Subsidies for performing arts will be conditional on compliance with commitments against sexual violence, warns Roselyne Bachelot

More than a month after the wave of testimonies under the hashtag # metoothéâtre, the Ministry of Culture presents its plan to combat sexual violence. In an interview with Parisian published Thursday, November 25, the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, announces in particular that subsidies for performing arts will be subject to compliance with“Commitments” formalities against gender-based and sexual violence and harassment (VHSS). This measure concerns all performing arts structures subsidized by the ministry ”.

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In addition to complying with the labor code, it is about “Create an effective reporting system and [de] process each testimony ”, of “Train management from 2022” and the framing “To the collection of words and the management of situations of” gender-based and sexual violence and harassment, underlines the minister.

“Give tools to put an end to the omerta”

The 1,249 structures currently subsidized will also have to “Formally sensitize teams and organize risk prevention, and initiate monitoring and evaluation of actions”, details Mme Bachelot. A point will be made with each structure at the end of each grant period, she said.

Will have to comply “In particular the national stages, national drama centers, choreographic centers, but also the festivals, places and supported companies”. “We can directly act on structures depending on us financially because we have retaliatory measures, but I am confident for the others”, said the minister. This plan will allow “Give the tools to put an end to the omerta, because you have to call it that, which has protected a certain number of predators”, hope Mme Bachelot.

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Asked also about the presence of music composed by Bertrand Cantat, convicted in 2003 for the murder of actress Marie Trintignant, in a play currently being played at the Théâtre de la Colline, she also considered that the question of “Redemption” of an artist was a subject “Cornelian”.

“I try to hold the two ends of this aporia, and I recognize that it occupies deeply my reflections”, she conceded. The revelation, in mid-October, of this collaboration had caused controversy, in the midst of a movement denouncing sexual violence in the middle of the French theater.

The World with AFP

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