Fine crafts: the government announces a plan of 340 million euros to support the sector

On the eve of the Révélations fair, devoted to crafts, which will be held from June 7 to 11 at the ephemeral Grand Palais in Paris, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, and her colleague Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate in charge of Trade , crafts and tourism, announced on Tuesday May 30 a plan of 340 million euros to structure a sector weakened by the crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation. The idea being to conclude, within three years, a “strategic sector contract” between the public authorities and companies.

The denomination is thankless, but the crucial issue. “Artistic crafts respond to the need for meaning, sustainable and eco-responsible objects, at a time when artificial intelligence is impacting our lives, when the value of work is questioned and when ecological transition is at the heart of concerns”argues Rima Abdul Malak, who has carried this plan since his arrival, in 2022, Rue de Valois. “It is a strategic sector for employment and competitiveness”completes Olivia Grégoire, recalling that this sector weighed 19 billion euros in 2019.

The announcement was eagerly awaited by a sector split into 281 professions and some 60,000 companies, mostly one-person businesses. Acclaimed abroad, this sector straddling art and artistic creation paradoxically lacks visibility in France. How to ensure succession, perpetuate ancestral gestures by adapting them to current needs? How to anchor locally while radiating internationally? To carry out this vast project, the two ministers and their teams have multiplied consultations. “We are living a momentum”rejoices Bénédicte Epinay, general delegate of the Colbert Committee, which federates luxury houses, welcoming a plan “unprecedented in its scope”. ” For the first timeshe adds, all the actors, public and private, who did not necessarily speak to each other were around the table. »

Raising awareness from an early age

Everyone agrees on one priority: to raise awareness of manual trades from an early age. The plan, articulated in five chapters, thus plans to open 1,000 internship places in 3^eavailable on the Monstagedetroisieme.fr platform. “It is fundamentalapproves Bénédicte Epinay. We found, in our surveys, that one out of two young craftsmen discovered our professions through these internships. » From the start of the next school year, an educational booklet “I discover the trades of the hand”, co-constructed by Onisep and the association De l’or dans les mains, will be provided to students as part of their school programs. The Mobilier national, whose role will be crucial at each stage of the plan, will open Le Petit Mob’ in June, workshops intended for schoolchildren. In partnership with the French start-up Wecandoo, the Culture Pass will finally offer more than 700 new activities introducing people to artistic craftsmanship.

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