Questioned in the Senate on January 17 by an LR senator on the ineligibility of Puy du Fou for the Culture Pass, the minister assured that this request would be re-examined.
Will Puy du Fou be eligible for the Culture Pass? Questioned on the subject on Friday January 17 in the Senate by Senator LR Max Brisson, the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati assured that the question would be examined again.
“There are shows that are automatically excluded,” said the minister. “This will be the subject of the strategic committee, which I wish to completely overhaul. The rights defender made many recommendations precisely on a population very far removed from culture.”
The minister thus estimated that the strategic committee lacked diversity.
“And if you think of a particular show, indeed there was a request in 2024. We asked them to specify and it is true that my ministry did not answer them to the second answer. I want to know that “We answer them – without anticipating the answer – and they become eligible for the Culture Pass, particularly on the individual part.”
But, it would then be necessary to modify the rules of the system. Because if live shows, such as dance, musical comedies or theater, are indeed eligible for the Culture Pass, amusement parks like Puy du Fou, which welcomes itself on the home page of son site to be “the best amusement park in the world”, are not.
This is also what the president of Pass Culture Sébastien Cavalier responded, heard by the cultural affairs committee of the National Assembly on January 15, questioned on this question by the National Rally deputy Anne Sicard.
-“Today, Puy du Fou is not actually on the Culture pass, because it is considered an amusement park, and amusement parks are not eligible for the Culture pass.”
The eligibility of Puy du Fou, which presents a distorted vision of French history, denounced in particular by historians in a book entitled Le Puy du Fauxis a theme dear to the elected representatives of the National Rally. The director of the park, Nicolas de Villiers, son of its founder Philippe de Villiers, was also outraged and demanded “that the Culture Pass come and do an audit at Puy du Fou”.
“Consumerist objective”
The Culture Pass envelope was also reduced by 35 million euros by the Senate, against the advice of the government, as part of a new cut of 50 million euros to the Culture budget.
“I do not want this tool to become (…) a check which would ultimately only serve to drive a consumerist objective,” declared Rachida Dati.
Among its avenues: “taking into account the conditions of resources” of the family, a “part reserved for live shows”, a better hierarchical offer, “new functionalities such as geolocation” or even better articulation between the individual part and the collective part managed by teachers and financed by the Ministry of National Education.
Last December, the Court of Auditors pinpointed the Pass culture on its operation, but also on its impact, considered limited despite a cost of 244 million euros per year. The system, which grants young people aged 15 to 18 300 euros for their cultural purchases, was launched four years ago by the government after a promise from Emmanuel Macron to promote access to culture for young people and encourage the diversity of cultural practices.
