18 MAY 2020
On 18 May 2020, the Council of Paris approved an endowment fund of 15 million of euros to support the city cultural organisations in accordance with their needs. See here the page with all the measures, including those devoted to culture under the chapter “Accompagner les acteurs culturels”. These culture measures are translated in English below:
- Accompaniment of the cultural actors that the City of Paris supports on a regular basis and who have been impacted by the crisis.
- Direct aid to artists and artistic teams (priority to the youngest and least visible) to encourage creation and dissemination (music, live performance, visual arts, especially): organisation of an August Culture Month in Paris in partnership with other institutions, call for projects for artistic commissions to authors; maintenance of Nuit Blanche in a revisited edition, which will offer another way of living and looking at art.
- Support for private or poorly subsidized cultural players: a €500,000 extra contribution to the emergency fund set up to support the music sector, managed by the National Music Centre; a €700,000 extra contribution to the emergency fund set up to support the performing arts, managed by the Association for the Support of Private Theatres; a €50,000 extra contribution to the fund set up by SACD to support drama authors and composers.
- Increased support for the GIP Café Culture to: accompany the remuneration of musicians performing in café-concerts; enable the organisation of a greater number of concerts in the months following the end of the crisis.
- Additional support for independent cinemas and film associations.
- Support stream for independent bookshops.
- Indirect support (through presence in the media) to the activities and the development of artistic and cultural education projects aimed at young people and the elderly, in particular.
This Plan is estimated at 15 million euros.
11 MAY 2020
A 4-step plan has been announced to gradually re-open Parisian cultural venues:
- Starting May 11, theaters, museums and major Parisian cultural venues will be adapted to adjust to the new health guidelines
- By mid-June Parisian Museums will open partially, granting access to some of the rooms and col-lections to groups of 10 people
- By July, some parks and gardens will gradually reopen, one district after another and offer opportunities to watch theater, play music or listen to readings
- « August, Month of culture» a new event will propose concerts, dance, movies, artistic installations, and performances in parks, gardens and small squares in Paris.
On May 18, the Mayor of Paris will present to the council of Paris an endowment fund of 15 million of euros to support the city cultural entities in accordance with their needs.
30 APRIL 2020
Paris has issued a questionnaire to learn more about measures taken in the city’s music and art schools, performing arts, museum and historical sites, etc. (see the survey here).
15 APRIL 2020
Parisians are offered tailored services to maintain their access to culture:
- Access to municipal libraries’ digital offer has been enlarged during lockdown upon free registration, it allows for the downloading of: 6 digital books per month, and provides free access to school books, online training (office, multimedia, highway code, foreign languages…), and a catalog of hundreds of movies on demand.
- 14 city museums, under the supervision of « Paris Museums » and cultural entities, have giving free online access to more than 320.000 items, virtual visits of recent exhibitions or special contents for dedicated audiences.
Paris is also supporting the “Mouvement des Fenêtres” (windows movement) and documents their creations through which the Parisians express themselves during and after they clap from their window every night at 20h in support of health workers.
Guaranteeing a minimum pay level for artists and technicians whose performances are cancelled is also under consideration. The City of Paris will pay broadcasting and creation aids it has committed to, even if the initially scheduled number of performances is not reached.
Source: Délégation générale aux Relations internationales, Ville de Paris
