It is a directive that has deeply moved the world of culture. She asked to cease all collaboration with Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, where consular services were closed. But the executive assured Friday that France would continue to welcome artists from the Sahel.
“When we say that there will be no visa or that we cancel all the events that would be held in France with all the artists coming from Burkina Faso, Mali or Niger: it is false, that does not will not happen,” said President Emmanuel Macron during a trip to the Côte d’Or (eastern France). He added that “the vocation of France is to welcome artists, intellectuals, and to be able to make them shine in complete freedom”.
The minister speaks of “confusion”
Thursday, the Syndeac (National Union of Artistic and Cultural Enterprises) and its counterparts (the Aac, the Accn, the A-CDCN, the ACDN and the ASN) publicly protested against a message that they claim to have received on Wednesday “from the DRAC”, the regional cultural directorates, and “written on instructions from the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs”. “This message with a threatening tone asks our members to “suspend, until further notice, all cooperation with the following countries: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso”,” these cultural professionals specified in a joint press release.
Faced with the rain of indignant comments that immediately followed, from cultural actors as well as representatives of the political world, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, tried to extinguish the controversy Friday morning on RTL, assuring that we “ never boycott artists anywhere.” She also indicated that a message “clarifying” this directive would be sent on Friday by her services. “There was too much confusion and, obviously, incomprehension following certain messages that were sent,” she regretted.
Concerts canceled
Highlighting the impossibility of issuing new visas, the minister clarified that there was “no question of stopping interacting with artists”. “All those who already have visas and who have tours or shows planned (…) will be able to come as planned. »
For Sébastien Lagrave, director of the Africolor music festival (November 17 to December 24 in the Paris region), the consequences are already concrete. “I have three concerts by Malian artists that are going to be canceled,” he told AFP. “We know very well that most artists are granted short-term visas. Those who already have a visa are a minority. For a festival like us, in November, we request visas from September. There, it’s impossible for them to come,” he continued. And to denounce a “violent, very abrupt and vertical” decision.
“The Minister of Culture says that there is no visa service in operation in these countries, this is false. Service providers are always open, we can examine files,” according to him.