This Friday, November 17, 2017, the Minister of Culture presented at a press conference the 15 measures of her multi-year strategy in favour of heritage.
This strategy will be based on a strengthened budget: the resources dedicated to the maintenance and restoration of the heritage will be €326 million in 2018, an increase of 5% compared to 2017. This level has not been reached in ten years.
This budget will be secured over the five-year period: the €326 million will be renewed each year. With this multi-year commitment, promised by Emmanuel Macron during his campaign, the Minister of Culture gives herself time to implement ambitious measures and offers heritage stakeholders the visibility they asked for.
Small municipalities and territories in a situation of desertification will receive special attention. « Heritage is an opportunity for our territories. It can bring back life where businesses close and public transit stops. Heritage can be a lever for revitalization and essential cohesion» said the minister.
Among the measures announced:
- a specific fund of €15 million will be created in 2018 for the restoration of heritage located in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants;
- the creation of a “Heritage Lotto” (special draw on the occasion of the Heritage Days and scratching game) would be proposed by the Française de Jeux, as part of the draft amending finance law for 2017;
- A participatory platform for citizens to report endangered heritage monuments near their homes was launched today on the Ministry’s website (www.patrimoine-immobilier-en-peril.fr). It will accompany the mission entrusted by the President of the Republic to Stéphane Bern, responsible for identifying the local heritage in danger and finding new funding to restore it.
The heritage strategy also has a European component. The Minister mentioned two initiatives: the creation of a «Grand Tour» of heritage, itinerary proposed to French and European citizens around sites emblematic of their common history; the launch of a project-pilot of the Erasmus of culture around heritage professions in 2018.