This news, which should delight musical artists and actors in the French overseas territories, was announced on October 22 by the Centre Nationale de la Musique (CNM), whose headquarters are in Paris. In consultation with its “Overseas Strategic Committee” and the cultural affairs departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guiana, Mayotte and Reunion, the CNM sets up a €1 million fund dedicated to the overseas territories.
The Centre National de la Musique says that since its creation, “in partnership with the decentralized services of the State, it has undertaken a reflection on the implementation of its missions throughout the entire French territory”. The CNM has therefore created an “Overseas Strategic Committee” bringing together some fifty people (artists, show producers, venue managers, representatives of local authorities, federations and national networks, etc.) from the five French territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guiana, Mayotte and Reunion.
This committee has met several times over the past year to work on three themes – information and professional structuring ; dissemination ; and mobility – after noting that “despite great diversity and strong artistic vitality, a geographical location and cultural influence that are conducive to international development, the actors in the overseas territories face many difficulties in disseminating artists from their territories. Above all, the support model for these professions is inadequate for their situation, condemning them to a form of isolation and not allowing them to integrate the virtuous systems of solidarity and development specific to the music industry”.
As a result, the Centre National de la Musique, its Overseas Strategic Committee and the DACs of the territories concerned have decided to create this €1 million fund to support music. It was adopted by the board of directors of the CNM on Monday October 18, 2021.
Thus, by the end of 2021, a series of emergency measures will be taken and, in 2022, three specific arrangements for the French overseas territories will be established.
The first arrangement will support overseas festivals taking place from September 2021 to March 2022. This additional funding will supplement the CNM’s exceptional support fund for festivals, which does not allow to respond to all the situations in the French Overseas Territories ; “this arrangement is intended for music and variety festivals whose expenditures and revenues are affected by the health measures in force in their territory. Exceptionally, this arrangement will also be applied to free events in order to respond to the particularity of dissemination and structuring of music in Overseas territories”, explains the CNM.
The second arrangement is designed to promote “alternative dissemination”. “This arrangement aims to contribute to the financing of one or more performances guaranteeing artistic employment and the link with the audiences (off-site programming, remarkable sites, tours, etc.)”, says the CNM.
Finally, the third arrangement will help develop the “digital presence” of artists. This aid will support tangible and intangible investments by artists’ developers, show producers, record producers and publishers.
We will soon know the operational details of these arrangements (date of online publication of the forms, calendar, etc.).
