This Tuesday, July 29, 2025, the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, passed through South Aveyron before joining Rodez.
Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, in Aveyron, it is not every day that it happens. So, for this occasion, the regional press would have liked to discuss the sustainability of festivals (Occitanie is the second region of France with 119 festivals organized in 2024), 48 % of which are in deficit (data from the National Music Center). But also on small rural companies, faced with real difficulties in existing, or even on the candidacy of know-how linked to the Ganterie in Pays de Millau, the primary reason for its arrival.
The word “candidacy” immediately put off its communication team. However, it was not only a question of evoking with her the questions of national policy as the partial legislative in Paris where she did not obtain the LR inauguration. Not the slightest look, or even the slightest answer to the press outside of his speeches.
A first attempt was made during the first sequence at the Abbey of Sylvanès, in full renovation. “We will take the time afterwards,” the communication service kindly replied. After the long time spent at the Fabre Ganterie, then at the Martinerie farm, still nothing. Some photos with the premises, a glass of water and direction Rodez…
“We are worried about 2026”
On the cultural aspect, there were many subjects to approach and deepen after the first year of the culture and rurality plan of which she carried out a brief assessment in Millau. “My ambition has not varied: it is always a question of placing the inhabitants at the heart of cultural action,” she read at the Martinerie farm.
This priority has resulted in reinforced means, with an additional 100 million over three years. 60 million euros have already been devoted to it in 2024 and 2025. “She notably mentioned the” 133 festive local initiatives supported in 252 villages and communities of municipalities “or” The 30 festivals (which) have benefited from reinforced support to promote their local influence, including the aid provided this year in this year in the Youth Arts and Leisure Association “.
On the ground, in the South Aveyron, the sounds are not the same. “The rurality plan? We have not seen the color of it,” we breathe within the organization of a Millavois festival. “It is always very opaque to reach the aid of the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs. We do not really understand the rules, the files are very complicated, it is made to discourage us”. In the structures that bring culture to life, it’s the same song.
“For this year, it is not too clear because we do with the budgets of last year, but it is especially for 2026 that we are worried,” notes a representative of the Sudicate Solidaires Sudicate in Millau. However, the Minister said it at the microphone: “In 2024, excluding culture and rurality, 200 million euros have benefited rural areas. We are told in the debate that the culture budget decreased … It even increased on the 2025 budget. It is not won for 2026, but I will fight”.
However, the discontent is still as important in South American cultural associations. According to data from the 2025 culture cartocrise, established by the Cultural Policy Observatory, the Sylvanès Festival, where the Minister held her first sequence, lost € 50,000 in funding in 2025 on the part of the communities. Small companies are struggling to complete the budgets. “Culture is not made to be profitable but to raise the spirits,” recalls this same union representative. Despite a situation stretched far from major cities, the cultural environment of Sud-Aveyron will have no more answers after the Minister’s arrival on her territory.