One year of launch for PEGASE: Experimental Program for the Generalization of the Arts in Schools.

On June 13, 2019, PEGASE’s partners and stakeholders will meet after a first year of launch. An opportunity to look back at the origins of this experimental program designed and developed in partnership with the Academy of Versailles around one main objective: to develop artistic and cultural activities in schools, while contributing to the academic success of students.

A desire to generalize artistic and cultural education

As part of our Citizen Art axis, we support projects of general interest in the fields of arts and culture, in particular to contribute to the generalization of artistic and cultural education within schools.

Indeed, we believe that education and mediation are two essential levers to take diversity into account and strengthen the place of art in the construction of the individual and the collective. As part of our “Art & School” action, we have launched the PEGASE programme, to act on the ground so that all pupils can receive an artistic and cultural education during their schooling, from kindergarten to high school.

Through PEGASE, we are committed to supporting partner institutions over the long term, according to their needs, and to providing the necessary support to network them with the artistic and cultural structures of the territory.

We also want to evaluate the effects of this structured and sustainable program on students and the educational community as a whole, and then promote and disseminate good practices.

A partnership with the Academy of Versailles

Launched at the start of the 2018 academic year, this program is the result of a partnership with the Academy of Versailles both in its design and in its support. The Academy of Versailles includes four departments: Yvelines (78), Essonne (91), Hauts-de-Seine (92) and Val-d’Oise (95). The first education authority in France in terms of the number of students enrolled, this territory is characterized by a very wide variety of situations, at all territorial levels. One of the axes of its action is to improve knowledge and care of this diversity, with the ambition of supporting each institution in a more precise and sustained way.

The PEGASE projects began during the 2018 – 2019 school year and continue depending on the school over 3, 4 or 5 years.

Students, but also teachers and cultural partners at the heart of the program

As part of PEGASE, teachers are invited to build Artistic and Cultural Projects in Educational Territory (PACTE), according to pedagogical criteria including an artistic and/or scientific approach and carried out with an interdisciplinary team. These projects are also carried out in partnership with a cultural structure in the area.

32 PACTE projects
+ 2000 students
70 teachers
41 cultural partners

A “project” approach

Each group then develops an artistic and cultural education project according to an approach that integrates: an artistic or scientific practice, the meeting with works and/or professionals in art, culture and research, the acquisition of knowledge, the construction of a singular critical judgment…

The teachers and professionals involved work in close collaboration, in order to articulate the artistic approach and the pedagogical approach in connection with fundamental learning.

An experimental approach

Experimental and innovative, the programme is evaluated and looks at the work done by students, teachers, artists and all those involved in the programme, in order to analyse the conditions under which an arts and cultural education programme can contribute to the success of all pupils. On the basis of this evaluation, this pilot programme will be modelled for the benefit of other academies.

Towards a first assessment

Following this first year of implementation, we will organize a day dedicated to PEGASE with the Academy of Versailles on June 13, at the Théâtre Paul Eluard in Bezons. On the programme during the day: artistic workshops organised by cultural and scientific partners. During the evening, we will have the opportunity to present the results and perspectives of the program through the screening of the Arte Productions documentary. This screening will be followed by a round table bringing together the partners and actors of the programme, as well as the sociologist in charge of its evaluation. The evening will be closed by the General Delegate of our Foundation, as well as the Rector of the Academy of Versailles, Chancellor of the Universities, who will present our common commitment to PEGASE.

Photos © Didier Rouget