In January 2025, the French government announced drastic public spending cuts. 50 billion euros are to be “saved” from the state budget. Unsurprisingly, it’s not corporate subsidies that will be reduced, nor are the cuts even conditioned on social or environmental guarantees. No, the Macron government (a sordid blend of hard-right supporters and radical neoliberals) is choosing to forcefully slash the budget for public services, ecological investments, and international solidarity. This is the largest reduction in the French state budget in 30 years! The new budget passed without a vote in the National Assembly, enforced through Article 49.3. La France Insoumise, Europe Écologie Les Verts, and the Communist Party (members of the left-wing alliance “New Popular Front” since May 2024) submitted a motion of no confidence to bring down the government, but the Socialist Party refused to vote for it—betraying their commitments, as they have consistently done since the Mitterrand presidency in the 1980s. The far right didn’t vote for the censure either. Thanks to this complicity, the “Macronie” (the name given by the French people to the despised president’s supporters) holds power and can carry out its project. For a country that elected a left-wing majority just six months earlier, this is a bitter pill to swallow.

So it is up to the people and the workers to rise up. The arts and culture sector mobilized as early as February 2025, with worker assemblies of over 500 people in Paris, as well as in Marseille, Nantes, Rennes, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice… Why such a rapid and massive response? In the Parisian assembly, many colleagues reported having to cancel performances on short notice. The budget cuts hit hard and fast. Our sector lost 5% of its funding overnight. 200 million euros in cultural support were cut, across all disciplines. For example, 47 million euros were slashed from live performance, and 41 million from heritage preservation. The only public reaction from the Minister of Culture was to deny the government’s attacks—of which she is a part—and to claim that the culture budget has consistently increased under Macron. A blatant lie that even surprised journalists at France Inter (themselves under threat from public radio and TV reforms), despite not being known for their devotion to the eternal science of historical materialism.

Local governments also abruptly pulled out of supporting culture. In some departments and regions, cultural subsidies were simply reduced to zero—as in the Hérault, a department led by the Socialist Party. The Pays de la Loire region (which includes Nantes) saw subsidies cut by 75%. The DRACs (Regional Cultural Affairs Directorates) eliminated regional funding for cultural education in schools. Municipalities stopped or slashed funding for cultural venues, leading to reduced programming and leaving many colleagues unable to plan ahead. Some can’t even fill their calendars more than a month in advance. “At this point, it’s not precarity anymore—it’s poverty,” said CGT unionist Maxime Séchaud to Le Média. Unions estimate that one in three jobs in the sector could be lost by next year. This actor and director, representing the largest cultural workers’ union in France, denounces “a wave of layoffs that dare not speak its name.” Even employers’ unions like the SYNDEAC estimate that 1,500 jobs are threatened—a likely very optimistic number for a sector employing 701,600 people, or 2.6% of national employment. (One should note that these official numbers exclude indirect employment, for example in event catering.) Among them are 200,000 intermittent workers, civil servants, fixed-term and permanent contract workers, freelancers, and many who survive on the minimum unemployment benefit known as RSA. Notably, this benefit will now be conditional on 15 hours of work per week paid at 3 euros per hour. Yes, that’s below minimum wage—and the kicker? You have to find that work yourself, or face penalties, in a country with a 9% unemployment rate.

So what can we do? In the assembly led by union organizers, ideas are flowing, inspired by past victories: In 2003, cultural workers preserved their intermittent status in the face of a government reform by shutting down Europe’s largest theater festival. “We need to do another Avignon!” echoes in the packed Bourse du Travail. “We need to occupy places!”—a method we used in 2021, which led to a year of unemployment benefits during the COVID crisis when we couldn’t work. While that mobilization didn’t stop the new unemployment reform, it sparked hope during dark times, revitalized unionization in our sector and forged strong bonds between comrades. “We need to unite with other sectors to build a front,” “We need to support campaigns against Bolloré”—the far-right billionaire media and culture magnate is already targeted by the ecological group Les Soulèvements de la Terre—“We need to fight against militarization,” because “the money they’re taking from us is going to them!” Workers’ rights are also on the table: income continuity for freelance artists (who don’t benefit from intermittent status), access to sick leave, maternity and paternity leave, etc.

Since then, the movement has lived up to its early momentum. Present in many French cities (Paris, Marseille, Nantes, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice…), it has called for three two national days of protest, with demonstrations followed by public institutions, state media, and smaller organizations like artistic collectives and companies and echoed by recognized personalities in the arts sector.. It has been visible in major national demonstrations on International Women’s Day (March 8), the day against racism and imperialism (March 22), and of course, Labor Day (May 1).

