Visiting the Moulin Rouge, Rachida Dati announces a plan to support cabarets

Rachida Dati, very attached to the sector, did not choose this place at random to support cabaret artists. No Minister of Culture has visited the Moulin Rouge since the 1980s…

D‘ordinary dedicated to revelers, the Machine du Moulin Rouge, in Paris, was, this Tuesday, January 21, lively for a completely different reason. The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, announced her plan for “support and recognition of cabarets” in front of an audience of industry players. A plan “unpublished”, as she recalled. Is there anything to be alarmed about? Not really… 475,000 euros are planned to support and promote the cabaret. A sum which is added to the 3.5 million euros in already existing aid, particularly in the area of ​​employment. Not enough to revolutionize a sector which has two hundred theaters in France and had a turnover of 225 million euros in 2023.

The minister’s flagship announcement focused mainly on her support for cabaret artists so that they can benefit from the live performance tax credit (CISV), to which they are not entitled today. Apart from that? The plan includes the establishment of“a fund to support the development of “characters” with 150,000 euros”, residency support (75,000 euros) “in multidisciplinary places or art centers”, the launch of a “Focus Cabaret”a highly anticipated moment for the 2025-2026 season which plans events, shows and the creation of a podcast throughout the country thanks to a budget of 200,000 euros – almost half of the total budget. And, the final highlight, the ministry intends to promote the sector’s artistic crafts (boot maker, embroiderer, feather maker, corset maker, fashion designer, etc.) and include the emblematic cancan in the national inventory of intangible cultural heritage.

“Carrying out a plan like this in these times is not an easy thing,” congratulated Jean-Victor Clerico, the boss of the Moulin Rouge, who was coming out of a visit to the cabaret workshops in the company of Rachida Dati. His sister, director of the brand, had just been decorated with the insignia of Knight of Arts and Letters. In such a context, what else could he say? What’s more, at home, where no Minister of Culture had set foot since the 1980s? As for Rachida Dati, she did not fail to expose her particular attachment to cabaret: at the age of her first outings, we learned, she ran to the Moulin Rouge to get drunk on the spirit of celebration and freedom which reigned there then, without ignoring the flavor of the champagne which was served there. Funny anecdote when we know the minister is quick to recall her modest origins… The Moulin Rouge does not go for low prices, especially when it comes to its sparkling wines. We know Rachida Dati capable of attracting the sympathy of her audience with a simple look, a simple word. This Tuesday, January 21, she made a singular demonstration, in the order of performance, at the very least. If not a feat…