Warning to street artists, reduction of culture to event management, frantic pursuit of flashiness, stardom, and the ephemeral. Cultural policy in Nice is at a standstill. Waste of public money, cronyism, bling, and business do not make a cultural policy.
Decision after decision falls and leaves one speechless. A pianist is fined for playing Chopin at Place Massena, a painter fined for a painting on the Promenade des Anglais. The message is clear: street artists are not welcome in Nice.
The City of Nice cancels the Festival de la Libé due to an unfinished budget while it relocates the Theatre of Photography and Image to bring in Francis Huster, who will not come, and whose project was neither funded nor secured: double standards!
The Festival de la Libé is a beautiful artistic and popular project that clashed with a municipality that believes it can reduce culture to events, control everything, and block any initiative that does not originate from its ranks.
The Theatre of Photography and Image situation reveals the municipality’s amateurism: three years wasted and a move for nothing! How much did this cost the taxpayers of Nice? The City of Nice disrupted an artistic momentum by forcing the theater to relocate to Place Gautier in pursuit of a celebrity without any guarantee about the financial seriousness of the project. Christian Estrosi subtly reintroduces Daniel Benoin to organize art masterclasses and… entrepreneur training there. But the Theatre of Photography must remain a place dedicated to culture! Entrepreneurs already have suitable spaces, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is very nearby.
The City of Nice let the Volume issue linger. It wasted years trying to revive the 109 Factory by entrusting it to Sophie Duez. It chases after flashy moves, it chases after stardom, it chases everything shiny and that appears on television.
The development and role of arts in a city is not about chasing flashiness and the ephemeral. It is about long-term policy, seriousness, and stability. Waste of public money, cronyism, bling, glitter, and business do not make a cultural policy.
David Nakache, Tous citoyens association
