Lochieu, Val-Revermont (Ain). From a network of six museums, the Ain department will soon be up to four. On April 18, Monique Wiel learned during a meeting that the departmental museum of her town will have to find another management model: “The vice-president of culture and the director general of services (DGS) explained to us that they did not wish to close the museum, but to disengage from October. A blow, on the bottom, and in form, since we were put in front of the fait accompli ”explains the mayor of Val-Revermont.
The Revermont Museum and the Bugey-Valromey Museum are the two cultural establishments that the department no longer wishes to manage: two local history museums, with collections evoking daily life, agricultural activities and the living heritage of these two natural regions. “The Revermont museum is not immense equipment, but it is a standard for local identity”, supports Léo Goudard, heritage professional installed in this territory of the jura foothills, on the initiative of a petition for the maintenance of the museum in the lap of the department. “” These are two museums born of associative initiatives, in the movement of safeguarding local heritage during the 1980s, which today have a strong local anchoring, especially for young audiences and schoolchildren. »»
Save 15 million euros
His petition now brings together more than 1,700 signatures, and on May 1, some 300 people demonstrated in front of the Revermont museum to denounce a risk of final closure: “These are figures that for us are enormous !, underlines Monique Wiel. It showed us that we were not alone in this fight. »» The Ain department had already caused the excitement in the cultural sector by announcing, at the end of 2024, the abolition of a subsidy at the Museum-Mémorial de la Maison d’Izieu (Resource Center on the Second World War): a decision to which the community had finally returned.
The Departmental Museum of Bugey Valromey in Lochieu.
“Like all departments, the Ain is in financial difficulty, Recalls François Genest, DGS of the department. We have to find 15 million euros in savings, and we have not particularly targeted culture, all the budget lines have been put to the test. »» Decision is then made to favor establishments with departmental influence (the copperry of Cerdon, the Museum of Skills, the Museum of Resistance, the Domaine des Saveurs), and to abandon the management of museums of“Local scale”.“Our goal is not to close these museums, explains François Genest. We have initiated a dialogue with inter -municipal authorities, associations that will want to associate with the future of these museums, to consider a management transfer. »»
The city cannot replace the department
The idea of “Rationalize the organization”, As Jean Deguerry, President (Les Républicains) of the Departmental Council, defended during the May 5 assembly, is poorly perceived by local elected officials. “The total operating budget, with personnel, amounts to 250,000 years a year, this is not about real savings, Observe the mayor of Val-Revermont. Our intercommunality, a large borough agglomeration, does not manage a museum, and also has its own budgetary constraints. And we, a small rural town, cannot afford to take the establishment at our expense. »»
The associative model at the origin of the two museums is also mentioned by the Departmental Council as a possible alternative: a perspective rejected by elected officials and local actors, who wish to maintain a quality offer in rural areas. “It has been thirty years since the department has developed this museum skill, with today a sense of quality and an expertise of staff who are precious, notes Léo Goudard. The exhibitions of the Revermont museum, very well done, do not have to be ashamed (compared to) What we see in museums of large cities. »» Thanks to this programming, and the associated events instead, the Revermont museum manages to attract some 10,000 annual visitors. Ain has started work to find a new assignment to the ten departmental agents mobilized on these two museums. “We are going to do everything to avoid a dry closure, promises the DGS. But whether we like it or not, we have to refocus. »»
