According to Catherine Trautmann, “culture is not a gadget, it allows us to take care of our inhabitants, our city, and what brings us together.”
This is the backdrop painted by the former Minister of Culture from 1997 to 2000. However, the candidate does not mention this. Instead, she turns her gaze towards the recent mandate of the ecologists, aiming a few sharp arrows. “We see a weakening where Strasbourg should have counted,” she says, before lamenting that “the booksellers were forgotten” during Strasbourg’s time as World Book Capital. On the renovation project of the National Opera of the Rhin, the former mayor criticizes a vision focused on the building that “excludes discussing the future of the teams, of the equipment.”
She addresses the situation of cultural facilities “that deteriorate and are outdated.” Her running mate Laura Cassarino proposes an assessment to see “what is needed for our artists. For example, the Coop district’s Wine Cellar could serve as an exhibition space.” Eric Kribs, a fellow candidate and former director of the Kléber bookstore, announces a book plan including “a book on Strasbourg’s history offered to CM2 students and the creation of a literary prize for a first novel.”
Saint-Jean Fair and Christmas Market
Deputy in charge of events under Roland Ries, Mathieu Cahn wants to use culture to “make the city shine,” as events “create attractiveness.” His idea is “a city in constant motion” evolving with the seasons. Spring would be suitable for festivals, “too numerous to list without making anyone jealous,” but “we wish for the return of the Magnificent Industry [which has not been held since 2021 in Strasbourg]” and to make the city a capital of urban cultures with a new indoor skate park of international standing. Regarding the Saint-Jean Fair, the Socialists do not “quite believe” in the Plaine des Bouchers site: “We will need access to other studied sites.”
Summer would see the development of several urban beaches, autumn would be the season of innovation and creation, while in winter, the spirit of Christmas “in its universal dimension and values” would serve as a support for the cultural programming. As for the Christmas Market, “we will not go back on what has been done regarding authenticity and the widening of the aisles,” but Catherine Trautmann admits to being “ashamed” of the dismantling of the chalets in Kléber square in front of disappointed tourists that it was already over. “We will propose to discuss each year its extension after the 25th,” specifies Mathieu Cahn.
These are ideas to finance which, in a constrained budgetary context, will severely test the nerves of a future deputy in charge of finances. “We can no longer continue as before, we will have to diversify sources of funding elsewhere, such as European subsidies, but we will not reduce the culture budget,” states the socialist team.