We’ve supported sectoral struggles in culture—for example, increasing pay for conservatory accompanist musicians, regulating the use of AI in dubbing, and defending institutions like the FRAC threatened by budget cuts. Cultures en Lutte has also backed fights in agriculture, logistics, and nonprofits; a militant brass band, La Fanfare Invisible, played at a victorious strike picket at the Géodis warehouse. We stood with unaccompanied migrant minors who occupied the “Gaîté Lyrique” concert hall for three months this winter until they were brutally evicted by police.

Local collectives have made themselves visible at major music festivals like Docks des Suds in Marseille, where we had a booth, and at the Printemps de Bourges, where our banner created a “guard of dishonor” for the minister visiting the festival. The city will soon be the European Capital of Culture. Direct actions may soon erupt at the iconic Avignon theater festival in July.The Minister of Culture is a prime target in Paris, where she will likely run for mayor in autumn2026. “Dati, you’re done—Culture is in the streets / Forget about the Paris City Hall” is now a recurring chant in our marches. In January, before the movement officially formed, culture unions crashed the minister’s New Year speech wearing survival blankets to highlight the extreme precarity in our jobs.

Striving for new and convivial forms of struggle, Culture en Lutte has organized festive evenings, free outdoor concerts, carnivalesque parades, public banquets, theoretical and practical activist training days, and strike preparation workshops—vital in a fragmented sector where people often have multiple employers or are self-employed.

We also use civil disobedience: the movement hung “FOR SALE” banners on the Centre Pompidou—an iconic contemporary art venue threatened by private shareholders. Occupation is a favored tactic: we briefly occupied the museum before being evicted by police. In Nantes, repeated occupations of the theater Le Lieu Unique lasted up to seven days. DRAC offices received visits from comrades armed with sleeping bags demanding meetings with elected officials, who—unsurprisingly—offered no significant progress. During the César awards (a globally followed film event), the movement held a counter-ceremony at the legendary Cinémathèque Française. We handed out “Crève-arts” (Starver Awards) to Macron, Trump, and Netanyahu for destroying public services, promoting fascism, and committing genocide.

On Palestine, the collective “Artists for Palestine” has made the voices of engaged artists heard, through press releases, rallies, and public/social media statements. Culture en Lutte stands firmly with the Urgence Palestine collective, threatened with dissolution by the government since early May, and supports their calls for public speeches before performances.

Aesthetically, the movement aims to be subversive and joyful. Facing fascism, growing poverty, and disappearing jobs, we must gather the embers of our pride to light the fire of struggle. Some contemporary cultural productions have taken on dark, provocative tones around political issues like climate change. But today the mood isn’t one of shock performances, fake blood, or cries of despair. We seek to generate true collective energy in response to our era’s pressing crises. Many artists, audiences, and members of society know we won’t get out of this mess through individual responsibility. Macron already pulled that trick during COVID, when he called on artists to “ride the tiger” and act like “Robinson Crusoe,” surviving alone with bread, ham, and cheese. Shirt-sleeved, he almost seemed to believe the novel by Daniel Defoe was real. In contrast, since 2018, many in French society have identified with Asterix and Obelix. The irreducible Gauls were widely referenced by the Yellow Vests, who saw themselves as a united national minority resisting capitalist, media, and political power. While that symbol is no longer central to Culture en Lutte, slogans like “Just because it’s festive doesn’t mean it’s not serious” and “Nothing can stop a people who dance” show our determination to protect our rights, our lives, and our joy.

This powerful momentum is not fading—and we can only hope it will grow. From the start, the movement declared its intention to help launch a spring of resistance. We’ll need other sectors to mobilize in order to win budget victories. Since early May, inter-organization assemblies have finally begun meeting in the Paris region, leading to the organization of an inter-struggle day with organizations supporting Palestine (24hpalestine), anti-war group (War on War), trans solidarity collective (OST) and art workers collectives. Much can be hoped from cross-sector coordination and the presence of teachers, students, and healthcare workers in our demonstrations and assemblies is encouraging in this regard. Culture en Lutte could soon target figures and locations beyond the artistic field. With each action, our sector becomes more aware that it drives the economy and is essential for shared life. We know our work is real work. More than ever, we demand fair pay. More than ever, we refuse to let our work be exploited and hijacked by far-right billionaires. This places us in a shared struggle with many other workers.

Though our labor laws are specific, our situation mirrors that of millions across France and Europe. Culture en Lutte is not just a sectoral movement, because it understands and addresses the root causes of our condition: imperialism, the capitalist need to restart the economy through war (not through public consumption or investment), the increasing privatization of public services and commons to extract profit—all within a deindustrialized and unproductive Europe. At the same time, our movement holds existential weight: if this wave of social destruction continues, many of us will have to radically change our careers. For many cultural workers, working hours have decreased and so have wages. But working more for less is unacceptable. Our sector has understood that it’s through protest and action that anger can become hope. As we heard at the support rally for young unaccompanied migrants in front of Gaîté Lyrique: “Art is important—essential even—but only struggle sets us free.”