Mediations and cultural democracy: 9 new projects in the Hauts-de-France

Driving expression and participation by the inhabitants, nine ambitious cultural and artistic projects will be deployed in the four corners of the Hauts-de-France region over a period of three years. Particularly remarkable, they mobilize many actors from various backgrounds, to allow everyone to reclaim their living space and enrich it, to cultivate the imagination and the dream. These cultural democracy projects are inspiring responses to the needs of our society, in search of meaning, wonder and collective projects.

Transforming culture for more citizenship

With our “Mediations & Cultural Democracy” action, we want to break down the persistent boundaries between cultural institutions and civil society. “In the same way as art education in schools, one of the other components of our Citizen Art axis, we believe that cultural mediation allows individual emancipation and strengthens social cohesion by involving all audiences, in particular those who are the most distant, physically or socially, from the cultural offer.” says Alice Callegarin Demangeat, project manager at the Foundation.

The nine winners selected this year have in common that they bring together citizens and professionals (artists, cultural professionals, social workers, educators) around ambitious artistic and cultural projects. They are also concrete responses to situations of precariousness, remoteness, loss of intergenerational links, illiteracy, lack of neighbourhood life, etc.
Thus, in Roubaix, young people and women benefiting from the help of Secours Populaire will work with the association “Toutes Nos Formes d’Être” to regain their place and voice in the public space through artistic creation: find the project in detail here

For nearly half of them, the Foundation sets up an incubation period allowing them to deepen their artistic ambition, the dynamics of cooperation or the storytelling of their project. For six months, they will benefit from group and individual workshops, follow-up and personalised support, which will lead to additional funding for their deployment, if necessary.

Citizen art, committed as close as possible to the territories

Supported by cultural associations but also by social actors, the projects call on various forms of expression: lyrical singing, visual arts, puppetry, writing, urban planning, etc. “As for the 1st edition, we are seeing a stronger project dynamic in the Nord department,” explains Alice Callegarin Demangeat, project manager at the Foundation. “However, we have emerging initiatives in the Aisne that we will support in incubation. They bode well for these areas that are further away from major urban centres.”

On 9 May, all the pre-selected projects took part in a day of meetings and training to enable them to better understand the expectations of the call for projects and the challenges of cultural democracy. “It also allowed the different organisations to get to know each other, to exchange on their respective actions in an informal way.” As for the projects supported in 2020, they are continuing their actions. “All projects require time to build relationships of trust, maintain the involvement of the inhabitants over the long term and bring about creations that are truly part of the territories, especially in rural areas. Some have been particularly affected by the constraints of the health crisis. They are being monitored as part of the evaluation of the call for projects, the results of which will be shared at the end of 2023.

The work is a common / The Collectif Meute – Nord
Created in 2019, the Collectif Meute creates participatory and citizen art projects in consultation with artists, residents, scientists and mediators. It deploys devices at the crossroads between research, creation, support for amateur practice and mediation. L’Œuvre en commun is an action-research approach based on the working framework imposed by the operation of the aid for creation in the performing arts. It builds step by step the conditions for a real appropriation of the artistic gesture by citizens with non-professional participants with very diverse profiles (prison world, hospitals, families, etc.). This co-creation process will be disseminated and documented.
Facebook – The pack collective

Environmental, artistic and cultural intermediation / Group A – Cultural cooperative – Pas-de-Calais
The Deux Caps territory, between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais, presents varied landscapes combining the maritime, rural and quarry worlds. The A – Cultural Cooperative group wishes to mobilize associative and institutional actors, residents, artists and researchers to organize 6 research and creation residencies spread over different locations, opening up to the production of works, stories and an inclusive program of activities. Beyond a simple cultural offer, the collective positions itself as a real impetus and facilitator to allow the inhabitants to discuss their territory with different points of view, to participate in the research and creation process.
acoop Group

Fab Lab Butterfly Effect / Association Territoire Europe – Nord
The “Fab Lab Butterfly Effect” project aims to open a public road between the inhabitants of the urban renewal districts of Téteghem-Coudekerque-Village and the intellectually disabled people supported by Les Papillons Blancs. The aim is to open up this establishment and to promote exchanges between people who are not used to meeting each other. This path will be the result of open and shared governance, festive moments (concerts, performances, workshops), artistic projects (artists’ research residencies), projects around the living world (gardening, animals, research projects around biodiversity), self-construction projects…
Europe Territory Association

