Mediations and cultural democracy: 8 new projects supported

Singular and unifying initiatives led by citizens, artists, communities, actors in the social, hospital or educational fields, the 8 winning projects of our call “Mediations and Cultural Democracy” testify to the need to energize local alliances in rural areas. Selected from 206 applications for the relevance of their governance, their participatory process or their subject, they will be supported over a period of 6 months in the maturation phase, or over 2 to 3 years for their deployment.

Promoting citizen synergies in rural areas

After 2 first editions in the Hauts-de-France, we have extended our call for projects “Mediation and cultural democracy” to the whole of metropolitan France. The initiatives received are an emblematic sample of the creativity of territories affected by socio-economic difficulties, problems of geographical mobility or the networking of a scattered cultural offer. Almost everywhere, people are mobilizing to act, to find solutions that bring cohesion and openness, to imagine utopias together. Through our support, we are committed to promoting the sustainable cooperation of these partners around projects developed for the particularities of their territories.

The 8 projects selected bear witness to common concerns, including care, social ties, the promotion of artisanal know-how and sustainable food. For example, in Aiguilles in the Hautes-Alpes, the public health establishment that brings together a nursing home and a nursing home for people with disabilities, is developing with the “La Bulle” project, space-times shared between residents, their families, caregivers and the inhabitants of the village. With the desire to cultivate a “breeding ground for diversity” inside and outside the hospital, the teams wish to develop architectural, vegetable and graphic creations, as well as unifying artistic protocols open to all.

” The deployment of an artistic and social project over the long term is essential in rural areas. It takes time for the inhabitants of the village to take ownership of a proposal whose stakes are neither touristic nor economic; so that links are forged with the residents through artistic acts that concern them; so that caregivers, too, allow themselves the opportunity to benefit from these cultural opportunities. »

Cécile Robert, Neuropsychologist at the Centre Hospitalier Aiguilles-Queyras – La Bulle

Cultivating what nourishes

Some projects also focus on the crucial issue of sustainable, equitable food, through the sustainability of agricultural or peasant activity, the accessibility of citizens to local production, the quality of products, cooking and conviviality. In the Vaucluse, in the Pays d’Apt Luberon, where half of the farmers will retire within 10 years, the Vélo Théâtre and its partners are preparing to organize citizens’ conventions around food called “The Extraordinary Assemblies: Food Arts and Cultures”. The objective of this approach is to provide knowledge on food, to accompany participants in their learning about the democratic process and to promote the appropriation of artistic creation.

Further west, the “Eating with your ears” project led by the association Peuple et Culture Corrèze, brings together citizens, artists, farmers, shopkeepers and local associations in the realization of a large orchestrated dinner, the result of a work of collection and sound creations, carried out locally around the issues of food production and food. These projects federate, document, tell stories and give us the opportunity to experience the way in which food and agriculture shape the lives of people in a territory.

Supporting projects in maturation and deployment

For 6 months, we will support 3 projects in the prefiguration phase so that they can move forward in their structuring, partnership consolidation or refinement of their challenges. After this so-called “maturation” phase, these projects will be presented again to the jury, with a view to the implementation of their actions. Among these, the third place L’Assemblée in Saint-Julien-Chapteuil in Haute-Loire, for example, wishes to encourage residents (historical, neo-rural, newcomers) to imagine new uses for old collective buildings now in disuse, called Assemblées. Driven by a territorial dynamic of rehabilitation, the association will benefit from support prior to development, in particular to strengthen local synergies.

The 8 projects supported

The Association Hôtel des Voyageurs – Espace de vie sociale – Le Jardin-cocon (in the maturation phase) – Puy-de-Dôme / Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – http://www.assohoteldesvoyageurs.org/

The association and its partners are planning to reinvent an integration garden in the rural village of Cunlhat, to create a place for intergenerational and intercultural sharing. The layout will involve the participative creation of works of art: cocoons crocheted from dyed natural fibers and architectures to host artistic workshops, a vegetable garden and a botanical garden. Later, an open-air theater will welcome social structures and local residents for performances, discussion forums and workshops on food and nature.

