Museums go free for under 25s

NATIONAL museums and monuments are to be free to visit for the under 25s and teachers from April 4.

President Sarkozy spoke of the plans for free entry to museums and national monuments as part of “grand plans” for culture improvements in 2009, which he announced in Nîmes yesterday.

It would help make museums more popular, he said. “When these young people become adults, they will then take their children.” An experiment carried out in the first half of 2008 showed that free entry saw a rise in visitors to museums.

He spoke of plans for a Musée de l’Histoire de France “in a symbolic place” which has yet to be decided.

He also confirmed that 100 million euros will be pumped into the upkeep of national monuments every year.

A council for “artistic creation” is also to be created, and Paris will also be a focus of cultural plans for 2009. Sarkozy said: “Paris cannot simply be simply reduced La Nuit Blanche (an annual night-time art event across the capital) and Paris Plage (creating sandy “beaches” by the Seine in the summer). We want some ambition, some big scale projects.”

The president also announced plans to reform the performing arts. He said a specific social security regime, which applies to those who work in the sector without steady employment, was important, “but only for those who really needed it.” Around 100 people from the performing arts demonstrated yesterday in Nîmes over this.