"The climate is not favorable to culture." The warning issued by the founder of Escapades musicales on the Arcachon basin
The 2025 edition of Escapades musicales will bring together 93 artists in emblematic locations around the Arcachon Bay from June 19 to July 19, with three evenings offered to the public. Its director and creator is concerned about an increasingly difficult context
A Franco-Iranian cellist, artistic director and conductor, Pejman Memarzadeh is the founder of numerous musical structures and events, including the Escapades musicales sur le bassin d'Arcachon . This festival has brought together nearly 70,000 spectators for fourteen years.
The Musical Escapades begin on June 19th and run for a month. 15 concerts throughout the Arcachon Bay—does that require planning well in advance?
A month-long festival like ours is a bit like organizing a large event that resembles 15 weddings, with more than 1,000 km traveled during the event! My thinking for the next edition begins in August. Ideas emerge, from artists, repertoires, and everything has to be aligned with the acoustics and the iconic locations of the Bay where the concerts take place. These sites have emerged over time. When we find the ideal location, it becomes an annual event, like the Cap Ferret lighthouse or the Château de Salles for the most recent ones. I've been coming to the Arcachon Bay for over twenty-five years, and friends encouraged me to create this festival. I immediately thought that we had to imagine something on the scale of the territory and its diversity. And also bring an educational dimension.
During the festival presentation, you mentioned a more difficult context...
It's becoming increasingly complicated. What's terrible is the uncertainty we're experiencing and a pernicious climate that isn't conducive to culture . A festival like ours lives partly from ticket sales, and we charge prices that allow everyone to access it. But it also lives from corporate sponsorship, private patrons, and subsidies. We're vigilant about diversifying our resources, but without public subsidies, it's not possible to give everyone access to culture, to irrigate the territory and offer a cultural incarnation linked to excellence, and capable of supporting desirable tourism development. I must also thank the communities that support us. But the signals are not good at the moment in the world. This is influencing political decision-makers in France. The reflex is to first cut subsidies for culture and solidarity.
Because culture has a cost…
For me, this is a complete error of analysis! It is quite unpleasant and sometimes incomprehensible that we feel like we are begging as a cultural operator. When we see the number of companies that receive colossal aid or subsidies to set up – then disappear after three years – it is good to remember that our festival is managed by a non-profit association. And above all, it is good to remember that culture brings in money! Firstly in jobs and salaries, since to organize the Musical Escapades, we have a team of six people plus technicians and we keep the cultural industry going. In the 2024 report from the Ministry of Culture , the added value of culture is estimated at 47.1 billion euros. That is 2% of the French economy, and live performance remains in second place [7.4 billion, Editor's note], ahead of cinema [which represents 1 billion, Editor's note]! Anyone who decides that culture is a cost is out of touch with reality. A festival benefits all professions, the local economy, and consumption: transportation, catering, accommodation, communication, etc. We are partners in prosperity by boosting activity and attractiveness. I may be a little harsh, but cutting cultural subsidies is either an easy solution that demonstrates a total lack of understanding of the economic and societal impact of culture, which is already worrying, or worse, a resignation, or even a betrayal, of the elites.
Do you think culture is in danger?
Our values and our ways of functioning are undermined by the international political and geopolitical cynicism that naturally affects all European nations. Culture, in the noble sense of the term, is a "universal language" that we try to master, through literature, painting, and of course, music. Ravel's "Bolero" is the most performed work in the world. This, above all, embodies true "national identity" and makes France shine! It is through the wonder of beauty that we create meaning and a nation. It reminds us of our common humanity. It stimulates us, pushes us, and makes us civilized.
SudOuest
