PEGASE: 5 years of cultural and artistic education at school!

In Argenteuil, Guyancourt, Bagneux, Morangis, Chalo-Saint-Mars and Saint-Hilaire, 5 schools have experimented with the generalization of the arts in schools as part of our PEGASE program, conducted in partnership with the Versailles Academy. Since 2018, the teaching teams have been working hand in hand with artists and scientists from local structures to offer students from kindergarten to high school, long-term projects integrated into the school curriculum. We met^{on June} 1st to learn from it and celebrate these 5 beautiful years of sharing and discoveries.

140 projects, 6,000 students, 100 teachers, 150 partner cultural structures

A pillar of our Citizen Art axis, the PEGASE program was launched in 2018 in partnership with the Versailles academy to experiment with the conditions necessary for setting up and integrating art projects into school teaching from kindergarten to high school. By benefiting from a genuine alliance between teachers and cultural structures in their territories, students have been able to develop their creativity but also broaden their horizons, gain confidence, self-knowledge and acquire valuable skills that go far beyond the artistic field. So, for 5 years, the plastic, visual, performing and digital arts, writing, music and also scientific and technical culture have fed into the lessons and lives of the pupils, even during the health crisis… Each project has been conceived at the crossroads of several school disciplines, combining the knowledge of the curriculum, meetings with artists, visits to cultural sites and practical sessions giving rise to a variety of collective creations. “Together, we’ve made art and culture a real driver of emancipation for students, and we’ve all reexamined our professional practices, with the aim of improving their daily lives by offering them a space conducive to the development of their imagination,” explains Marion Desmares, Head of the Citizen Art program. “From the beginning, the Foundation’s bias was to be a facilitator who listened to everyone. We were lucky enough to live this experience as close as possible to the teaching teams and to test in the field our conviction that art has a tremendous power to promote citizenship, to develop a sensitive and critical perspective of the world and to embrace diversity. »

These actions have been made possible thanks to a close and trusting partnership with the Academy of Versailles via its Academic Delegation for Cultural Action. “This program is the pride of the Academy of Versailles ,” said Charline Avenel, Rector of the Academy of Versailles, during the opening speech of the annual PEGASE seminar. “We are convinced that the generalization of artistic and cultural education is a lever for success for students by creating the conditions for a curious and informed public for tomorrow, and by making it possible to truly share values in a society that needs to create commons.”

Research-evaluation to analyze and disseminate experimentation with the generalization of artistic and cultural education

A program carried out in schools with various profiles (rural areas, REP, general or professional paths), PEGASE aims to promote and disseminate the learning of this experiment. This is why the Foundation has designed the system for implementing projects in the institutions with the conduct of independent research-evaluation carried out throughout the program by a team from the universities of Cergy-Paris and Paris-Est-Créteil. This large-scale scientific approach aims to grasp the effects of artistic and cultural education as conducted with PEGASE and to identify the optimal operating conditions. It is based on both existing knowledge and a major field survey with 227 interviews and a questionnaire with 1,428 students. ” We have worked in great trust and total freedom with the Foundation and the Academy. This is very important for us academics, because we must be free to make our own conclusions. I would like to salute this collaboration, which took place smoothly and independently,” explains Benjamin Moignard, University Professor at the University of Cergy-Paris, member of the EMA laboratory (School, Mutations, Learning) and the International University Observatory for Education and Prevention. “We would like to thank the students and the teaching teams who have always welcomed us very favourably despite the health constraints that sometimes changed from day to day. The doors have always been open to us. »

This study will be published soon and will be the subject of a public dissemination at an event scheduled for autumn 2023.

A day of assessment and sharing to celebrate 5 years of collaboration

On Thursday, June 1st, we were 130 students, teachers, teaching teams, artists, members of the rectorate and the Foundation, gathered at La Batterie de Guyancourt for the annual PEGASE seminar. Each establishment came on stage to present some of the year’s achievements: poetry, excerpts from plays, choreographies, films… Young people have taken up with strength and brilliance subjects that particularly affect them such as friendship, emotions, the way others look at them, the place of women in society, revolt, fake news, pollution, etc. All the projects carried out this year but also those of previous editions can be found on the dedicated website reseau-pegase.org

In the afternoon, a time of exchange allowed teachers, artists and students to cross the views of their experiences of the PEGASE program and their vision of artistic and cultural education. Some recalled the interest of working with local places of creation, of offering a long-term journey of spectator and citizen, of the relationship between artists and teachers. Others retained the incentive to practice outside of school, the discovery of a vocation or simply the pleasure of learning without judgment. For Juliette Beillard, cultural referent at Ariane College, “PEGASE has given us a lot of freedom, a real breath of fresh air that has allowed us to experiment. After the first two years of implementation and discovery, we have seen that it is paying off. Our students have become more and more autonomous and we, as teachers, have increased our skills. »

To close the seminar, Alice Callegarin Demangeat, Program Manager for Art Citoyenneté, reminded us that“Together, we have demonstrated that art is much more than mere entertainment, and that it can be a powerful tool for the intellectual, emotional and social development of young people.” And Marianne Calvayrac, Déléguée académique à l’éducation artistique et à l’action culturelle, concludes: ” The day was a real celebration, and a credit to the commitment of all involved, especially the teachers. PEGASE shows the extent to which art and culture open up possibilities for pedagogical innovation and create desire in students. This experience will inspire us in the years to come. »