The world of culture is mobilizing as part of a welcome for artists fleeing the war in Ukraine. “Killing a thought is extremely serious and we try to keep it alive”declares Muriel Mayette-Holtz, director of the Nice theater who will set up both material and cultural devices.
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franceinfo: How does this mobilization of solidarity translate into your National Theater in Nice?
Muriel Mayette Holtz : We are all upset. We consider, I think this is the case for all artists, that killing a thought is extremely serious and we try to keep it alive. We are going to offer two apartments for artists who have been able, I hope, to flee their country temporarily. We will try to multiply if ever necessary. But beyond a physical refuge, they must also be allowed to continue their work. And so, we will open our platforms, our construction workshop to them so that they can continue to express themselves, so that thought remains alive.
To your knowledge, have Ukrainian artists already arrived in Nice?
Some are already in the south and in particular towards Marseille. And I expect in the hours to come the possibility of having the names of artists who would agree to come to Nice. The urgency today, I believe, is to accompany them in this atrocious war, to provide financial means, to provide physical means, that is to say food, enough to be able to resist and above all to allow them to be welcomed in the best conditions. If at some point they arrive in our territory.
Do you plan cultural actions?
Every Saturday we read texts by Ukrainian poets for free in our theater to try to keep this word alive. You shouldn’t take this step just out of good conscience, you have to do it out of conviction and so the whole troupe has taken on the authors who are dear to them. We also record on our social networks texts by Ukrainian authors so that they have spaces to be able to express themselves. It is the possibility that their history, that their convictions, that their poetry, their vision exist and continue to be alive. It seems to me that it is also a way of supporting real resistance.