Call for “Mediation and cultural democracy” projects: encouraging citizen participation in rural areas

We are opening the 4th edition of the “Mediation and Cultural Democracy” call for projects, designed to support artistic and cultural initiatives conceived with and for local residents, in rural areas. It’s aimed at those who want to reinvent the relationship between culture and citizenship, by turning local residents into genuine cultural players rather than mere spectators.

📅 Application deadline: February 27, 2026 at 6 p.m.

A reaffirmed priority for Art Citoyen: rurality as fertile ground for creation

Today, 88% of France’s communes are rural, and around a third of the population lives there. These areas, which are sometimes vulnerable, have less access to cultural activities than metropolises. And yet, they abound in citizen initiatives, creative forces, local knowledge and invisible resources.

With this call for projects, we wish to contribute to the emergence and development of artistic projects that correspond to our vision of cultural democracy, by creating the conditions for real citizen participation, from their genesis and throughout their realization.

To find out more, take a look at the winners of previous editions.. “The 2024 call for projects has enabled the emergence of collective territorial projects addressing a wide range of issues, from mental health, to sleeping vernacular heritage, to local food”, he explains.

Application criteria and procedures

The Foundation will support 6 to 8 projects nationwide. Projects must :

• take place in rural areas and be run by a local non-profit organization;
• create an ecosystem of diverse players (residents, artists, social workers, local authorities, businesses, etc.);
• propose a demanding, long-term artistic approach (24 to 36 months);
• set up shared governance and appropriate mediation practices;
• articulate artistic creation with the specific challenges of the region ;
• integrate an assessment approach.

Particular attention will be paid to projects anchored in the following regions and areas: Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the territory corresponding to the former Midi-Pyrénée region.

Two types of application are possible:

• “maturation”: for projects in the pre-configuration phase, which still need to be structured, for which the partnership group still needs to be consolidated, and for which the outlines need to be clarified
• “deployment”: for projects ready for implementation

All prizewinners will be invited to take part in a welcome seminar in September 2026, and to attend training courses designed, for example, to address issues relating to shared governance and cooperation.

front cover photo: Matthieu Delaunay – Les Assemblées extraordinaires project by Le Vélo Théâtre (winner 2024)