No gendarmes, no festivals in the summer of 2024. Rima Abdul-Malak, the Minister of Culture, tried to calm the spirits after the declaration of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who had dismayed the persons in charge of festivals . The latter had affirmed, during a hearing in the Senate on October 25, that due to the massive mobilization of the police during the period of the Olympic Games (OG) in 2024, cultural events should be “cancelled” Where “postponed”. Representatives of the biggest festivals (more than 100,000 spectators) were received on Wednesday November 2 by the Minister of Culture to try to find solutions.
But in vain she recalled that the festivals constituted “DNA” of France and recognize that “the presentation by his colleague could lead to confusion about the interest of the government” for culture, “the minister, despite her good will, has provided neither a solution nor an answer”, deplores Stéphane Krasniewski, vice-president of the Syndicat des musiques contemporaines (SMA) and director of the Les Suds festival in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Where to find law enforcement? According to Gérald Darmanin, the Olympics will mobilize “on average about 30,000 police and gendarmes per day”. The Olympic Games will take place from July 26 to August 11, 2024, the passage of the flame in nearly 600 cities will begin from June 23, and the Paralympic Games are scheduled for August 28 to September 8. Not to mention the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris, the celebration of the landings in Normandy and Provence and, from mid-June to mid-July, the organization of fan zones in France for the European football championship in Germany.
“It is neither precise nor reassuring”
In view of an interministerial meeting, Rima Abdul-Malak asked to evaluate ” case by case “ and in connection with the prefects the impact of the lack of police forces, but also of rescue and private security teams on each festival. Even if it means considering a reduction in format or date changes. She also did not rule out, in the worst case, certain cancellations. “It’s neither precise nor reassuring. Why can the Cultural Olympiads exist if it means canceling the festivals, the beating heart of culture that works every summer? », asks Aurélie Foucher, general delegate of the professional union of producers, festivals, ensembles, independent music broadcasters (Profedim).
Tiago Rodrigues, director of the Festival d’Avignon, judge “unacceptable and unsustainable that the Olympics can lead to the cancellation of cultural events”. It would be, in his eyes, “a joke in very bad taste, contrary to the spirit of the Olympics, which would amount to flouting the French cultural exception and act of anti-decentralization”. Vincent Moisselin, director of the National Union of Artistic and Cultural Enterprises (Syndeac), also points out that “Not all audiences intend to go to the Olympic Games, hence the importance of guaranteeing a diversified offer of cultural activities”.
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