Marseille. Like all cultural places, the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (MUCEM) must make choices in its programming in order to adapt to its budget. Having undergone an amputation of 800,000 euros in its 2025 subsidy-reduced to € 18.6 million, Pierre-Olivier Costa (see Ill.), Its director, had to resolve to remove an annual exhibition to amortize the drop of 4 to 3 million euros in the means that remain for the animation of the site.
Pierre-Olivier Costa.
© Alexis Robardet
The second museum of France (ex AEQUO with the Louvre-Lens), with nearly 400,000 visitors (behind the confluence in Lyon, another museum of society) does not have many room for maneuver. Additional recipes are possible on the side of privatizations. “We can increase these revenue by a third party”estimates the director who will also develop a range of derivative products. But this remains insufficient to compensate for the decline. Also, Bercy would like it to increase its entry price currently by € 11, “The lowest of all national museums”according to its director, and that he pays access to Fort Saint-Jean, belonging to the museum domain and which adjoins the building of Rudy Ricciotti. But Pierre-Olivier Costa refuses to do so argue with a very national (77 %) and even local (39 % of visitors come from the south). However, even if the Marseillais are proud of their museum, many (900,000) are content to walk at Fort Saint-Jean and still too little enter the exhibition halls.
This is why a cultural offer now animates Fort Saint-Jean (currently installations of Laure Prouvost), and the museum develops actions for very specific or distant audiences. One of the director’s first meetings on his arrival was with a club of OM supporters. He also organized a system of bus shuttles to bring visitors residing in the disadvantaged districts of Marseille. A council of audiences has been set up to ensure the accessibility of supply and mediation to all audiences.
This societal commitment responds to Emmanuel Macron’s agenda for “Marseille as a big” “his city of heart”. Unless surprised, the former chief of staff of Brigitte Macron at the Élysée does not have too much concerns to be done for the renewal of his mandate next November.
