About twenty cultural professionals signed an open letter to challenge the President of the Republic.

Their goal: the establishment of a calendar of possible reopening, failing to be able to raise the curtain of their establishments now.

One of the signatories, the director general of Sacem Jean-Noël Tronc, was the guest of Europe Midi on Monday.

INTERVIEW

"Culture sacrificed".

These are the words of some twenty cultural professionals in an open letter.

One year exactly after the first closures of cultural places due to the coronavirus, they questioned the Head of State on their situation.

The general manager of Sacem (Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers), Jean-Noël Tronc, is one of the signatories.

Guest of Patrick Cohen on Europe 1 this afternoon, he explains that cultural professionals want "a clear schedule" to anticipate their reopening. 

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"A visibility calendar is essential for them"

It is an exit from this “repetitive and unpredictable stop and go” that these cultural players are asking for with this letter.

"The challenge today is to provide a calendar that is credible, which will therefore be variable", launches Jean-Noël Tronc, at the microphone of Europe 1. "It will not be the same type of calendar depending on the establishments, or even according to the parts of the territory ", he specifies.

The idea would be to help "professionals who sometimes need several months to prepare for reopening, or launches like for a film. A visibility calendar is essential for them", continues the CEO of Sacem. . 

This calendar is not quite on the agenda according to the Minister of Culture.

Roselyne Bachelot explained in an interview with

Le Parisien

on Sunday 

 that her ministry is not preparing "a calendar but a framework".

Then she added that this framework is worked "with the actors themselves, the very ones who challenge us today by the way!"

For his part, Jean-Noël Tronc explains that the letter is above all "a support initiative from Roselyne Bachelot". 

Reopenings in the United States

But this need for clear dates stems above all from an observation: abroad, especially in the United Kingdom or the United States, there is a timetable for reopening.

In New York, cinemas will reopen but with a limit of 25% of the room.

An argument swept away by the Minister of Culture in the

Parisian

.

She explains that if the cinemas have to reopen in New York, it is because they are not supported by the public authorities and "that is not imaginable with us!", She launches.

But what the actors of culture want, in the absence of a reopening, is "a complete calendar, even if it is in June like the British. We must be able to do the same in France", blows the general manager of Sacem. 

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There is also a certain incomprehension among those involved in culture, who sometimes call themselves the "forgotten" people of the crisis.

Jean-Noël Tronc recalls that no cluster has been spotted in these places: "when you are seated in a room with a mask and a distance, the risks of being contaminated are much lower than in a good part of the places which are open to the public, today in France ".

For him, professionals in the sector are largely ready to enforce barrier gestures in their establishments.

They "have made giant strides in the knowledge and understanding of these issues," he explains.

Before adding: "You have to trust them".