Manifestation - Art Protest Monday 29th April Palais-Royal

Text: Rooksana Hossenally

Calling all in the arts sector! Artists, delegates, curators, gallery owners, part-timers, full-timers, flexi-timers, directors, administrative members, festival organisers, associations, and curious lay people.  The national protest is against reforms, to be discussed on Monday at the Senate, which would arguably undermine the autonomy of regional arts groups.  There are coaches leaving from large French cities such as Lille, Lyon, Brest, Rennes/Caen, Dijon and Rouen.

Flyers have been distributed, emails sent out, and the myriad associative and official websites have all posted the PDF flyer indicating the details: ‘BIG PROTEST IN PARIS TO DEFEND ART AND CULTURE ON MONDAY 29th! MARCH’ You can download the flyer. 

The call to protest was launched by several organisations within the arts sector such as the Fédération CGT du spectacle, la CGT Culture, le CIPEC, le CRACC Île-de-France, le SNM-FO, le SNSP, le SYNDEAC, l’UFISC among others who are expected to join them at the demo to fight against the current collective territorial reforms which the organisers claim could stifle arts organisation and funding.

The reforms the protest is in favor of are a little difficult to understand due to the convoluted French text but in a nutshell the organisations are calling for a law detailing a specific structure for an arts and cultural program, and revision of current administrative laws and structures for artists such as unemployment conditions.

To find out more you can join the Facebook page protest page or if your French is better than a local academician’s, check out the CIPEC homepage. The CIPEC is a foundation which unites professional structures from associations to galleries who represent artists and promote artistic projects. The CRACC  (Comité Régional pour la Culture et la Connaissance), another high-profile organisation, will be conducting a Q & A session on Saturday 10th April all over France to spread awareness of the damage the new reforms could do to art and culture.  The schedule is still to be announced.

The protest will take place on Monday 29th March at 2:00pm at the Palais Royal (Comédie Française exit). The procession will make its way to the Sénat where at 4:30pm a meeting with a group of senators for a delegation has been requested.   At 6:00pm there will be a general assembly at the Théâtre National in Odéon.