MORE France – Sillon_10 (maturing) – Loir-et-Cher / Centre Val-de-Loire – https://sillon10.com/

Founded in the spring of 2024 by Maëlys Meyer, a French documentary filmmaker, and Ana Mathyas, a Brazilian visual artist, Sillon_10 is a place located on the heights of the troglodyte village of Bourré, on the banks of the Cher; A place of meeting, reflection and sharing between artistic practices, social and cultural realities, local or international. Sillon_10 will develop its activity through a residency program, public openings and audiovisual productions.

The Assembly – Remaking Assembly, our utopia (in the maturation phase) – Haute-Loire / Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – https://lassemblee-pop.org/

The Assembly’s project aims to recreate collective practices in the “maisons d’Assemblée “, small buildings specific to Velay, built by the inhabitants in the 18th century to host collective activities (school for children, prayers, meetings of inhabitants, convivial times, etc.). To amplify and sustain the citizen dynamic that is being formed to bring them back to life, the Assembly will invite residents to imagine the future and possible uses of these buildings, with the support of artistic teams who, through various experiments, will make the reinvention of these places attractive and unifying.

Le Vélo Théâtre – The Extraordinary Assemblies: Arts and Nourishing Cultures in the Pays d’Apt – Vaucluse / Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur – https://velotheatre.com/

Co-constructed by a collective of cultural actors, artists, social institutions and associations, the project consists of initiating citizens’ conventions of the arts and food cultures in the Pays d’Apt, according to the process of the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate. Punctuated by artistic practices, this project deployed over 3 years will allow the actors to apply the process and then to heterogeneous groups including vulnerable or precarious people, to lead to the production and dissemination of artistic forms created with the people involved.

Association Jeunesse Arts et Loisirs – L’Estafette citoyenne – Aveyron / Occitanie – https://www.assoajal.fr/

The AJAL and the artistic collective Prodiges are carrying out a cultural mediation project founded on the initiative of the Blues Squatters. On board the Estafette, a mobile guinguette stage, this group of musicians made up of psychiatric users travels through the villages where they were born or grew up to share their identity and initiate new cultural projects. AJAL and Prodiges create an inclusive cultural ecosystem, valuing art as a driver of dialogue, integration and territorial revitalization, by addressing complex issues such as psychosocial rehabilitation.

Association Peuple et Culture Corrèze – Eating with your ears – Corrèze / Nouvelle-Aquitaine – https://peupleetculture.fr/

Bringing together citizens, artists, farmers, shopkeepers and local associations, the project aims to produce a participatory theatrical performance: a large orchestrated dinner, the result of a work of collection and sound creations carried out in the territory on the subject of food production and food. An evolving sound piece will then be the subject of public listening sessions, accompanied by debates with the farmer producers and sharing of dishes.

La Fabulerie – ARCHIPELs – Lozère / Occitanie – https://lozerelafabulerie.com/

ARCHIPELs is a hybrid and participatory artistic creation, combining the living, visual and digital arts with the singularities of the valleys of the South Cévennes. On the one hand, there are co-creation archipelagos where inhabitants, artists, scientists are invited to create via artistic and cultural education workshops, meetings, artistic evenings, etc. ; and on the other hand, co-dissemination archipelagos where artistic objects invite themselves into the homes of the inhabitants. ARCHIPELs is developing on two themes: Eaux vives around water-related issues and Si près de toi on the notions of isolation and proximity. An interactive travelling exhibition, a podcast and a logbook will ensure continuity of the project, a trace.

Aiguilles-Queyras Hospital – La Bulle – Hautes-Alpes / Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur – http://www.ch-aiguilles.fr/

Within the Centre hospitalier d’Aiguilles-Queyras, La Bulle is a space open to meetings between residents, residents and beneficiaries, their entourage and health professionals, in order to develop a local citizen dynamic, thanks to artistic creation. Under a shared governance, driven by the values of knowledge sharing, ecology and solidarity, La Bulle is structured through a dozen artistic residencies (architectural creation, vegetable garden design, graphic development and free activation protocols), mediation actions in the village and the whole of Queyras.