MIN OF CULTURE BACHELOT AWARDS THE FRENCH CAPITAL OF CULTURE LABEL

USPA NEWS - The national jury appointed by the Minister of Culture, and chaired by Bernard Faivre´Arcier, auditioned the nine municipalities and groupings of municipalities preselected for the first edition of the “French Capital of Culture“ label. These nine shortlisted candidates were as follows:
The GrandAngoulême agglomeration community,
The City of Brest,
The City of Laval,
The City of Le Mans,
The City of Metz,
The City of Saint-Paul de la Réunion,
The City of Sète,
The Community of Communes of Val Briard,
The City of Villeurbanne.
Following these hearings, the jury deliberated and transmitted its opinion to Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, who is happy to award the “French Capital of Culture“ label for the year 2022 to the city of Villeurbanne.

The national jury appointed by the Minister of Culture, and chaired by Bernard Faivre´Arcier, auditioned the nine municipalities and groupings of municipalities preselected for the first edition of the “French Capital of Culture“ label. These nine shortlisted candidates were as follows: The GrandAngoulême agglomeration community, The City of Brest, The City of Laval, The City of Le Mans, The City of Metz, The City of Saint-Paul de la Réunion, The City of Sète, The Community of Communes of Val Briard, The City of Villeurbanne. Following these hearings, the jury deliberated and transmitted its opinion to Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, who is happy to award the “French Capital of Culture“ label for the year 2022 to the city of Villeurbanne. “First of the“ second cities in France “as it likes to call itself, Villeurbanne, rich in its industrial history, a young and growing city, has chosen youth as the strength and target of its urban cultural project. The City intends to reconnect with its tradition of popular education and innovate in its artistic and cultural education actions. For this, it intends to rely on its little-known heritage, its associative strengths as well as on the major cultural institutions and university resources present in its territory ". The Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, congratulates the city of Villeurbanne. This label will give a horizon for the whole of Villeurbanne and will stimulate public and artistic commissions. It will be a source of pride for its inhabitants and a formidable lever of territorial dynamization. The award of this label is accompanied by funding of one million euros, provided equally by the Ministry of Culture and Caisse des Dépôts for this first edition. Caisse des Dépôts is convinced that culture, a job-creating sector, is one of the engines of the recovery. The cultural economy feeds into many other sectors such as tourism, hotels and restaurants, which are the sectors currently most affected by the health crisis. The “French Capital of Culture“ label will contribute to the territorial renewal of this economy.----------------------------------------------------------------- The Minister of Culture would like to thank all the municipalities or groups of municipalities which applied for this first edition of the "French Capital of Culture" label. These communities are carrying out ambitious projects and are looking to the future by placing the arts and culture at the heart of their strategies. It asked its decentralized services as well as the general delegation for transmission, territories and cultural democracy to support them in the development of their cultural projects.

Every two years, the “French Capital of Culture“ label recognizes the cultural project of a municipality or group of municipalities with 20,000 to 200,000 inhabitants. The award of the label is accompanied by funding of one million euros, equally between the Ministry of Culture and the Caisse des Dépôts, for this first edition, which will take place in 2022. The “French Capital of Culture“ label is a project managed and funded by the Ministry of Culture with the support of the Caisse des Dépôts, and implemented by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais (Rmn-GP). This project also benefited from the mobilization of the ministries for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Economy, Finance and Recovery, Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Territorial Communities, as well as all the associations representing elected representatives of local authorities. WHAT IS THIS LABEL OF FRENCH CAPITAL OF CULTURE ?-------------------------------------------------------------------- “¢ 1 label: "French capital of culture" “¢ 1 medium-sized town or a group of municipalities with 20,000 to 200,000 inhabitants appointed every two years “¢ 1 million euros for the selected cultural project “¢ 1 Capital designated in March 2021 for a first edition in 2022 The biographies of the members of the jury are available on the website: https://capitale-culture.fr/les-membres-du-jury ABOUT THE CAISSE DES DEPOTS GROUP--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Caisse des Dépôts and its subsidiaries constitute a public group, a long-term investor serving the general interest and the economic development of the regions. It brings together five areas of expertise: pensions and vocational training, asset management, monitoring of subsidiaries and holdings, corporate financing (with Bpifrance) and the Banque des Territoires. Source: French Ministry of Culture