When Art and Culture Push the Boundaries of Learning

More and more cultural institutions are innovating to transform their spaces into vibrant, inclusive environments—and sometimes even schools. Behind these diverse approaches lies a shared commitment: to experiment with new ways of learning, collaborating, and caring for one another. This was the theme of the latest “Voices of Civic Art” event, organized by the Foundation at the Collection Lambert in Avignon, in partnership with Télérama. Why is ensuring children’s cultural well-being essential for shaping the adults of tomorrow? How can museums and cultural institutions across France address this issue? What effects does art have on children, our future citizens? A look back in words and video.

In Avignon and Marseille, micro-schools are taking root in museums

For the past seven years in Avignon, about ten fourth- and fifth-grade students have spent part of each school day learning among the works of the Lambert Collection. Here, the exhibition halls become learning spaces, whether the museum is open to the public or not. To stay connected to the traditional school system, the students spend their mornings at the Mistral public school, just a few dozen meters away. In the afternoon, it’s a change of scenery: off to the museum, where they learn in a different way. This is the concept behind the Inspire micro-school, supported by the Lambert Collection, which organized a professional development day with the French Ministry of Education on September 15, followed by the “Voices of Civic Art” event.

Designed to help re-engage struggling students, the program closely follows the National Education curriculum but shifts its focus. Here, artworks serve in turn as teaching aids, objects, or starting points for learning. We don’t just sit at desks: we move through the exhibition spaces, interact with the artists, and work with the museum staff. And when students from Mistral School come to explore the Lambert Collection, the children from Inspire switch roles: they become guides and introduce the artworks to their classmates. This is a practical way to transform the museum from merely a place to visit into a place where students learn, experiment, and have a voice.

“We don’t claim to turn them into good students or fix them. But we’re trying to restore their confidence,” explains Tiphanie Romain, Head of Audience Engagement at the Collection Lambert. The initiative has now proven successful: 98% of the children who have attended the Inspire microschool have rediscovered their desire to learn and feel comfortable in the classroom.

Avignon isn’t the only city with a program like this. In Marseille, the Mucem welcomes 8th- and 9th-grade students who have dropped out of school to its micro-middle school, created in partnership with the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Regional Health Agency to address the mental health issues faced by many young people. In Paris and Guingamp, micro-school projects are taking shape at the future Centre Pompidou Francilien and the GwinZegal Art Center.

While these initiatives are aimed at different audiences and address specific challenges, they share a common principle: tailoring learning to the needs and unique characteristics of children.

When a Cultural Venue Becomes a Space for Learning and Experimentation

As a result, cultural institutions are going beyond their traditional role of engaging school groups: they are becoming learning environments in their own right. At the GwinZegal Art Center in Guingamp, housed in the city’s former prison, special attention has been given to welcoming very young children for several years now. Dedicated to photography, the Center launched three years ago Super-Chouette, a space designed for children ages 18 months to 6 years, where they can spark their imagination through playful workshops: manipulating shapes on a light table, watching slide shows, and more. Alongside their parents or their caregivers from daycare or preschool, even the youngest children find a space at the Art Center where they can express themselves and discover their potential.

“We brought together early childhood professionals from the Guingamp area: daycare center directors came to work with Sophie Grassart, the guest artist, to help us design this space,” says Solange Reboul, Co-Director of the GwinZegal Photography Center. “ Over the course of a week, we brainstormed various ideas. Sophie oversaw the aesthetic of the space, and the professionals helped us develop an approach centered on light and touch.”

The opening of initiatives like this one reflects a shift in how cultural venues are conceived: from spaces for cultural consumption and dissemination, they are also becoming places for living, socializing, and welcoming everyone.

Thus, the Scène nationale de l’Essonne in Evry is one of France’s four national theaters located in the heart of a shopping center—a place of interaction and social diversity par excellence. Matthias Tronqual, its director, conceived it with the goal of offering a rich cultural experience accessible to all audiences, especially young people. Among the offerings is the “Grotte de nez”, a playful installation that children can enter, allowing them to explore the space while developing their motor skills and senses.

This project, which bridges the worlds of art and learning, also invites parents to take part in this sensory, cultural, and artistic experience. “ “Allowing yourself to follow your child, to learn from them—from their actions, from their sense of wonder—and to begin relating to them as equals is also a return to childhood for parents, ” emphasizes Matthias Tronqual. “They give themselves permission to play, and from that, many beautiful things emerge.”

