Decryption. Cannes Mayor David Lisnard wants to put an end to cultural "Parisianism": but how?

In the middle of the Cannes Film Festival , Mayor David Lisnard took advantage of the spotlight on the event to denounce, in an interview with Le Point on Tuesday, a system where cultural initiatives outside Paris are held back by centralized supervision, hindering the development of ambitious projects in the region.

It's an old story: France has a long tradition of cultural centralization, inherited from the Ancien Régime and reinforced under the Republic. Paris concentrates a disproportionate share of the nation's cultural facilities: museums (Louvre, Orsay, Centre Pompidou), theaters (Comédie Française, Paris Opera), libraries (BNF), and other prestigious institutions.

In 2014, a report by the General Inspectorate of Cultural Affairs revealed that the Île-de-France region, with 18% of the French population, received 66% of cultural funding allocated by the state, and up to 77% of funding directly managed by the central administration. This hyperconcentration, described as a "historical inevitability" by some elected officials, can be explained by centuries of centralism, where the capital has been the preferred location for the creation and conservation of artistic heritage.

This imbalance creates unequal access to culture, particularly pronounced in rural or remote areas. In 2018, 69% of Parisians attended at least one show, compared to only 39% of rural residents. This disparity reflects not only a concentration of facilities, but also a centralization of cultural decisions.

In the face of this Parisianism, cultural decentralization initiatives such as the Centre Pompidou-Metz (opened in 2010), the Louvre-Lens (inaugurated in 2012), and the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Marseille (created in 2013) have shown that another path is possible. These projects, stemming from a political desire for the "territorialization" of culture, aimed to democratize access to art and stimulate economic and tourist development in the regions concerned.

These three establishments are not enough to rebalance the offerings, as they remain exceptions. For Jean-Michel Tobelem, a cultural management specialist, alternatives should instead be proposed, such as enriching the collections of regional museums, scientific partnerships, or traveling exhibitions to better meet the needs of the regions.

Since her appointment in January 2024, Rachida Dati , Minister of Culture, has expressed her desire to strengthen access to culture outside Paris, notably through the "Spring of Rurality". This program, launched to expand cultural offerings in small towns and rural areas, has generated some optimism among local elected officials, although doubts remain about its implementation, due to the continued centralization of decisions and the limited resources of the Regional Directorates of Cultural Affairs (DRAC).

Rachida Dati insists on "territorialization," aiming to better align national policies with local dynamics, particularly through partnerships with local authorities. However, many local elected officials would prefer greater autonomy and increased subsidies to strengthen the human and financial resources of regional cultural organizations over the partnership approach.

The correction of the Paris-Province asymmetry, at the heart of David Lisnard's criticisms, is coming up against a structural reality, which creates real inertia: the concentration of cultural facilities in Paris, which is impossible to relocate. Major national museums, such as the Louvre or Orsay, cannot be transferred to the regions, and their influence inevitably attracts a significant share of funding and audiences. In 2019, the Île-de-France region accounted for 40% of cultural facilities and 60% of employees in the commercial cultural sector, while overseas departments and regions such as Hauts-de-France remained under-equipped.

This inequality is compounded by the way culture is funded. "While the Ministry of Culture spends $4.6 billion, local authorities spend nearly double. Within local authorities, the "local bloc," which includes municipalities and inter-municipalities, accounts for 81% of cultural spending," notes Fabrice Raffin, a lecturer at the University of Picardy. The regions, which are less well-endowed with large-scale infrastructure that attracts the public and are forced to "spread their budgets thin," therefore struggle to compete with Paris's offerings, which reinforces cultural "Parisianism."