On October 5, the Maison des artistes de Cagnes-sur-Mer (MDAC), a cultural organization based in the Alpes-Maritimes, will close its physical space in a small municipal building next to the Grimaldi Castle. The current mayor of the city, Bryan Masson, who belongs to the National Rally (RN) party, has ended the lease of the building through a letter dated July 20. He claims the decision is part of a broader "cultural reorientation" for Cagnes-sur-Mer. The move has been seen as a major blow to the MDAC, which has operated for seventeen years and described itself as "experimental, inclusive, and collective," functioning as a "living and joyful laboratory." In an Instagram post, the MDAC expressed sadness about the change, saying "a page is turning," while stating that it will continue its activities in a more mobile, or "nomadic," format. Since 2009, the MDAC has been led by artist Anne Séchet, who also teaches at the Villa Arson art school in Nice. Under her leadership, the organization has hosted a variety of events, including exhibitions, artist residencies, and performances like the "Parade des Artistes" and "Veillées poétiques." It also maintained a reading and research space called the Bibliocabane, which focused on independent and alternative publications. The building itself has a long history: the Association of Artists of Cagnes, founded in 1949 and originally led by Claude Renoir (son of the painter Auguste Renoir), obtained the lease as early as 1954. The city of Cagnes-sur-Mer justifies the closure by citing the need for the Grimaldi Castle Museum, which plans renovations starting in 2028. The building will be adapted to include a new entrance for visitors, an elevator, and facilities for people with reduced mobility, as well as a shop and a climate-controlled storage space for artworks. The city also mentions a 50 percent increase in its culture budget and plans to present a new cultural policy in December. Caroline d'Amat, the city's deputy for culture and a former specialist in modern and impressionist art, criticized the MDAC for being "too conceptual and esoteric," and said its last exhibition, Cru, cuit, miam, left people "perplexed and lost." The MDAC finds this criticism confusing and regrets it. In response, artist Magali Benson wrote in the magazine Télérama that "we would not reproach scientists for being too esoteric," and emphasized that the MDAC was engaged in "art research, on our scale." The CGT Spectacle 06 union condemned the closure as a "confiscation of culture by the far right" and a "cultural crackdown" aimed at removing a "free and independent place." This is not the first time an RN-led municipality has faced accusations of interfering with artistic programming. In Castres, the play Passeport by Alexis Michalik was removed from the 2027 programming by the new RN mayor, Florian Azéma. In Vierzon, the play Amazonia, which focused on the working conditions in a logistics center, was also deprogrammed, with the city calling it "too political and divisive." The theater company Grand-Angle called it an "attempt at censorship." As the presidential election approaches, the future of cultural freedom and creative diversity may be decided at the ballot box.