These experiences remind us just how much we can learn at any age through sensory experiences, artistic practice, interdisciplinary approaches, and interactions with others. They also invite us to broaden our perspective on what it means to learn and on the skills that these approaches help us develop.

The Value of Learning in a Different Way

Learning through art already plays a role in children’s lives through arts and cultural education programs, which bring artists and students together in dialogue within the classroom. Through its program PÉGASE , conducted over five years at the Académie de Versailles, the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation sought to identify the conditions necessary to implement these initiatives sustainably and on a larger scale. This pilot project, which led to a evaluation evaluation, demonstrated in particular that evaluation cannot be limited to measuring the transfer of knowledge: it must also take into account the transformations these programs bring about in children.

“Evaluating an artistic and educational project is first and foremost about understanding what it transforms, for whom, and under what conditions. First, there is what concerns the child: re-engagement with learning and perseverance. But more broadly: how does their confidence evolve, along with their ability to take action, cooperate, take the initiative, ask for help, and make choices?” explains Klaus Fruchtnis, Director of the Art and Citizenship program at the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.

Parents and children share their stories of these changes. “We were worried. Our daughter Éva didn’t want to go to school anymore. In the mornings, she would feel nauseous and have stomachaches,” says Emilie. “She refused to learn. She felt different and thought she’d never be able to do it; her self-confidence was at an all-time low. At the Inspire microschool, Éva has truly blossomed; she’s regained her self-confidence. You can tell she’s developed new skills.” Today, Éva has started middle school and has rediscovered a love for doing her homework.

His journey shows that the effects of these approaches extend far beyond academic learning alone. It invites us to take a fresh look at what enables a child to learn, develop, and find their place in the world.

An education that helps students grow and build a society

It is within this framework that the concept of “cultural health,” developed by psychologist Sophie Marinopoulos, finds its place. She places a central emphasis on early stimulation, particularly for infants and toddlers, and views access to art and culture as an integral part of child development, on par with relational and sensory experiences.

It is therefore no longer just a matter of imparting knowledge or offering recreational activities, but of contributing to the child’s relationships with others, to their imagination, and to their ability to find their place in the world. “Cultural practitioners nourish our children and their inner lives, and enable them to feel at home in their own bodies. A baby opens up to the world through the senses, using them all at the same time. A baby can see with its skin and hear with its mouth. To inhabit one’s body is to make connections, ” she explains.

This approach broadens the discussion even further: if cultural venues can contribute to a child’s development, they can also play a role in shaping the way we build society. The initiatives presented in Avignon thus challenge the very purpose of these public cultural institutions and their ability to invent new ways of being together, learning, and caring for one another. “I advocate for greater and stronger integration between cultural venues and the very fabric of our society and our shared way of life,” explains Emmanuel Ethis, Interministerial Delegate for Arts and Cultural Education, in response to the positive impacts of the Inspire microschool. “These children have experienced what it means to live together. They leave with a different vision and a different perspective on life.”

Open up possibilities rather than propose a model

The next step is to allow these initiatives to develop and spread. To support the rollout of these types of initiatives and promote the sharing of knowledge about new ways to integrate arts-based learning into the programs offered by cultural institutions, an interprofessional network called Inspire is currently being established.

The findings of the PÉGASE study also provide guidelines for ensuring the long-term sustainability of these initiatives: securing the necessary human resources to coordinate partnerships, among other things, but also establishing a different kind of educational relationship in which children, parents, teachers, and artists each have a role to play in jointly developing the project and participating fully in it.

Researcher Marie-Christine Bordeaux, a professor at the University of Grenoble Alpes and a member of the Arts & Education scientific interest group, expands on these conclusions by advocating for a diversity of approaches in arts and cultural education. “It has often been believed that making arts education widely available would require replicating the same program in the same format and with the same funding. However, while scaling up resources is essential, diversifying programs is equally important. Not all cultural and educational stakeholders are ready to do the same thing, at the same time, and in the same way.”

The widespread adoption of these practices therefore also requires institutional support and cross-sector partnerships. According to Matthias Tronqual of the Scène Nationale de l’Essonne, particular emphasis must be placed on the youngest audiences. “Early childhood education and care may require, more than other public policies, bringing all stakeholders to the table. If there is one urgent need, it is this cross-sectoral approach,” he asserts. In Évry, this approach has notably taken the form of a training program for early childhood professionals focused on “beauty”: What is beauty, and what can it offer young children? For the director of the Scène nationale de l’Essonne, this is a way of reminding us that approaching education through the arts also means breaking down the silos between the practices and policies that surround children.

Photo credits: © Patrick Gherdoussi