SUMMARY
The barometer on local authorities' cultural budgets and choices, produced by the Observatoire des politiques culturelles, measures the evolution of local cultural policies on an annual basis.
The 2025 wave takes stock of local authorities' cultural budgets and orientations, highlighting financial trends, political priorities and the dynamics of cooperation between public players.
The national section is based on a quantitative survey of local authorities and inter-municipalities (214 questionnaires were used), to track changes in primary budgets, cultural positioning and the effects of the economic climate. With a higher response rate than the 2023 and 2024 surveys, this barometer provides consolidated results that are representative of the main territorial categories.
Keywords: cultural actors, cultural actions, barometers, budget, local authorities, cooperation, cultural employment, survey, financing, governance, cultural policy, subsidy, territory, ecological transition, France.
Illustration: Observatoire des Politiques Culturelles, OPC (c)
Key elements of the barometer :
After two years of relative budget stability in 2023 and 2024, the year 2025 marks a turning point, with a contraction in local authority budgets that will have a marked impact on culture. The regions and départements are particularly hard hit, with a particular impact on subsidies to cultural associations, while the local authorities remain relatively stable, partially mitigating this decline.
The sectors most affected are festivals and events, live performance, cultural action and artistic education. The decline in cultural employment between 2023 and 2024 is also more pronounced than in the previous survey.
The cooperative model of cultural policy appears to be under threat, even if local authorities are less inclined than in the past to seek greater autonomy from the State. Nearly half of all respondents support a broadening of the compulsory cultural remit of local authorities.
However, culture is not perceived as being more "sacrificed" than other areas of public action. The political objectives guiding cultural action emphasize accessibility, territory, attractiveness and artistic and cultural education. Among the measures taken to promote ecological transition, energy-saving measures are the most widely implemented. Finally, more than eight out of ten respondents see no obstacles to the freedom of artistic creation and dissemination in their region in 2024-2025.
Nuage de mots illustrant les objectifs politiques qui orientent en priorité les choix culturels des collectivités et intercommunalités. Les termes les plus fréquents sont accessibilité, attractivité, territoire, diversité, soutien, EAC (éducation artistique et culturelle) et proximité, indiquant les valeurs et priorités dominantes dans les politiques culturelles locales.
