Roselyne Bachelot visits the Apostrophe media library in Chartres on January 16, 2021 -

Vincent Loison / SIPA

The cry from the heart of the cultural world against the closure of public places is intensifying.

Museums, in particular, feel they do not deserve this sanction which deprives them of visitors.

Petitions and concrete proposals were then deposited on the desk of Minister Roselyne Bachelot for their rapid reopening, at least partially.

"For an hour, a day, a week or a month, let us half-open our doors, even if we had to close them in the event of new confinement!

»: Such is the request formulated this week by a hundred directors and presidents of art centers, led by Emma Lavigne, of the Palais de Tokyo, in Paris.

Following this approach, which brings together foundations, art spaces, museums and regional contemporary art funds, the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot agreed to meet with professionals in the sector on Monday during a meeting of work on Zoom.

Another initiative: the president of the ArtNova endowment fund, Frédéric Jousset, and journalist Florence Belkacem on Friday sent ten proposals to the minister, which give easily achievable leads, according to them.

A "cultural and learning winter"

Like all cultural places, museums have been closed since the end of October.

And the hopes of a reopening in mid-December, then at the end of January, were disappointed.

Long-awaited and expensive exhibitions go without visitors and sometimes have to be repacked without being seen.

The petitioners declare their readiness to observe a reinforced sanitary protocol and an even smaller gauge.

They are willing to open only part of their rooms, at certain restricted time slots.

The French and especially young people, argue the signatories, have an urgent need to rediscover works of art to resist the depression, and thus make this difficult period a "cultural and learning winter".

They are based on experiences of reopening, particularly in Italy and Spain.

In the newspaper

Le Monde

, a first petition signed by personalities (Carla Bruni, Stéphane Bern, Luc Ferry ...) at the beginning of the week, had already challenged the government: "Museums are undoubtedly the places where human interactions and the risks of contamination are the least proven ”.

Reopen without arousing jealousy

Frédéric Jousset, also administrator at the Louvre museum, denounces "a blind spot".

Because, he observes, "our sector does not have a sufficiently large economic weight".

"Museums are silent and hundreds of petitioners have come out of the woods to express what the silent majority thinks."

The museum is "the least at risk" of cultural actors, he believes, because visitors move there and agents monitor the rooms.

“Our museums are open, they are heated, the light is burning inside, the guards are already there!

".

Industry players agree that museums are ready to welcome the public overnight, that they just need to call back some of their staff.

Several avenues are proposed to the Minister of Culture: reopening initially on weekends when families have time, or conversely, as in Italy, on weekdays.

In all cases, health protocols should be similar to those validated in libraries, places of worship and art galleries.

The reception of schoolchildren should be encouraged and access to heritage places in areas with low circulation of the virus possible.

Priority could be given to small and medium-sized museums.

Frédéric Jousset knows that reopening museums “risks arousing jealousy” of other cultural institutions (theaters, cinemas).

A data certainly taken into account by the government.

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  • Culture

  • Coronavirus

  • Covid 19

  • Museum

  • Louvre Museum

  • Roselyne Bachelot