It was with strong words that Rima Abdul Malak, Minister of Culture, set a course for the entire cultural world at the beginning of 2023. « We have all the assets to face fearIn an international political context marked by conflict and extremes, did she say: listening to others, weaving projects as close as possible to people, the spirit of cooperation and partnership, the commitment of passionate teams, ambition and panache! »
Twelve months later, the acts gave life and flesh to the speeches: opening of the Cité internationale de la langue française, unanimous adoption of the law on the restitution of property stolen by the Nazis, extension of the Culture pass to 6th grade students, popular success of the show Horizon as part of the 40th anniversary of the European Heritage Days, massive entry of cultural institutions in the path of sustainable development, designation of Bourges as European Capital of Culture in 2028… Not to mention the rooster of Notre-Dame de Paris, symbol of a true renaissance, which has regained its place at the top of the restored spire.
And, of course, a year before the long-awaited start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024, the world of culture has already seized, through a thousand local initiatives, the sporting event in all its dimensions: it is the Cultural Olympiad. Again, let us not doubt it, commitment, ambition and panache will be, oh how much, at the rendezvous.
23 January 2023: launch of the Year of Documentary
The Lumière brothers would be proud of this, since they had launched it in 1896, sending their operators around the world: the documentary had its own year in 2023. It is now everywhere: screened in cinemas, broadcast on television, hosted by platforms… And it is an exciting form, as Nicolas Philibert reminded us, Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2023 (Sur l'Adamant): a domain « effervescent ", " other way of making fiction ", " listening ” of the human, despite sometimes precarious production conditions.
On the prestige side, one of these works, and certainly a unique and emblematic work, was Inscribed by UNESCO in 2023 on its Memory of the World Register: Holocaust, by Claude Lanzmann. It was an opportunity to review five other documentaries that marked our memories, but also to highlight the extraordinary dynamism of amateur practice. This one, and especially on Youtube since 2005, sees the emergence of new talents and new forms. It was an opportunity for the Ministry of Culture to take stock of this field by inviting some personalities from this universe around a round table. Not forgetting, for example, other exciting phenomena such as the development and success of dance documentaries. Recall also that in March the short film festival added more interest in this year of cinema, with four young talentsin particular.
In May came the inevitable cannes festival. Rima Abdul Malak, Minister of Culture, unveiled the winners of the Grande Fabrique de l'image, an unprecedented initiative linked to France 2030 to develop shooting studios, special effects and training in France.
27 January 2023: early opening of the Papon trial archives
By opening the Papon Trial Archives, the Minister of Culture chose rigour and transparency. Thanks to this measure (the legal deadline being 2073…), historians, of course, but also the families of the victims and, more generally, the simple curious, will be able to access the sources of one of the most resounding trials of the end of the 20th century. This decision crowns a policy of early opening of sensitive archives, initiated in 1983, accelerated from 2017 with the barbie trial, the algerian war and the rwandan genocide.
This trial is that of Maurice Papon, a senior official in office during the Vichy Regime, who will continue his career under the Fifth Republic, before being (finally) tried in 1998 for complicity in a crime against humanity, because he organized from 1942 to 1944 the deportation of Bordeaux Jews to the Drancy camp (first stage before the extermination camps). It is also that of a whole network of complicities, explicit or implicit, which made possible the impunity of a man escaping his destiny.
This year, the Minister of Culture has consistently confirmed her and the Republic’s commitment to anti-Semitism, racism and universal respect for human rights. A constant commitment (exhibition at the Museum of Art and History of Judaism, prices Ilan Halimi, commemoration of the Night of Crystal…) strengthened its participation in the march organized by the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly, of measures for Ukraine and official visits in 2023 (including Ukraine and in Armenia).
6 March 2023: Green alternatives or when culture takes on the dimension of ecological transition
This year was a strong gesture of the ministry: multiply by 2.5 the endowment of theCall for projects «Green alternatives» for an amount of 25 million euros, renewing it after an already very promising 2022. The actors of culture, very motivated by the subject (make their ecological transition), had already voted for the very first formula last year.
Develop carbon footprint calculators, implement concrete solutions to decarbonize culture, train professionals on these issues… , and this in all cultural sectors without exception, concretely, it was for example include crop waste in the circle of a circular economy, or think a sensible organization of show programming, or understand what is happening in the computers of an animation studio. Green Alternatives, second year, will give even more visibility and time to the winners to build their projects with strong ecological impacts.
