The closure of art schools, not “an objective” but “a risk”, according to Rachida Dati

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP 2:39 p.m., March 23, 2024

The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, assured Saturday that the closure of certain art schools in crisis, mentioned this week during a hearing at the National Assembly, was not "an objective" but a "risk " and called for a mobilization of all stakeholders concerned. “I mentioned the closure of local art schools not as an objective but as a risk if all partners do not mobilize,” the minister declared in a press release. “I do not want to respond to the crisis (...) neither with a generic strategy which ignores the details of the situations, nor with purely emergency responses which would not resolve the fundamental questions,” she added.

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Before the deputies, Rachida Dati had mentioned the 99 public cultural higher education schools, in particular "some of these art schools, in particular for the territorial schools, which are in a crisis situation, despite the confirmed commitment of the State". “We must stop with the policy of ends of string” which does not “resolve any fundamental problem”, she stressed, invoking “very poorly spent public money” and pleading for “high-performing schools, with the same opportunities of success, and the same openness to all". “If it is necessary to close certain schools” no longer having “the means to offer a quality framework, perhaps that could be the case”, she continued, relying on “evaluation bodies "dedicated.

“Proven social utility”

Founded "by the cities where they are anchored", the territorial art schools have always benefited from the support of the ministry, which "has increased by 14% over the last ten years", argued Rachida Dati on Saturday. “They are at the heart of my thinking for the future,” she added, praising their “proven social usefulness”. “It is together that we will be able to perpetuate and strengthen” their “key role” for “a public service of higher cultural education”, estimated Rachida Dati.

Her predecessor, Rima Abdul Malak, granted emergency aid in March 2023 to the 33 local art schools, which welcome some 8,400 students, and launched a mission on their “structural challenges”. The latter had highlighted in October the “non-existent room for maneuver” for establishments with budgets reduced to their minimum. Among the 43 higher plastic arts schools in France, 10 are national schools under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, and 33 are territorial schools.