In Paris, the municipal campaign has taken on the appearance of a podcast war. There, a former Minister of Culture has harbored the ambition for several decades to become the first magistrate of the City of Lights. And to do this, Rachida Dati, relayed second with 25.46% of the votes behind Emmanuel Grégoire, 37.98%, campaigned without refraining from playing the star by only responding to media deemed acceptable. On the cultural side, his program is as tenuous as a morning diet. Jumble, a French Medici villa, roof terraces to propel Paris-Plage to the heights of the city. But also the project defended and staged on its networks, to enclose the Champ de Mars by surrounding it with “heritage, aesthetic, architectural grids”.
On his Instagram account, the former sniper of the Guignols de l’Info, Bruno Gaccio, Parisian candidate shoots on sight. Caustic, provocative tone. And a dose of conspiracy. “On the Champ de Mars, 27 hectares, I will build a golf course, here, I will make 9 holes in synthetic materials”, quips the head of the LFI list of the 7th arrondissement for whom nothing is lost since Sophia Chirikou collects 12% of the votes. For her part, Sarah Knafo, the passionaria of Reconquête with 10.4% of the votes, called in reinforcement a furtive glory of French song, Koxie, number 1 in the Hit Parade of 2007, for “Garçon”. His only success.
From the TV set to the voting booth
In the south, the battle has tightened between JT and stand-up. In Avignon, the candidacy of the former France 2 journalist, Olivier Galzi, makes the campaign look like a television news performance. He is the attraction of this battle. Standing straight behind his meeting desk, the candidate without a label has lost none of his splendor. Velvet eyes, charming smile. And tanned complexion on a white shirt with an open collar. A winning strategy since he came in first with 27.04% of the votes ahead of the RN candidate who collected 25.52%. His cultural wishes? Transform the city of the Popes into a “permanent factory of living art” With the creation of an immersive medieval festival and a celebration combining concerts and arts.
A little further west, Montpellier relives its favorite psychodrama. The web troublemaker Rémi Gaillard returned to battle, only collecting 8.2% compared to 10% in 2020. His heart of battle? A regular shelling of the outgoing mayor Michaël Delafosse, 32.8% of the votes, whom Jack Lang had described as a “spiritual son”. Culture-wise, no cream pie. The comedian offers an open-air street art gallery and urban projections. And citizen participation in the city’s cultural and artistic programming.
From Arles to Nice, permanent live
Just as telegenic but much more calm, Patrick de Carolis, current mayor of Arles in the lead in the first round with 34% of the votes, and former CEO of France Télévision, has put the ancient city in the permanent spotlight. When the Divers center candidate talks about “the treasures of Camargue heritage”, he finds the passionate accents of the host of the show Roots and Wings, which he created in 1997. For the city of his birth, the mayor maintains great cultural ambitions. And wants to further raise the “little Rome of the Gauls” by relying on its seven foundations, architects of the attractiveness of the city. A cultural policy that its challengers castigate, deploring a “cultural clash between large foundations and small associations”.
Television again. In Nice, it is the 1980s smile of former announcer Denise Fabre who is back on Christian Estrosi’s list in an unfavorable vote at 31% against Eric Ciotti in the lead with 43.5% of the votes. The mayor had, however, recruited the former sports journalist Gérald Holtz, who, in the event of re-election, would be in charge of preparing the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.
The temple guardians
Wiser, cultural actors are also campaigning in the North. Less flashiness and theater scenes. In Strasbourg, Catherine Trautmann in the lead with nearly 26% of the votes, is playing the quiet experience card. Returning to the forefront, Lionel Jospin’s former Minister of Culture is making a splash in her city after more than 20 years of absence. Stainless. For her, culture “is not a gadget”, it is “a way of breathing, a way of living together”. Its objective is to create major cultural events by supporting actors and institutions “in a dynamic of patronage, to pool and diversify resources”. Would the Arles model be emulated in the north?
Finally at Versailles, the decor changes but the ambition remains monumental. The current mayor François de Mazières, re-elected in the first round with 64.56% of the votes, aims to maintain the city as “a reference for culture”. To establish his stature, the former president of the City of Architecture and Heritage indulges in the indulgence of repeatedly reminding us that he spotted Alexis Michalik well before his consecration, at “Molière Month” which he himself created in 1996. A clever way of transforming a cultural program into a stable of talents?
