Usimages Photo Festival Cancelled by Creil Mayor Omar Yaqoob, Sparking Cultural Budget Concerns

Key facts

• Omar Yaqoob, LFI mayor of Creil and president of the Creil Sud Oise agglomeration, cancelled the Usimages festival in late July.
• Diaphane, the association and contemporary art center behind Usimages for about ten years, condemned the decision as lacking consultation and dialogue.
• Usimages was a biennial photography festival that organized free exhibitions and installations in the 11 communes of the agglomeration.
• The agglomeration had funded the biennial with €120,000 since 2012, according to Libération.
• Each edition, the festival supported ten young photographers through artistic residencies in about twenty companies in the Creil basin.
• The cancellation ends ten years of promoting labor and industrial heritage in photography, a unique focus in the region.
• The decision adds to recent cultural budget cuts, such as the closure of the Centre d'art contemporain du Grand Café in Saint-Nazaire and reduced visual arts funding by the Pays de la Loire region.
• Diaphane criticized the move as contradicting La France insoumise's national principles on cultural public service and equal access.