The Prime Minister received today at the Hotel de Matignon, in the presence of Fleur Pellerin, Minister of Culture and Communication, 35 mayors and presidents of intercommunalities who signed a cultural pact with the State.
This initiative, launched by Fleur Pellerin in December 2014, aims to formalize, with all cities and voluntary intercommunalities, a reciprocal commitment to culture.
In a context of budgetary constraints, the Government, which made culture a priority by preserving its budget, wanted to support the communities that made the choice of culture. In return for maintaining the resources allocated by the cities to this priority policy, the State therefore undertakes to maintain its own resources granted to local authorities for the development of local cultural policy.
As a result of a strong desire to make culture a political choice for society, at the service of all, and especially of youth, these pacts define the following priorities: democratization of access and the arts and cultural education policy, the support and defence of creative freedom, the recognition of the right of everyone to develop the cultural practice of their choice, the creation of an environment conducive to artistic creation, and the preservation and enhancement of heritage.
Based on common ambitions and shared values, these Cultural Pacts represent a new decisive step for the partnership between the State and local authorities, which they place under the sign of dialogue and shared responsibility.
The first 35 cities and intercommunalities signatories received today in Matignon will soon be joined by twenty new local authorities by the summer.
The Minister of Culture and Communication will travel to Abbeville and Boulogne-sur-Mer on 29 May to sign new cultural pacts. The process should continue.
Paris, 20 May 2015