Petit Bulletin LYON - Info Lyon: Cinema - Bron: a strange wind is blowing on Les Alizés - article published by Vincent Raymond

A blow of bamboo. Just three weeks after the long-awaited reopening of its two cinemas, the cinema team Les Alizés de Bron has seen its enthusiasm suddenly dampened. Invited Wednesday June 9 for a meeting at the town hall of Bron, the employees as well as some members of the association Les Amis du cinema – which has presided over its destinies for forty years – learn from the first councilor Jérémie Bréaud (LR) the decision to withdraw the management of the Alizés from the association. Instead, the City (owner of the cinema walls) decided to opt for a DSP (delegation of public service). Almost everyone in the room is flabbergasted. Except the president of Friends of the Cinema, Manon Vialle.

"We more or less expected it," she explains. There had been an audit in 2016 by the former municipal majority, which had been set aside; and there, new municipal majority… They had said that they intended to do a new audit. We suspect that if they want to do a new audit, it is because the cinema costs more than it brings in. We are not necessarily delighted with the decision of the town hall, but it is not something totally exceptional in the sense that we knew that there was an audit which was in progress. »

An unanswered AG

The next day is held the general assembly of the association, in the presence of the deputy for Culture Pascal Miralles-Fomine. A stormy general meeting, according to our information. Pascal Miralles-Fomine reportedly announced that the current team would still be in charge for a full season, but that specifications would be drawn up to select the candidates for the takeover. The elected official would have invoked to justify this choice of transfer of management of budgetary reasons as well as the desire to reallocate the sums saved to the renovation of schools. A fraction of the members would then have pointed to confusion between investment credits (schools) and operating credits (subsidies allocated to the trade winds). The deputy would have expressed the municipality's desire to maintain the existence of the last brilliant cinema and to make it viable, but also to preserve "its soul" by including in the specifications the continuation of the partnerships in progress... But what about? current employees, some of whom have worked for more than 30 years? What about sustainability without subsidies? What about programming — will a new operator have the same eclectic requirements? No answers, or a lot of vagueness… Asked, the elected official referred to the chief of staff of the City, who did not respond to our questions.

Still, the DSP could, paradoxically, open up to Friends of Cinema. “Do we apply or not, it will be decided in consultation with the board of directors”, wonders the president, who also announces that the specifications for the recovery will be established “by the town hall with the association: we want to participate in the specifications and the town hall understood this very well and said that we would participate in these specifications. Which raises another question: isn't it bizarre to determine the conditions to be met when you have to present your candidacy yourself? "That, we'll see. Legally, the town hall must check whether we can both propose things AND be a candidate. If this is not possible, the CA will choose either one or the other. »

The Sea Serpent DSP

The hypothesis of a DSP for Les Alizés is therefore not new. In 2016, the previous mayor, Jean-Michel Longueval (PS), had met the representatives of URFOL (Regional Union of Federations of Secular Works of the Rhône-Alpes Region) which not only carries out numerous actions in education in the image, but invests in rooms without there being any expenditure for the town halls. Following this meeting, the DGA of the City at the time proposed to carry out an in-depth study of the different management methods, in conjunction with the board of directors of Les Alizés.

According to Manon Vialle, “the 2016 report already said that there were things that were not working properly and, according to them, a DSP could be possible. According to Jean-Michel Longueval, the commissioned firm had rather listed the different options (the DSP passing through a public market, direct management and finally associative management), drawing up for each the advantages and disadvantages. "From my point of view, as a former mayor, we explored the subject," explains Jean-Michel Longueval. The report, submitted publicly, had given rise to a consultation between the municipal administration, the elected representatives of the majority exchanging in commissions; on the other, the associative partner. The result: a mutual agreement for the pursuit of associative management — which made sense with the vibrant cultural ecosystem which also included the Fête du Livre, the Biennale du Fort or Pôle en Scènes, but also social centers and neighborhood houses, also managed by associations.

The vertical decision of the new executive, in place for just a year, ignores past consultation. It questions his deep motivations — more political than economic? — and can worry or at least question the governance of the other cultural structures of the City in the short or medium term...