French culture minister Rima Abdul Malak has said that the French Government will commit a record €4.2bn (£3.8bn/$4bn) budget to cultural activities in 2023.
This equates to a 7% increase compared to last year with €711m allocated to the financing of film and audio-visual production, as well as video games.
Malak said at a press conference in Paris on Monday: “What will happen to our cinemas, bookshops, theatres, museums and opera houses in 20 years’ time? What kind of audiences will frequent them? What would our society look like if these places were destined to become empty?”
She added in a tweet: “The 2023 budget of the Ministry of Culture is increased by 7%. Resilience and action budget, it has never been so high: €4.22bn.
“More than ever, culture will give taste and meaning to life!”
The minister also recently announced an additional boost of €4m to help local distributors and cinemas bounce back following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some 96 million tickets were sold for the cinema in 2021, and while this is an improvement on 2020, it still falls significantly short of the 213 million sold in 2019.
Culture is also needing a boost during the current energy crisis, with major venues such as the Musée du Louvre (pictured) having to turn its lights out earlier to save money.
Even the iconic Eiffel Tower is having to turn off its 20,000 bulbs one hour earlier than usual to keep spiralling energy costs under control.