The reduction in subsidies for the Musée des Confluences in Lyon was approved this Monday, without the votes of part of the majority in the metropolitan council.
This is a situation which has quite annoyed the environmentalist president of the Metropolis of Lyon, Bruno Bernard. This Monday, September 30, in the Metropolitan Council, a reduction in subsidy of one million euros to the Confluences museum in Lyon was approved, without the vote of a large part of the opposition, but also without that of the left group “The Metropolis in common”, after Nathalie-Perrin Gilbert expressed doubts about the legality of the deliberation.
Read also: The Métropole de Lyon reduces the 2024 budget of the Musée des Confluences
“Have we not made the grant at the start of the year our due?”
Indeed, the former deputy in charge of culture questioned this drop, increasing the 2024 budget of the cultural establishment from 14.4 million euros to 13.4 million euros, just three months from the end of the year. : “Didn’t we make the grant at the start of the year a due? There is case law from the Council of State to this effect.“, she thus indicated. And while the draft deliberation indicates that the 2024 budget “will remain its target level”, since the reduction in operating subsidies must be compensated by an investment of one million euros (distributed on the financial years 2025 and 2026), Nathalie Perrin-Gilbert considered that this statement was erroneous, “even misleading“, since Bruno Bernard himself indicated that the 2024 budget would drop by one million euros.
Philippe Cochet’s group, La Métro Positive, but also the Synergies groups of Marc Grivel and Progressistes et Républicains of David Kimelfeld thus abstained or voted against, calling on the executive, as NPG did, to postpone the vote to carry out a legal audit. “I see that there are only formal arguments. I reiterate all my confidence in our services“, defended Bruno Bernard who put the deliberation to a vote. And NPG launched a few minutes later: “I am already writing my letter to the prefecture for a legality check.”
“No negative impact on the museum’s programming, its exhibitions and its quality”
Bruno Bernard, president of the Métropole de Lyon
Basically, the former deputy for culture of the City of Lyon deplored “a very bad signal“, chargeant Bruno Bernard : “You weaken artistic creation and dissemination.“And while the president of the Metropolis assured that this budget reduction would not have”no negative impact on the museum’s programming, its exhibitions and its quality“, NPG, who sat on the board of directors of the establishment, did not budge: “I maintain that the reduction in subsidies, in the medium term, will have a negative impact on the life of the museum and perhaps reduce its attractiveness.” “We will remain attentive to what follows. The museum will celebrate its tenth anniversary, it will need the full support of the Metropolis“, warned David Kimelfeld.
As a reminder, the museum’s ticket revenues for the first half of 2024 would have been higher than forecast by €450,000, and operating expenses reduced by the reduction in energy expenditure of €207,000. Bruno Bernard also noted that the museum’s cash flow had doubled between 2019 and 2022, reaching around 12 million euros. At the same time, the president deplored the fact that the Metropolis was the only community to finance the institution, criticizing the department’s disengagement, and being surprised not to see the State and Region supporting it. The first museum in France outside Paris, it has welcomed more than six million visitors since its opening.