A concern also supported by the “culture working group” of the energy sobriety plan, which has excellent initiatives, such as that of the Collectif des festivals, in Rennes. Moreover, no cultural sector is immune to the issue. In architecture, it is important to build the pool of eco-responsible architects of tomorrow! Hence this flagship measure, launched in January 2023 by the Minister: RESEDA, for residence Student for Sustainability in Architecture, national list of final projects of national graduate schools, which not only distinguishes the most environmentally responsible works but send the authors to the Villa Medici in Rome in April 2024.
Museums, as shown in the 2023 edition of the Meetings of the museums of France, are concerned primarily, and the field of heritage restoration and conservation.
11 April 2023: New worlds at the Beaux-Arts de Paris
Meeting at the summit of young creation, hybridization, the imaginations of tomorrow, healthy confrontation of student life «to the reality of the artistic ecosystem in all its complexity», we have rarely seen a cocktail more explosive and more enriching than this event of six major days «Mondes nouveaux x Beaux-Arts de Paris» organized by the latter.
The winning artists of Mondes nouveaux (launched in June 2021 as part of France Relance), had come to register their research in the fine arts workshops, with students and with the school’s teachers. An infinitely fertile dialogue between professional and emerging artists: dance performances, concerts, puppet shows, public workshops, debates, readings, exhibitions, projections, etc. a movement for creative freedoms collected and brilliantly articulated by the scenographer and the curator of the event.
The highlight of the New Worlds programme, two years after its launch, a beautiful 600-page book came out of the press during the summerA veritable bible of contemporary creation, which bears witness in beauty to this program whose objective, let us remember, was to support artistic creation that was undermined by the 2020 health crisis.
13 July 2023: Framework law on the restitution of cultural property looted in the context of anti-Semitic persecution between 1933 and 1945 is adopted by Parliament
How can we retain in the public collections, without dishonoring them, certain works that we know were confiscated from the Jews of France during the Nazi Occupation, with the complicity of the French State and its Commissariat aux questions juives? Thanks to the framework law passed this year, it will no longer be necessary, in order to return these works to their beneficiaries, to appeal to Parliament each time. Recall that the properties known as MNR («National Museums Recovery»), found in Germany after 1945, are, for their part, restorable without law: this was the case for three works on 18 April.
To raise awareness of this policy that tries to repair what can be, the Ministry of Culture (Mission of research and restitution of cultural property stolen between 1933 and 1945) launched on March 15 a podcast unpublished (' In the trace ") and absolutely exciting: six episodes to recount the paths of the works and the tragedies experienced by artists and collectors victims of Nazism, made by Léa Veinstein.
Let us also point out another law, and not the least, a historic law definitively adopted by the Senate on December 18, 2023, authorizing the removal of human remains from the public domain. It will now be possible to better respond to requests from States that legitimately wish to pay tribute to their deaths. The law will thus encourage more ethical management of collections.
2023: the Culture pass extended to 6th and 5th grade students and a new 100% EAC campaign
Growing with culture is growing happy. The Culture pass includes a collective share allocated to schools, so far for students from 4th to 12th grade (1.6 million beneficiaries in 2022). It is accessible to students now from the 6th. Visits, shows, concerts, screenings, meetings, conferences, artistic and scientific practice workshops… , so many moments of exceptions, thanks to the different cultural actors requested, offered to all students, to contribute, through their artistic and cultural education (EAC) to their emancipation.
Summer 2023 was already promising for young people, since the Culture pass was part of many festivals to make them benefit from exceptional operations (attend a preview of film screenings at the Cannes Film Festival, discover several works of the Nuit Blanche, award a prize at the new Nouvelle Vague film festival in Biarritz, participate in a “First Time” tour at the Festival d’Avignon…)
But that’s not all. With the launch of the library campaign (My library, the world at hand), on 6 September, ' day mobilization in favor of libraries ', more than three hundred events have been organized in France by public libraries of all sizes. Beyond even to arouse there again, and by all means, the desire for culture in all children and adolescents, whatever their situation or their place of life, the spirit was at the gathering around these irreplaceable facilities of proximity. Fifty libraries were sadly and unfairly attacked in June, during the urban violence, and six destroyed.
15 September 2023: Horizon, the highlight of the Cultural Olympiad
On September 15, 16 and 17, art and sports performance were invited to the Domaine du Palais-Royal. An unprecedented partnership between the Ministry of Culture and the company L'Oubliée allowed to Horizon, this acrobatic ballet directed by the choreographer Raphaëlle Boitel, to give themselves on the roofs of Valois Street, to celebrate the European Heritage Days. A showcase also for an essential professional sector of culture today: the mediation.
