Permanently taxed by their opponents of sectarianism and amateurism, since their election in June 2020, the new executives led by environmentalists in the metropolis and the city of Lyon have for several weeks been subjected to targeted criticism of their cultural policy. The Lyon right-wing imputes to them a localism without ambition, worse, the weakening of the international status of the capital of the Gauls, by reducing the influence of its major institutions, in favor of a narrow and interventionist conception of the life of the arts.
The last salvo came from an influential figure in Lyon’s cultural life, François Bordry. The outgoing president of the Contemporary Art Biennale announced his resignation on December 17, 2021 to protest against the abandonment of artistic creation, “For the benefit of an action focusing primarily on local cultural animation”. François Bordry accuses the metropolis headed by ecologist Bruno Bernard of undertaking a series of audits on cultural establishments, with the hidden objective “The enhancement of amateur practices only”, according to his statements to the monthly Lyon decision makers. The metropolis retorted that the departure of Mr. Bordry had been recorded for a long time. “It’s a little sad staging”, regrets Cédric Van Styvendael, mayor (PS) of Villeurbanne, and vice-president in charge of culture.
The day after this resignation, the two right-wing groups in the metropolis and in the town hall (LR, UDI, independents) issued a joint press release on “The growing unease and worry” which would have seized the cultural actors of Lyon. Opposition elected officials questioned the “Requirements of elected environmentalists, who, under the guise of carbon footprint and verification of the adequacy of their cultural policies, [leur] raise fears of a desire to intervene in artistic choices, then to develop a model of culture “loco-local” with fewer and fewer foreign artists and therefore a loss of [leur] openness to the world. “
Two twists and turns
A « fable », according to Bruno Bernard: “There was never any question of interfering in the programming of festivals or establishments that we fund », entrusts in the world the president (EELV) of the metropolis of Lyon. Recalling that the metropolitan cultural budget includes an additional envelope of 1.3 million euros dedicated to access to culture for all. “Unlike the region led by Mr. Wauquiez, we do not apply any ideological criteria in our aid. Large festivals such as Lumière or Les Nuits de Fourvière maintain their high level of programming in complete freedom. On the other hand, we ask the institutions to propose actions aimed at new audiences ”, argue Bruno Bernard.
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