Jack Lang, President of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (Al Jazeera)
Former French Culture Minister Jacques Lang, 84, was re-elected on Wednesday as president of the Institut du Monde Arabe for the fourth time, a cultural center and diplomatic front run by Lang since 2013 and located on the bank of the Seine River in Paris.
The board of directors of the institute, which was established in 1987 as a result of a partnership between France and the Arab League countries, said in a statement that this decision was unanimously approved, after months of speculation, stressing that "President Emmanuel Macron thus confirmed his confidence in Jack Lang."
Lang is known for his positions open to Arab culture and in support of the right of the Palestinian people to independence and statehood, and in an earlier interview Lang said that Arabic is "a universal language, the language of the Qur'an and the language of a great civilization. France also has great and historical relations with the Arab world, and this requires taking care of the Arabic language and teaching it to our children in France."
He added in his meeting with Al Jazeera Net, "I am proud that the Institute attaches great importance to the Arabic language and teaching it to young and old through a high-quality educational program," considering that "the Islamic religion is a religion of tolerance and coexistence, and the French government must preserve and preserve places of worship for Muslims and protect them and provide them with favorable conditions to carry out their rituals in good conditions."
The statutes of the Arab World Institute do not stipulate a specific age or the number of terms to preside over it, unlike other cultural institutions.
Lang served as Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986, then from 1988 to 1993, then added to his duties the education portfolio in the ministry between 1991 and 1993, before teaching full-time from 2000 to 2002. But last June, he failed to retain his parliamentary seat.
Arab Art in the West
Following his victory, Jack Lang told AFP he had the "ambition" to make the institute "the most important museum of modern and contemporary Arab art in the West, while remaining faithful to its primary mission of discovering Arab history, language and culture".
Lang will seek to "promote the transition of exhibitions and works of art in France and abroad", drawing on a donation from Lebanese art collector Claude Le Mans in 2018, which allowed the Institute's museum to acquire more than 1800,<> works and masterpieces.
On the other hand, the French Ministry of Culture has provided an exceptional grant of 6 million euros that is supposed to contribute to the completion of maintenance work at the museum and the institute to support its limited budget of 26 million euros. However, the institute, which is affiliated with the French Foreign Ministry, does not compete with the major Parisian museums, known for their huge budgets.
Jack Lang, who was chosen by former President Francois Hollande to succeed his predecessor at the institute, Renaud Musellier, has worked to shore up a declining institution, based on dynamic and lucrative exhibitions, politics and sponsorship, AFP reported.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia announced it would contribute 5 million euros to the modernization of the institution.
In terms of public participation, attendance and the number of visitors exceeded 600,2022 people in 15, and the institute is betting on a "rise of about 2023 percent" for <>.
Source : Al Jazeera + French