Horizon marked with an emblematic character the Cultural Olympiad, which beat its full of events throughout France throughout 2023. The Cultural Olympiad is the label that identifies more than a thousand projects, 150 of which are accompanied by national operators or by regional cultural affairs departments. Remarkable and noted events: the Lyon Biennale Parade, the great collection of rugby archives in Bordeaux, the freestyle football in Châteauroux, the graphics and running at Malbrouck Castle, the one-man Olympic champion in Grenoble, the place of the women in the Olympic movement in Nice, the photo in the Oise, fashion at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the laws of Galilee and skateboarding at the Centre des Arts plastiques, the juggler and the writer in Le Havre… these were our heads of chapter for a non-exhaustive journey! Not to mention, at the crossroads of the Cultural Olympiad and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December 2023), the great opportunity to help change the way people look.
6 to 8 October 2023: Création Africa, the first Cultural and Creative Industries Forum
Highlight the abundance of the African creative scene, the vitality of their cultural and creative industries, encourage professional meetings by calling on all the energies of the African continent, French, English and Portuguese speakers, these were the objectives of the days of Création Africa, the Gaîté lyrique and the Conservatoire des arts et métiers, which were organized under the responsibility of its general secretary, Liz Gomis.
It was also a strong act to prefigure the MansA, future House of African Worlds, and advance on the path of renewed relations between France (but also Europe) and the African continent, real vision initiated by the Africa2020 Season and the Africa France Summit two years ago in Montpellier. Let us note in passing the mobilization of the Ministry of Culture «Currents of the world» for the benefit of ten winners of the «pitch» competition, held during the professional day of this forum, rewarding the best projects in development of young African creation.
A great success that will remain in the memories of these 323 artists and entrepreneurs from 34 African countries, who embodied the vitality of African creative industries and forged new ties with France. This forum initiates many other future meetings, with ever more daring, generosity, creativity.
30 October 2023: inauguration of the Cité internationale de la langue française
After an extraordinary work of restoration of the castle of Villers-Cotterêts, conducted under the leadership of the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN), the French language, shared today by more than 300 million people in the world, finally found «its home port» (as director Paul Rondin put it), its Cité internationale, inaugurated that day by the President of the Republic in the presence of the Minister of Culture. A new kind of cultural equipment, resolutely open to the world of Francophonie, to the unavoidable diversity of multilingualism, as well as to the public of its territory.
Moreover, if it had to be further demonstrated, a study by the ministry confirmed in April how multilingual France is, which does not prevent, moreover, the French language from being the language of the Republic, and thereby guaranteeing the equality of all citizens, particularly as regards information and understanding of their rights and duties, or as regards teaching of excellence, while «cultural consumption», on the other hand, naturally opens up to all languages.
To note jointly the very complete and exciting report published in March by the Ministry of Culture to the parliament on the animation and coordination of the government’s language policy.
December 4, 2023: launch of the "La Relève" program
All cultural professions have their national higher school or their initial and continuing education, supported and supervised by the Ministry of Culture. Only the professional training of the leaders of the places of culture labeled by the ministry was missing. However, these places of culture (National Drama Centres, National Stages, Regional Contemporary Art Funds, Contemporary Music Scenes, etc.) are of paramount importance to bring an offer of excellence throughout the territory. They constitute a fabric of density and richness that many countries envy France.
But many of them are currently struggling to attract to positions of responsibility qualified profiles, and as diverse as our society is. That is why Rima Abdul Malak launched on 4 December 2023, the La Relève Program, which will identify, train and mentor 101 young professionals aged 25 to 40, one per department, selected by February 2024.
13 December 2023: Bourges named «European Capital of Culture 2028»
A great and beautiful evolution of the European spirit, after already forty years of history and sixty designated cities, came out this year to the designation of the European Capital of Culture. As noted by the Minister of Culture, the jury has selected «a medium-sized city that focuses on culture for its human, social and economic development, and that aims to make a real place for all audiences». And certainly, the choice of Bourges signals a fine perception of contemporary France, on the part of the jury, and confirms the general orientation of the public policies of the Ministry of Culture: the cultural development of territories.
A jury chaired by Rossella Tarantino, an Italian economist who led the bid and the success of Matera, a city in southern Italy, in 2019. The latter explained behind the scenes, the challenges and the future of candidates and candidates. It was also an opportunity to review economic, tourism and cultural benefitsToday, the four French cities that have been awarded the title of European Capital of Culture for the last forty years are still feeling the tremendous boost.
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