The President and the Minister of Culture went together to the Ateliers Médicis in Clichy-Montfermeil this Thursday. They defended access to culture for all.
First joint public trip for Emmanuel Macron and Rachida Dati since the latter’s resounding appointment to the government. The President and the Minister of Culture went to Seine-Saint-Denis on Thursday, January 18, to visit the Ateliers Médicis in Clichy-Montfermeil. A visit placed under the slogan of access to culture for all, to put an end to “it’s not made for me”, according to the expression of the Head of State. The opportunity also to calm emotions around the appointment of Rachida Dati, her departure from LR and her candidacy for mayor of Paris.
“First, she doesn’t need anyone to sit her down and then, I’m not asking her to stay seated but to work, to work,” quipped Emmanuel Macron, when asked about the meaning of this trip alongside his minister. “We will continue to fight so that culture is accessible everywhere,” he declared upon his arrival at the artists’ residence in Seine-Saint-Denis.
“Put an end to this France of ‘it’s not made for me’”
The President of the Republic has made access to culture one of the major themes of the start of the school year: during his press conference on January 16, he charged Rachida Dati with “putting an end to this France of “this is not not made for me.” The next day, the minister reaffirmed this objective in front of the deputies: “In our country, too many young people still say to themselves: ‘Theatre, museums, reading, these are not for me'”, she lamented, objecting that “reading, culture, is what allows everyone to build themselves, to become an enlightened citizen.”
For the Head of State and his minister, this joint trip to Seine-Saint-Denis was therefore the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the convergence of their projects on culture. And to forget, at least for the duration of the visit, all their past differences on other subjects.