to the non and
visually impaired, which can spread over the entire municipal reading network
and a reinvigoration of home porting. Go to the front of the
public that is modestly referred to as “distant”, it is indeed
to encourage new forms of socialization, it is also to
access to the cultural offer is less dependent on the effects of intimidation
to win back a readership. These mediation actions will be
co-financed by the State can build on the very strong commitment of the
City of Bordeaux for public reading, especially in
equipment and renovation, commitment that I hold everything
especially to greet tonight.

Cultural democratization is a relevant ambition only if we
we provide the means to respond to the new realities of society
the beginning of the 21st century. I am thinking of the individualization of
cultural practices, the persistence of social and
and inequality of access to cultural supply, in the
in the rural world. Fighting indifference to the
culture, strengthen the cultural balance of our territories, encourage
amateur practices, promote the inclusion of neighbourhoods and zones in the city
Peri-urban: as many objectives that we share between my ministry,
communities and association networks. That’s the whole point of this
to articulate them in a common project, and I am very
happy that the City of Bordeaux and Alain Juppé share fully
this ambition.