The Court of Auditors recommended eliminating the National Visual Arts Center

An option that Culture Minister Rachida Dati “does not want to pursue”.

The Court of Auditors recommended on Wednesday November 19 to eliminate within five years the National Center for Plastic Arts (Cnap), whose mission is to disseminate contemporary art and support artists, which is not included in the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati.

Assistance to creators who have not demonstrated their usefulness, works that have never been exhibited, large operational costs and several ethical issues. For the Court of Auditors, Cnap’s reliance on the Ministry of Culture must be abolished “in 2030” and its mission is distributed to other public cultural bodies, such as the Center Pompidou. Minister of Culture Rachida Dati “don’t want to hold back” this recommendation, he explained in his response to the Court. That “will not allow significant savings to be made” And “will have an impact on weakening the visibility of policies carried out by the State that favor the visual arts sector”according to her.

Cnap, founded in 1982 and employing 85 people, assists contemporary art professionals and manages a collection of 108,000 works, intended for loan to museums and administrations. But for the Court of Auditors, this does not fulfill its mission. Regarding financial aid, Cnap”has no serious studies” shows its impact “about the artist’s career”according to the report.

Regarding the creation exhibition policy, the Court stated this “only 30% of the works purchased in recent years have been distributed. About a quarter of the works acquired never leave the reserve”.

Moreover, “the trend over the last forty years to speed up the acquisition of works and slow down their distribution outside the walls has led to an increase in the need for storage.” The reserve thus occupies more than 25,000 m2 in 2024, in two Cnap buildings in La Défense, near Paris, and in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône (Val-d’Oise), but also in rented locations. The report highlights the real estate costs incurred by the Center – amounting to 4.9 million euros in 2024 – which weigh on its operational costs, amounting to 12.8 million euros in 2024, compared to the 5.4 million euros allocated to its mission.

A new site is being built in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) “at a cost of around 100 million euros”. The court also underscored the risk of conflicts of interest and cited the example of the first recipient of Cnap aid between 2016 and 2024, a publisher whose co-founder was a curator of the Center. The report still highlights “lack of ethical rules” regarding acquisitions, it is decided by three commissions consisting mainly of representatives of the arts community, through anonymous voting.