Bordeaux (Gironde). When Pierre Hurmic arrived at the head of Bordeaux in 2020, he was experienced in politics. The one who spent twenty-five years in the opposition takes over from Nicolas Florian and before him from Alain Juppé, marking the shift from a long right-wing governance towards the environmentalist camp. With this election, a promise: “Guarantee everyone the right to participate in cultural life. » Part of a roadmap considered vague by some, the new municipality, whose start was punctuated by some blunders – such as a cultural display campaign with clumsy communication – ended up developing a solid cultural policy over the course of the mandate, reorienting its priorities towards the local while maintaining its support for major institutions.
A stable budget
“We have managed to increase this “culture” budget significantly every year, despite successive crises,” welcomes Dimitri Boutleux, deputy mayor in charge of creation and cultural expressions. An effective increase which goes hand in hand with an increase in the overall budget. Result: a high budget devoted to culture, which remained generally stable during the mandate. In 2021, the City allocated 77 million euros to culture in its initial budget, or 13% of its total budget. Four years later, culture now amounts to 98 million euros, or 13.8% of the 2025 budget. A percentage which oscillates around 13% on average between 2020 and 2026 (excluding payroll), and which the municipality presents as higher than that of the last mandate of Alain Juppé, during which culture would have represented around 11% of the overall budget.
More concretely, this support for the cultural sector is manifested in several investment projects, designed during the previous mandate and now successfully completed. The flagship project: that of the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, which will partially reopen in April after three years of work and a bill of 6.2 million euros (out of the 22.4 million invested in total by the various public partners). Still on the heritage side, the major restoration of the Saint-Michel spire also mobilized the City’s funds (€4.8 million out of €12.1 million), as did the rehabilitation and extension of the La Manufacture National Choreographic Development Center (€6.2 million out of €11.7 million), for delivery expected during the year.
If the cultural landscape is far from being neglected, there remain weaknesses, which were not, however, the subject of campaign promises. “The Jean-Moulin National Center, around the memory of the Resistance, has been closed for seven years (following floods), without any concrete perspective”, deplores Fabien Robert, co-president of the opposition group Bordeaux Ensemble and former deputy mayor in charge of culture.
The Grand Théâtre, seat of the Bordeaux National Opera.
© OTCBM
However, these arbitrations did not call into question the operating support for the main equipment. The budget of the CAPC-Museum of Contemporary Art has even increased slightly since 2022 (€672,000 in 2025 excluding personnel costs, compared to €571,000 three years ago. The municipality has also kept the balances intact in the subsidies granted to the Bordeaux Opera (apart from a drop of €150,000 in 2025, or 0.9% of the municipal subsidy), one of the most important after that of Paris, which mobilizes almost half of the City’s cultural budget. “The notion of a cultural ecosystem is particularly close to our hearts, underlines Dimitri Boutleux. This includes the six museums, the eleven libraries, the opera but also the surrounding constellation, that of other cultural actors, whether very small associations or the most important. » The municipality has made this local rebalancing its standard bearer: subsidies paid to 26% more associations (194 in 2019 compared to 244 in 2024), increase in their allocated budget (+ 39% paid to cultural actors since 2019)…
This “green” coloring is also felt in the promotion of local cultural places, i.e. facilities located as close as possible to residents, anchored in a neighborhood and managed collectively by associations. The Boîte Noire space opened its doors last year in the annex of the Bordeaux submarine base, an inauguration immediately followed by that of the Marandon house in the Nansouty district.
Few national-scale demonstrations
“Localism is the asphyxiation of a cultural policy”, however, warns Fabien Robert, pointing out the lack of ambition of the current Bordeaux program. “Alain Juppé and Nicolas Florian were very attached to the idea of having a cultural policy that shines, that is recognized. Today, a nightcap has been put on the city with the suppression of events, festive moments…”, he regrets. In fact, if Bordeaux had hardly succeeded in having a large-scale cultural event on the model of the Voyage à Nantes or the Fête des Lumières in Lyon, efforts had been made in this direction under Alain Juppé. The Agora biennial, focused on architecture, urban planning and design, was established in 2004 and continued until 2017, bringing together some 80,000 visitors at its peak. In 2009, the Evento contemporary art biennial was born, even if its only two editions met with only mixed success compared to those of the avant-garde Sigma festival, which marked the Chaban era (from 1965 to 1996). River Festival welcoming parades and shows, cultural seasons structuring the offer over the year…: all these initiatives were abandoned under Pierre Hurmic, who only renewed the FAB – Festival international des arts de Bordeaux Métropole, which attracts between 60,000 and 90,000 spectators since its creation in 2016. “It’s a decision that I take full responsibility for. Our plan was not to have a big party, defends Dimitri Boutleux. By ending the Cultural Seasons, we recovered a budget which could be donated to cultural actors throughout the year, to have a culture present on a daily basis, including through artistic and cultural education. » In 2022, the City was one of the first in France to obtain the “100% EAC” (Artistic and Cultural Education) label, which values the commitment of communities in a project that promotes education in art and through art for young people in their area. In fact, in Bordeaux, this program is based on a partnership established between a cultural venue and a school group. To deploy it, the City provided the means: 90,000 euros in “EAC” subsidies and nearly 250,000 euros dedicated to various actions in this area in 2025, which allowed all 16,500 children (from kindergarten to CM2) to benefit from the system. A measure reflecting a mandate resolutely focused on the local and cultural proximity.
The Arts Journal examines the cultural issues in the municipal campaigns of a series of cities, in each issue to be published until March 15, the date of the first round of municipal elections.