C² / Secours Populaire Français de Roubaix – Nord
The Secours Populaire Français de Roubaix encourages the empowerment of people in difficulty through solidarity actions. In collaboration with the association Toutes Nos Formes D’Être…, he launched the C² project for and with a group of young people and women beneficiaries/volunteers of food aid. They will build together an artistic and cultural project (theatre show, dance, impromptus, film, etc.). The creative workshops will offer a confident setting, conducive to individual and collective creativity, to the expression of emotions, to the sublimation of reality, with a view to revitalizing individuals and the territory they inhabit. The objective: to (re)speak out, to get out of isolation, to regain confidence and (re)take place in the life of the city.
Secours populaire français de Roubaix

AULT-ISSIMA / Artconnexion – Somme
A real balcony overlooking the sea, the town of Ault offers an impressive view of the birth of the Normandy cliffs, the highest in Europe, and of the Picardy coast. Supported by three local associations, this cultural and artistic project aims to promote the heritage of Ault in a perspective of sustainable and responsible tourism. The citizen participation of the inhabitants will take shape in a mediation dynamic with artists in residence (visual artist, writer, musician, engraver, storyteller, etc.) on the different aspects of the heritage: memory of the inhabitants, buildings, cliffs, fauna and flora.
Artconnexion

3rd Left Turn / New Adventure – North
Supported by three Lille associations, the “Nouvelle aventure” project aims to make the Margelle, a pedestrian area in the Wazemmes district, a place to live, exchange and learn knowledge. Around the theme “Taking back time: time to look, to listen”, various actions will be carried out with the inhabitants: artist residencies, creation and animation of a radio station, participatory worksites, reading evenings. In parallel with this project, the Margelle will continue to organize solidarity meals and convivial times with the homeless of the neighborhood.

Le Tas de Sable – Ches Panses Vertes and Les Caves à Musique / Passerelles – Aisne
About thirty kilometres from Laon, the “Passerelles” project aims to promote exchanges between the inhabitants of the town of Tergnier in order to preserve the collective memory and envisage the future together. For three years, all generations will be mobilized to create a puppet rock opera: improvised meetings, an introductory course in puppetry and music, writing, directing and creation workshops. This project is part of a participatory approach involving a large number of inhabitants thanks to partnerships with social, cultural and educational structures in the city.
The Sand Pile

Anima / Citizenship Workshops – Pas-de-Calais
The “Anima” project lives up to its name. From the Latin “soul, breath”, it aims to revitalise the city centre of Calais and to support people looking for work. The result of a partnership between economic, private, public and associative actors, the association carries out actions of a social and solidarity economy (SSE) nature: spaces for exchange and creation (coworking, studios, etc.), renovation of a former art school, reconquest of an urban wasteland, opening of an urban farm which aims to promote interactions between people and animals through therapy, education, integration and animal mediation. The collective’s ambition today is to strengthen the place of art in its professional practices.
Citizenship Workshops

Voice, Word, R.E.C.I.T. / Compagnie Petit Gros Mots – Aisne
In the Aisne region, where the fight against illiteracy was declared a major departmental cause in 2020, the Petits Gros Mots association based in Laon has been conducting writing and popular expression workshops for vulnerable people for 4 years. Spotted and appreciated by many socio-educational structures, this action is now at the origin of the R.E.C.I.T. collective, Cultural Encounters and Experiments for Initiatives in the Territories.

Thank you!

As with all our calls for projects, the winners were chosen following a rigorous selection process that mobilized different expertise.

Thus, the instructors, who are regular collaborators of the Foundation, deepened some of the criteria of the call for projects and provided their perspective on the work deployed by these organizations. Then, a volunteer jury, bringing together experts from various backgrounds, examined the applications and chose the winners. We would like to thank them warmly for their involvement.

Training Team

• Anne-Laure Chamboissier
• Patricia De Chamisso
• Victoire Dubruel
• Mari Linnman
• Hervé Quéméneur
• Réjane Sourisseau

Jury

• Simon Bernard, Head of the Mediation and Audience Development Department at the Maison de la Musique Contemporaine
• Marie-Pierre Bouchaudy, Former Head of the Department of the Inspection of Artistic Creation at the Ministry of Culture DGCA
• Vincent Dumesnil, Co-director of La Chambre d’Eau
• Agathe Givry, Managing Director of Finoreille – Opéra de Lille
• Patrick Le Bellec, Cultural Officer for the City of Dunkirk
• Pierre Marsaa, mediator for new sponsors in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
• Floriane Mercier, Cultural and Territorial Action Advisor – DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
• Catia Riccaboni, Head of Individualized Culture Programs and Funds at the Fondation de France

Photo credit: Collectif La meute