ForeCastle

France’s Minister of Culture and Communication, Audrey Azoulay, has pledged to “substantially” increase funding for French museums next year. “I know the difficulties confronting museums today, between a drop in attendance, particularly linked to the drop in tourism, and a rise in security expenses,” she said in her official speech on 28 September to present the department’s 2017 budget. As part of this, cultural funding will increase by 6.6% to a total of €2.9bn—the largest amount of government money promised for the arts in the country’s history.Azoulay announced a 5% increase in funding to museums, and, notably, an increase of 12% for acquisitions budgets for regional and national museums. She said that museums security would be partly supported by an intra-ministerial fund. The government is also organising a conference on cultural tourism in December to try and revive the sector.

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