Nearly half of local authorities have reduced their cultural budgets between 2024 and 2025, according to the Observatory of Cultural Policies.

To carry out this study, the Cultural Policy Observatory surveyed 214 communities via an online questionnaire between March and June.

Nearly half of local authorities - regions, departments, municipalities, and metropolitan areas - have reduced their budgets dedicated to culture between 2024 and 2025, according to the barometer of the Observatory of Cultural Policies , which France Inter was able to consult on Thursday, July 10.

According to the Observatory of Cultural Policies, a national organization that conducts surveys and analyses on the sector and which surveyed 214 local authorities, 47% of them saw their cultural budgets decrease between 2024 and 2025, while this figure was only 21% between 2023 and 2024.

These reductions range from 1% to 9.9% for 26% of them. 14% even report a reduction of between 10% and 20%, and 7% report a reduction in their cultural budget of more than 20%. In detail, it is the departments that have experienced the largest reductions. Thus, 27 of them report a reduction of more than 10% between 2024 and 2025.

To conduct this study, the Cultural Policy Observatory surveyed 214 local authorities via an online questionnaire between March and June. The sample consisted of twelve regions, 74 departments, 75 municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, 46 inter-municipal authorities, and seven overseas territories.