Ukrainian and French places of culture commit to acting together

What can a cultural place do in the face of the dizziness of our times? What can a place of creation, dissemination, research and meetings do when the challenges multiply and aggregate?

Danger of war and geopolitical tensions, vulnerability of populations, threats to the information space and polarization of opinions, digital disruption, misappropriation of artistic and cultural values and practices, governance and budgetary crises… Precisely because of their openness to the world, our centers are open to all currents do not escape the questions that shake up our societies.

They are even the reflection and, in a certain way, the catalyst since, in the daily experiences of the large public that frequents us – young and old citizens, artists, cultural professionals, actors of public debate, association members – everything is a pretext for discussion and putting into perspective. We are places where individual and collective experiences intersect, confront each other and produce this essential mesh of the social fabric which allows us to think and build the common.

In Kyiv, the doors closed recently on the 14^e edition of the Arsenal International Book Festival (May 28-31, 2026). In this magnificent building from the end of the 18th century^e century – part of the roof of which has just been damaged by the terrible bombings of the night of June 15 – thousands of spectators came, as they do every year, to meet the Ukrainian authors and a handful of guests from other countries. In a calm which did not fail to impress foreign visitors, discussions continued in the basement of the building when the alerts sounded. The book as evidence. The dialogue and debate as an act of resistance, even though the event was held only a few days after the terrible bombings of February 24 which once again took and damaged lives, but